Stephen Colbert testifies in character to congressional sub-committee video

Nugan
EXCERPT:
Francis John Nugan was born in Sydney, Australia, on 29th January, 1943. His parents were German who had emigrated to Australia. By 1950 Alfred Nugan was running one of the largest fruit and vegetable operations in the area. One of the Nugan Group's major customers was the United States Navy base at Subic Bay in the Philippines.

Frank Nugan obtained a law degree from Sydney University in 1963. He then moved to the United States where he studied for his masters at the University of California. By 1965 he was studying at York University in Canada.

It is believed that Nugan returned to Australia in 1967. This was the year that Michael Hand and Bernie Houghton also arrived in Sydney. Houghton established the Bourbon and Beefsteak Bar and Restaurant in Sydney. Houghton claimed that he met Hand in the autumn of 1967. However, in one interview he admitted he had been told about Hand in 1964: "I had heard of Mike Hand's great combat exploits and courage, which was well-known in Vietnam."

Frank Nugan joined his brother Ken Nugan, to run the family company, the Nugan Company. Whereas Michael Hand began selling development lots along the Australian coast. The company, Ocean Shores Development, was run by lawyer Fred Miller, a senior executive for the shipping empire owned by Sir Peter Abeles, the longtime business partner, Rupert Murdoch. One of the largest investors in this scheme was the singer Pat Boone. The registered directors included Boone of Beverly Hills, California and Patricia Swan of Sydney, Australia. Swan was Frank Nugan's secretary.

Rupert Murdoch and Ansett Airlines
EXCERPT:
On Feb. 19, 1980, Mr. Murdoch visited Washington, D.C., to meet with the chairman of the U.S. Export-Import Bank, a federal agency that loans money to finance foreign purchases of American products. (That was well before the Australian-born press lord sought U.S. citizenship so that he could legally buy up American broadcasting properties.) After pleading his case for corporate welfare, he went to the White House for lunch with Mr. Carter.

Three days later, on Feb. 22, the Post endorsed the Democratic President on the front page (a decision abruptly rescinded in the fall when the paper rudely dumped Mr. Carter and backed Ronald Reagan.) And six days after that endorsement appeared, the Ex-Im Bank approved a $290 million loan to Ansett Airlines on easy terms.

Austrailia's connections to Arizona
EXCERPT:
Twenty percent of the stock of America West was owned by Ansett Airlines of Australia and 55% of Ansett was held by Sir Peter Ables and Rupert Murdock. We know from Jonathan Kwitny 's book, the Crimes of Patriots, that Burny Houghton, perhaps the key figure in the founding of the CIA drug money laundering bank Nugan-Hand in Australia, had coffee with Sir Peter Ables the night of his first day in Australia.

Peter Abeles wikipedia
EXCERPT:

Abeles was born in Vienna, in Austria, but grew up in Budapest. When Germany invaded Hungary in 1944, Abeles, who was Jewish, was sent to a Nazi work camp. In 1949 he fled the devastation left by World War II, and moved to Australia. After doing small business by selling books and clothing,[1] he quickly befriended George Rockey, a fellow Hungarian immigrant. The pair bought two trucks, which they named "Samson" and "Delilah", and set up a transport company, "Alltrans". In 1967, Alltrans merged with Thomas Nationwide Transport, and the combined companies became TNT Ltd.. Under Abeles' guidance as managing director, TNT quickly expanded, and by the 1980s had established a presence in 180 countries and was termed "the second biggest transport empire in the world, operating by road, rail, sea and air".[1][2]

In 1979 Abeles entered into an agreement with media mogul Rupert Murdoch to take over Ansett Transport Industries. He served as chief executive and joint managing director from 1982 until 1992. In September 1992 he left TNT to concentrate his efforts on the ailing Ansett, but just two months later he stepped down from the airline as well.

Sir Peter occasionally cut a controversial figure with his unscrupulous business tactics, and was seen as unsympathetic towards minority shareholders. He was also caught up in the allegations of corruption directed at, then, Premier, Sir Robert Askin, with journalist David Hickie accusing him of buying his 1972 knighthood[3] from Askin, and giving Askin a seat at the board of TNT, plus 110,000 shares.[4] He has been accused of being an associate of crime boss Abe Saffron and of being involved in drug trafficking with the Nugan Hand Bank.[5] When alive, Abeles admitted to having common business interests with US West Coast Mafia boss Jimmy Fratianno, but that he did not know that Fratianno was Mafia connected.[6]

As well being knighted, Abeles was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in 1991[7], and was named "Australian of the Year" by The Australian in 1987. In addition to his work for TNT and Ansett, Abeles served on the board of the Reserve Bank of Australia, and was chairman of the Australian Cancer Research Foundation.

Abeles died in Sydney at the age of 75, the victim of cancer. He was survived by his second wife, Kitty, two daughters and a stepdaughter. (He was divorced from his first wife Claire Dan).