Media

Meditation business, minus Gatto, doing just fine

The Sunday Age - 11 April 2004
By Liz Porter

No phone calls for underworld figure Dominic "Mick" Gatto have come in to the august Institute of Arbitrators & Mediators Australia since his arrest in connection with the murder of alleged hitman Andrew "Benji" Veniamin.

There has been some relief about this at the institute, which bills itself as "Australia's largest and most experienced arbitration and mediation service provider" and counts as members Federal Court judge Susan Crennan and Nathan Moshinsky, QC, now Solomon Islands Solicitor-General. Concerns were raised on an occasion when a woman who would only leave the name "Ann" rang, demanding to speak to Gatto.

How could punters think Gatto would be part of a club of silks, engineers, HR boffins and other "alternative dispute-resolution" experts, the professionals wondered. He certainly had his own way of settling disputes. But his methods weremore traditional than "alternative".

Now the cause of the confusion has been discovered.

Gatto ran a company called Arbitration and Mediation Services, which got some publicity at the 2002 building industry royal commission when he was named as a standover man and industrial consultant who helped broker a site agreement at the National Gallery of Victoria.

Institute CEO Gordon Tippett would like to clarify the institute has no relation withMr Gatto's company."

Nor is Mr Gatto a member," he said.

We gratefully acknowledge the permission from Liz Porter and The Sunday Age to reprint ths article.