WEBVTT - Promised Land | 4 0:00:02.120 --> 0:00:06.400 Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey. It seems like most 0:00:06.440 --> 0:00:09.639 great tech entrepreneurs have their own story of starting from 0:00:09.760 --> 0:00:13.440 nothing and making it in the bright lights of Silicon Valley. 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:17.680 Alan Metcalf had his own version of Silicon Valley right 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:20.959 here in Australia. It was a pilgrimage he made to 0:00:21.000 --> 0:00:23.120 create his fortune and transform his. 0:00:23.120 --> 0:00:24.400 Vision into reality. 0:00:24.960 --> 0:00:28.160 Today, my producer Nina Young and I make that same 0:00:28.280 --> 0:00:36.120 journey following in the footprints Alan left behind in the sand. 0:00:34.479 --> 0:00:36.000 Be a triple vit to per. 0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:39.040 Pot Deva Java. 0:00:40.760 --> 0:00:44.320 When you think about tech mechers, quiet coastal towns in 0:00:44.360 --> 0:00:49.240 Western Australia probably don't immediately spring to mind. But for Allan, 0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:53.080 Geraldton and ocean town, with a population of just forty 0:00:53.120 --> 0:00:56.800 thousand people, about a five hour drive from Perth, was 0:00:56.840 --> 0:01:00.480 an absolute gold mine. As he raised funds for sakes, 0:01:01.320 --> 0:01:05.840 four hundred and fifty Geraldon residents contributed about fifteen million dollars. 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:09.119 Between them, they made up three quarters of Allen's total 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:13.800 shareholders and a third of the overall seed money. It 0:01:13.840 --> 0:01:19.080 struck me as strange, why this town. I'm Alex Turner Cohen, 0:01:19.240 --> 0:01:22.399 a finance and investigative reporter from news dot com dot 0:01:22.400 --> 0:01:27.840 Au and you're listening to the Missing forty nine million. 0:01:35.720 --> 0:01:38.240 This is episode four, Promised Land. 0:01:39.959 --> 0:01:43.400 It's got a port, it's got railways, it's got two hospitals, 0:01:43.400 --> 0:01:46.920 it's got twenty schools, it's got a university center. It's 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:48.160 got everything. 0:01:49.400 --> 0:01:52.920 This is Ian Blaney. He was the local state politician 0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:56.760 for the Geralton electorate for thirteen years. Ian lives in 0:01:56.800 --> 0:01:59.400 Perth now, so Nina and I stopped by to visit 0:01:59.440 --> 0:02:02.800 him before we begin our long drive to Geralton. We 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:06.000 sit in his air conditioned home, a welcome retreat from 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:10.640 the sweltering forty three degree Perth heat. Ian's term ended 0:02:10.680 --> 0:02:13.800 in twenty twenty one, so I thought maybe his constituents 0:02:13.800 --> 0:02:17.040 had complained about Alan over the years. It turns out 0:02:17.200 --> 0:02:18.400 he'd actually met Alan. 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:22.320 The government had started a program called Royalties for Regions, 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:25.040 which meant there was more money available for spending in 0:02:25.080 --> 0:02:28.520 the regions, and so I had various people coming in 0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:33.280 with ideas of things that they thought could be potentially 0:02:33.320 --> 0:02:36.680 a Royalties for Regions program. So an MP, if you're 0:02:36.680 --> 0:02:39.639 in government, you tend to get people who've got ideas 0:02:39.639 --> 0:02:42.200 and want money, tend to call in and see you 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:43.120 quite regularly. 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:47.360 Alan was one of those people coming into pitch. Ian 0:02:47.440 --> 0:02:50.160 doesn't remember the exact year, but he recalls it was 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:51.120 early in his term. 0:02:51.880 --> 0:02:56.320 He had quite a good pitch. He could talk quite well. 0:02:56.480 --> 0:02:59.960 I can remember that he had a concept of build 0:03:00.280 --> 0:03:04.120 a virtual village to sort of make more communications in 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:04.919 the community. 