Whilst David Crawford is a reputable figure in the corporate...

Whilst David Crawford is a reputable figure in the corporate world, the idea of calling him in to do an independent review of ANZ's Opes Prime debacle has enough problems ...it could be viewed as untenable.

The biggest argument against Crawford's appointment is conflict of interest. As chairman of Lend Lease he would have been involved in the record breaking $400 million deal for the developer to build ANZ's new global headquarters at Docklands. The press release from September 2006 gloats that "the building will rank as the largest single tenancy, CBD commercial office development ever undertaken in Australia."

So, David Crawford is simultaneously chairing a company enjoying a record breaking commercial deal with ANZ whilst conducting an internal review which, if done properly and made public, could cost the bank hundreds of millions of dollars.

Crawford remains at the absolute epicentre of the Melbourne business establishment - Scotch College, the MCC committee etc etc. He's also been the preferred corporate undertaker for Melbourne banks for a long time, all of which means he's not fit to lead an independent review of ANZ.

A genuinely independent and public review would significantly change the personnel who would be occupying those plush new ANZ offices at Docklands which Lend Lease is building.