New South Wales Premier Barry O’Farrell has resigned this morning, after admitting he sent a thankyou note to Australian Water Holdings chief executive Nick Di Girolamo for a $3000 bottle of Grange Hermitage wine in 2011.
The Australian reports O’Farrell had previously denied receiving the gift in testimony before the Independent Commission against Corruption earlier this week. O’Farrell said today he still cannot remember receiving the wine but he “accept[s] the consequences and in an orderly way, a new Liberal leader will be elected”.
O’Farrell said he will resign as leader at a Liberal party meeting next week, at which time a new leader and premier will be elected.
Freelancer.com acquires Warrior Forum
Online freelance marketplace Freelancer.com has acquired Warrior Forum, an online marketplace for internet marketing professionals.
Freelancer.com, which became a public company in November 2013, said in a statement today Warrior Forum will continue to operate independently. But Freelancer.com founder and chief executive Matt Barrie said the company will provide Warrior Forum with “a dedicated team and resources to make the marketplace and forums even better”.
Warrior Forum was founded in 1997 by Allen Says, whose goal was to create a “community of like-minded internet marketers to share ideas, learn from each other and build their online empires”. The marketplace currently has more than 732,000 members.
Aussie shares up on open
Australian shares have opened higher this morning, as the market follows a positive lead from Wall Street.
The S&P/ASX200 benchmark was up 20.7 points to 5408.9 at 12:08pm AEST. Overnight the Dow Jones closed 89.32 points higher, up 0.55% to 16,262.56.
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Eloise is an experienced business journalist and editor, who has held senior editorial roles at SmartCompany since 2014. Prior to joining SmartCompany, Eloise was news editor at Books+Publishing, the trade press for the Australian book industry. Eloise has degrees in media and communications, marketing and business management, and political science. You can follow her on LinkedIn, and Twitter at @ellykeating.