0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:09.240 Ian explained that Alan's plan involved giving everyone in Geralton 0:03:09.280 --> 0:03:12.760 a computer and creating some kind of closed network for 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:16.480 the town. He wanted to make Geralton a leader in tech. 0:03:17.200 --> 0:03:19.480 It was a bit like his plan to turn Townsville 0:03:19.520 --> 0:03:22.920 into Australia's version of Hollywood in the eighties, which I 0:03:22.960 --> 0:03:24.880 explored in an earlier episode. 0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:28.920 I found it a little bit difficult to be a 0:03:28.960 --> 0:03:32.440 proponent for it because, to be honest, he might have 0:03:32.480 --> 0:03:36.320 said he only wanted a million dollars, but that's even 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:39.480 a million dollars for governments, not a small amount of money. 0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:42.400 So I just thought, no, this is shonky. I don't 0:03:42.440 --> 0:03:44.880 really want anything to do with it. The whole concept 0:03:44.920 --> 0:03:47.880 I thought was a bit crazy, I suppose, but you know, 0:03:47.960 --> 0:03:50.400 when you meet someone who's a true believer in something 0:03:50.440 --> 0:03:52.880 and there's not a touch of cynicism in there at all, 0:03:53.040 --> 0:03:56.360 and I suppose that's good salespeople are like that. It 0:03:56.480 --> 0:03:59.760 was a bit of the fervor of the converted fanatic 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:03.280 or something, you know, But I wasn't very receptive. 0:04:04.200 --> 0:04:07.920 Ian was also puzzled by Alan's interest in his town, and. 0:04:07.840 --> 0:04:12.280 He was very strong that Geralden was the right place 0:04:12.320 --> 0:04:15.480 at the right time for it to be tried out 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:19.200 sort of thing. I don't know why it's settled on Geralton, 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:20.920 but there must have been a reason. 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:25.400 Maybe he didn't choose somewhere closer to home because he 0:04:25.480 --> 0:04:27.800 didn't want to be in a place where there was 0:04:27.800 --> 0:04:29.200 a chance people might have known him. 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:29.760 I suppose. 0:04:32.240 --> 0:04:35.360 As I step back outside and feel myself melting into 0:04:35.360 --> 0:04:38.800 the pavement from the unrelenting heat, I'm a little excited. 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:41.320 I'm on the other side of the country where the 0:04:41.360 --> 0:04:44.760 bulk of the forty nine million dollars came from. Maybe 0:04:44.800 --> 0:04:47.720 someone knows more about the money, or at least more 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:51.479 about why Alan had his sights set on Geralton. It's 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:53.880 time for the next step to speak with some of 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:57.840 the Geralton investors, or try to. A few of them 0:04:57.839 --> 0:05:00.599 are now living in Perth. They haven't It's been very 0:05:00.680 --> 0:05:05.080 responsive to emails. I just knocked on the door of 0:05:05.120 --> 0:05:07.400 a man who lived in Perth who used to be 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:10.360 from Geraldton. I know he was involved in the Safe 0:05:10.400 --> 0:05:12.520 Worlds project, and he actually let me into his house 0:05:12.600 --> 0:05:15.000 and he said he didn't want to talk. He's apparently 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:18.039 dealt with journalists before in another life and doesn't trust us, 0:05:18.800 --> 0:05:21.000 but he was happy for me to lely my details 0:05:21.080 --> 0:05:23.919 in case he did change his mind. And while he 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:26.400 was in another room looking for a pen and paper, 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:29.080 his wife came over to me and asked what I 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:31.359 was doing there and what this was all about, and 0:05:31.440 --> 0:05:34.240 I told her I was a journalist doing a report 0:05:34.279 --> 0:05:37.680 on Safe Worlds, and she immediately rolled her eyes and 0:05:37.839 --> 0:05:41.279 said I knew it was a scam. And then he 0:05:41.360 --> 0:05:44.240 came back out and I left all my details behind it. 0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:46.039 I guess it's up to him if he ever wants 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:48.480 to get back in touch, but it was just interesting 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:50.760 to see another tale of the man who's all in 0:05:51.240 --> 0:05:53.839 and the wife who's all out when it comes to 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:59.600 Safe Worlds. We tried one more Hello you home. 