Covid-19: Semi-retired kindergarten teacher on weekend away nabbed vandalising Briscoes store over wage subsidy

Friday, 16 October 2020

What made a semi-retired, conviction-free kindergarten teacher on a weekend bowls trip vandalise a Briscoes store?

Ian Swney, 62, of Morrinsville, was enjoying a quiet bike ride through Hastings on October 10 when he decided to undertake a very out of character action.

He’d come down from Morrinsville with a friend who was playing in a bowls' tournament on the weekend.

As his friend played bowls he hired a bicycle in Napier and rode to Hastings in the midday heat.

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Ian Swney of Morrinsville outside Hastings District Court.

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“It was a great ride, wind at my back, flying along. Felt like a million bucks”.

But on seeing the Briscoes store he just cracked.

He parked his bike, purchased two cans of spray paint (green and red – “I wanted to make it pretty”) from a nearby store, then walked to the Briscoes store and proceeded to paint a slogan along its wall, as bystanders and motorists looked on.

Graffiti by Ian Swney on the Briscoes store in Hastings.

He wrote “Wage subsidy not shareholder dividend. Give it back”.

“There was a lot of interest. It was lost on some people, but others were giving me thumbs up and a toot,” he told Stuff on Friday

What drove him to do this?

The previous day he had read that several companies, including Briscoes, that had claimed Covid-19 wage subsidies had gone on to pay dividends to shareholders.

“I take issue with any business that can afford it, taking taxpayers money and then paying dividends. I think that’s s…,” he said.

Rod Duke, the head of Briscoe Group, did not want to comment on Swney’s actions.

He was furious that Briscoe Group received a $11.5m wage subsidy before going on to report an after tax profit of $28m for the six months to July 30, compared to $28.4m for the first six months in the previous year, a mere 1.3 per cent decrease.

It went on to pay an interim dividend of $20.3m, or 9 cents a share, with managing director Rod Duke getting $15.6m, thanks to his 78 per cent ownership of the company.

A security guard nabbed Swney’s bike (“my getaway – so I was stuck there”).

The police arrived, took his details, and let him ride back to his B&B.

He was later charged with wilful damage. He drove down from Morrinsville again to appear in Hastings District Court on Friday, where he indicated he would plead guilty. He’ll be called again in Hamilton District Court next month.

Shortly after Swney's court appearance the Briscoe Group announced it would be paying back the wage subsidy.

Duke told Stuff he did not want to comment on Swney's actions, but wanted it noted that the company had “never said that we’re not paying it [the wage subsidy] back”.

He said the board had been considering the matter for some time, including factoring whether the crisis was over, and whether another Level-4 Lockdown was likely.

“We think we’ve broken the back and not likely to get back into that and it was time to make the choice we have,” he said.

Duke said it should also be noted that the company dividend that was to have been paid to shareholders in late March was cancelled when the level 4 lock down came into effect.

“That was $28m cancelled, gone, the moment we were put into lockdown. All the shareholders missed out on that dividend,” he said.

Swney said he was pleased with the company’s decision, and he intended to send Duke a letter thanking him for doing the right thing.