Dick Gross
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Richard Andrew Landa Gross (born 16 November 1954 in Melbourne, Australia) is the President of the Municipal Association of Victoria, and former three-time Mayor of the City of Port Phillip, Australia, from 1998-2000 and in 2004, and has served on the Port Phillip City Council, representing the Blessington Ward, since its creation in 1996.
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[edit] Career
Dick has a Bachelor and Masters of Laws. After his articles of clerkship, Dick became a corporate investigator with the National Companies and Securities Commission. He then left the financial world to help found and lead the Consumer Credit Legal Service. This was a service that provided advocacy and advice for low income consumers who had borrowed too heavily. Dick was notorious for his bizarre yet effective media techniques, which, despite their surreal aspects, led to significant law reforms. These antics included:
- A public hanging on the steps of Parliament (which led to the abolition of the Imprisonment of Fraudulent Debtors Act)
- A demonstration in Sammy Davis Jnr's press conference (which contributed to large financial company payments to consumers ripped off under by Electronic Sales and Rentals)
- A public dump of goods on finance companies screened on national television (which led to stopping of use of the chattel mortgages)
- Initiating the first 'class action' in Australia
- Singing anti Christmas credit carols which aired on most television stations.
Dick's contribution was recognised by his membership of two State government inquiries into Debt Recovery and the Bailiff's Powers. He was also a consultant to the Australian Law Reform Commission on its Insolvency Reference and a member of the Market Court. Media Commentator
After the death of his parents, Dick left the law and entered the family business and then embarked on a media career. He was on two nationally networked television shows (Live at Five on the 9 Network and business commentator on SBS Dateline ). He was the Business Spy for Michael Schildberger on ABC Melbourne radio and contributed to columns on finance, personal investment and consumer affairs.
It was at the height of this short lived career that Dick had his first book published, Money for Jam, How to spread it and not make a mess in 1990. Mandarin published it.
Dick abandoned his financial media gigs to support his wife, while she complete a PhD at Cambridge University, UK. Dick wraised three children and completed two books. He co-authored Tricontinental: The rise and fall of a merchant bank in 1995 (Melbourne University Press).
Later he wrote Godless Gospel, published by Pluto Press in 1999. It was a look at what should go into a bible for atheists and other non believers. Godless Gospel was an attempt to find alternatives to those things that religions do well such as; Death, Mysticism, Suffering, Meaning, Morality and Belonging.
[edit] City of Port Phillip
Since his return from Cambridge, Dick has been a councillor and three time Mayor of the City of Port Phillip. Once again he has served on law reform committees at the highest level, on topics as diverse as drug policy (the Penington Inquiry), street prostitution (the Attorney General's Street Prostitution Advisory Group), waste management (the Towards Zero Waste Working Group) and has been a director of both the local government peak bodies, to wit, the Municipal Association of Victoria and the Victorian Local Governance Association.
[edit] Literary works
Dick Gross has written several fiction and non-fiction works, on topics ranging from atheism to merchant banks:
- Money for Jam, How to spread it and not make a mess (1990)
- The Tricontinential Story' with Hugo Armstrong (1995)
- A Godless Gospell (1999)
- Jesus, Judas and Mordy Ben Ruben: Three good Jewish boys in Jerusalem (2005)