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:07.440 Okay, it doesn't look like he's here, so I'm just 0:06:07.480 --> 0:06:10.039 going to leave him a note. I haven't got a 0:06:10.080 --> 0:06:12.440 phone number for him that I do have an email address, 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:15.560 which he hasn't replied to, though it hasn't bounced. 0:06:17.240 --> 0:06:20.160 It turns out this investor no longer lives at the address, 0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:24.359 but the current homeowners pass on my note. He calls 0:06:24.400 --> 0:06:26.360 me on the number I left and agrees to give 0:06:26.360 --> 0:06:30.880 me some comments, provided he stays anonymous. This voice actor 0:06:30.960 --> 0:06:33.280 is reading out what he said during our conversation. 0:06:34.080 --> 0:06:36.720 Alan was a con merchant. He took advantage of what 0:06:36.800 --> 0:06:40.080 was happening in wa. The reason he targeted a lot 0:06:40.080 --> 0:06:42.920 of farmers was the resources burn. It was all a 0:06:43.000 --> 0:06:43.440 big con. 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:48.719 There was one investor in Perth willing to meet with 0:06:48.839 --> 0:06:51.919 us and tell me more. His name is Phil Bardon, 0:06:52.440 --> 0:06:55.599 only we weren't allowed to go to his house. He 0:06:55.680 --> 0:06:58.440 said his wife has banned all mention of Safe Worlds 0:06:58.440 --> 0:06:59.080 in their home. 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:02.240 Wilt's never forgiven me, he begout that tonight. It's been 0:07:02.240 --> 0:07:06.160 a real bone of attention ever since I mentioned Safe 0:07:06.160 --> 0:07:08.440 world But I would love to invite you to have place, 0:07:08.480 --> 0:07:11.080 but she's not a happy girl at the moment. 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:14.920 We record this in my hotel room, with Nina perched 0:07:14.960 --> 0:07:17.880 on the end of the bed holding the microphone. Phil 0:07:17.920 --> 0:07:21.200 grips onto pages and pages of documents and emails he's 0:07:21.200 --> 0:07:25.040 collected over the years, shuffling them as he talks. He 0:07:25.080 --> 0:07:28.160 got into safe worlds in twenty thirteen after a chance 0:07:28.280 --> 0:07:29.640 encounter with an old friend. 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:33.840 I bumped into Rod McKay told me that you know, look, 0:07:34.080 --> 0:07:35.560 you want to earn some money, and I said yes. 0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:40.680 So I met Rod. And at the time Alan had 0:07:40.760 --> 0:07:43.080 arranged a meeting with a group of scheerholders over here 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:47.040 in Perth. So I went initially to this yearholder's meeting, 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:51.240 not knowing what it was about. All I learned at 0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:53.160 the time that he said he had a secret of AI, 0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:57.800 and at that time, back twenty thirteen, really set about 0:07:57.960 --> 0:08:02.720 artificial intelligence. That Ottawa Rod that this company invests money 0:08:02.800 --> 0:08:05.400 now it was going to float in six weeks time. 0:08:05.960 --> 0:08:08.160 He didn't force me, he said, it's going to float 0:08:08.240 --> 0:08:10.960 six weeks time and these year is going to go 0:08:11.000 --> 0:08:12.800 for one dollar of five dollars overnight. 0:08:13.520 --> 0:08:14.280 And can you tell me a. 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:15.119 Bit about Rod? 0:08:15.280 --> 0:08:18.400 So how did you know Rod? And where was he from? 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:20.720 I went to the school with Rod in Jeralton many 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:25.600 years ago, back in the sixties. Lovely guy. We played 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:26.160 tennis together. 0:08:27.400 --> 0:08:30.800 In addition, to being a lovely tennis player. Rod McKay 0:08:30.920 --> 0:08:35.080 is one of Allen's earliest and most devoted disciples. I 0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:38.240 learned from Phil that Rod is the reason Geraldton turned 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:42.040 into a Garden of Eden for the Safeworld's project. I'd 0:08:42.040 --> 0:08:45.440 heard rumors about someone who invested more than a million dollars. 0:08:45.920 --> 0:08:49.000 It was nothing more than that a rumor until now. 0:08:49.920 --> 0:08:52.559 The story goes, Alan and Rodd were sitting next to 0:08:52.600 --> 0:08:56.239 each other on a flight and got talking. In emails 0:08:56.320 --> 0:09:00.200 rod scent, which I've obtained, He says he originally owned 0:09:00.240 --> 0:09:03.960 Alan one point five million dollars. Rod was a wheat 0:09:04.000 --> 0:09:06.960 and a sheep farmer and sold these farms when he retired. 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:10.600 My understanding is that's where the money came from. But 0:09:10.760 --> 0:09:14.400 Alan couldn't pay it back. He convinced Rod to turn 0:09:14.440 --> 0:09:17.120 his loan into one point five million dollars worth of 0:09:17.160 --> 0:09:22.120 safe World shares. Instead, Rod sprouked Safeworlds to people he 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:24.800 knew in Geraldon, and he knew a lot of people. 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:28.920 In one email Rod sent, he wrote that he personally 0:09:28.960 --> 0:09:32.679 got four hundred and fifty shareholders on board, bringing in 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:37.320 fifteen million dollars worth of investment. Phil met Allan for 0:09:37.360 --> 0:09:39.160 the first time thanks to Rod. 0:09:40.040 --> 0:09:43.040 So what the airport and Rod had album there and 0:09:43.160 --> 0:09:47.160 I reduced myself to him, and Rod said Phil gonbia 0:09:47.200 --> 0:09:52.000 an investor, and I said, yes, I am. I hope 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:56.120 this is good because I lost money in eighty seven crash. 0:09:56.480 --> 0:10:00.280 Phil invested fifty thousand dollars. It wasn't a small out 0:10:00.280 --> 0:10:02.960 for him and his family. What he received in return 0:10:03.120 --> 0:10:06.480 was a share certificate. Phil started to get a bad 0:10:06.520 --> 0:10:09.080 feeling and wanted to pull out, but that didn't go 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:09.760 down well. 0:10:10.440 --> 0:10:12.480 I read him at Texas said this is not right. 0:10:12.520 --> 0:10:15.520 I want my money back. He sort of scoffed and said, 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:20.560 you're getting yourself into I said to Alan, I've got 0:10:20.600 --> 0:10:25.199 the secret to levitation, and I'm going to start raising 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:27.480 some money. I'm not going to tell you how it works. 0:10:28.280 --> 0:10:30.880 I was that wild, and I don't know whether I 0:10:30.880 --> 0:10:34.679 go response back. But I was really niggling him, you know. 0:10:34.720 --> 0:10:36.040 I said, if you're going to see me, see me. 0:10:36.720 --> 0:10:39.080 I call him every name under the sun. I'm maybe 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:41.000 teen him fifteen email. I was having a couple of 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:43.960 years and I never seen me, so I knew that 0:10:44.040 --> 0:10:44.839 something was right. 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:49.360 Anyway, Alan cut Phil off from all communication about Safe 0:10:49.400 --> 0:10:52.839 Worlds The only updates he receives now are the ones 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:56.320 sent on by his cousin, a man called Warren Bardon. 0:10:56.760 --> 0:11:01.040 Look, I put too much trust in people. People get convoys, 0:11:01.080 --> 0:11:04.440 and they tend to try and spread the demies other people. 0:11:04.480 --> 0:11:07.040 And this is great and right than a few other 0:11:07.160 --> 0:11:09.320 quite a few Barnas I think might have spread the 0:11:09.320 --> 0:11:12.199 word and told people to buy these years. Most people 0:11:12.200 --> 0:11:15.680 they approached were farmers or every work is like me. 0:11:15.840 --> 0:11:18.839 You know, I'm not a uni personal any but it's 0:11:18.880 --> 0:11:20.600 just said. I thought it was a good investment at 0:11:20.600 --> 0:11:22.520 the time, but I quickly fed. When I fed out, 0:11:22.559 --> 0:11:26.000 I tried to warn people, and certain people said, look, 0:11:26.040 --> 0:11:28.800 you know, look that's good. I think some people are 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:29.560 still convinced. 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:33.800 If this is starting to sound familiar to you, well, yes, 0:11:34.000 --> 0:11:37.720 me too. It's just like the enormous success Alan had 0:11:37.800 --> 0:11:41.040 in securing investments from sugar farmers in the nineteen eighties 0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:44.040 for his film projects, which I found out about an 0:11:44.040 --> 0:11:48.360 episode too. It seemed now he turned his attention back 0:11:48.400 --> 0:11:51.559 to what had worked before, just for a different project, 0:11:51.720 --> 0:11:56.520 different location, different decade. What was especially different this time 0:11:56.640 --> 0:11:58.880 was that all of these people in Geraldton needed a 0:11:58.920 --> 0:12:02.760 little more convincing. Soon Alan was jetting in and out 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:06.040 of the town, himself a shepherd, making sure his flock 0:12:06.200 --> 0:12:10.040 stayed on the right path. It's safe to say Phil 0:12:10.160 --> 0:12:13.720 is not Alan's biggest fan, as Nina and I discover 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:16.080 when she asks him what he'd say. 0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:19.760 If you had to describe Metcalf in five words, A. 0:12:20.040 --> 0:12:23.840 Big poppers person spoke the andietype of thing just a 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:27.719 few words, A convent desateful, a conment. How could you 0:12:27.800 --> 0:12:35.079 do it? That's not's sorry. 0:12:35.160 --> 0:12:37.560 After speaking to Phil, I now want to go to 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:41.719 Geryalton and find out more. The missing money is proving elusive, 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:44.880 and so far it's harder to get a solid grasp 0:12:44.920 --> 0:12:47.679 on it than I'd hoped. But maybe a trip to 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:50.040 the place at the center of it all will change that. 0:12:50.800 --> 0:12:53.360 So the next morning, Nina and I begin the long 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:57.680 drive out of Perth and on to Geralton. In twenty 0:12:57.760 --> 0:13:01.680 twenty three, a company named Avenue Perth studied thirty cities 0:13:01.679 --> 0:13:05.360 in Australia to determine the most livable and least livable 0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:08.520 town in the country based on the safety index from 0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:11.319 the average cost of living, number of banks, and number 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:15.440 of restaurants. Geraldton took out the non coveted title of 0:13:15.640 --> 0:13:19.200 least livable town in the country. A glance at the 0:13:19.240 --> 0:13:23.240 crime statistics and the reviews left on local hotels doesn't 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:27.520 paint the brightest picture. Many people online suggested sleeping with 0:13:27.600 --> 0:13:29.640 a chair against the motel room door. 0:13:30.720 --> 0:13:35.200 So here was my question. As we drive into Jerylton. Oh, 0:13:35.240 --> 0:13:39.080 we just walked Welcome to Geraldton. So we've just driven 0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:45.440 into Jerylton. So my question was you I have the 0:13:45.440 --> 0:13:48.000 impression that you're a bit of a type A personality. 0:13:48.040 --> 0:13:48.800 What do you think about that? 0:13:49.600 --> 0:13:52.599 I am a self confessed type A person Me and 0:13:52.679 --> 0:13:54.160 my roommate both agree on that. 0:13:54.800 --> 0:13:57.320 On that note, and very driven. 0:13:57.920 --> 0:14:00.000 So what happens if you can't find the money? 0:14:00.640 --> 0:14:03.920 I've tried everything I can think of outside of getting 0:14:04.200 --> 0:14:08.040 court ordered documents, but at this point, a lot of 0:14:08.040 --> 0:14:10.559 what I know about the money is just a lot 0:14:10.600 --> 0:14:14.079 of conjecture from people who have theories that could range 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:16.960 anywhere from very plausible to very implausible. 0:14:19.280 --> 0:14:25.640 Okay, so that's a very type bay answer. Emotionally, how 0:14:25.640 --> 0:14:28.560 do you feel about if you can't find the money? 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:32.960 Well, I will feel like I've failed a bit in 0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:36.720 a way because I have told people that I am 0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:39.120 tracking the money. That's why I'm doing this podcast because 0:14:39.120 --> 0:14:41.720 I'm trying to find their money. So I feel like 0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:44.240 I'm not going to be able to tell them at 0:14:44.240 --> 0:14:46.160 the end of it, I know where your money went, 0:14:46.600 --> 0:14:48.040 not even that I wasn't able to find it. 0:14:48.080 --> 0:14:49.400 I just don't know where it was spent. 0:14:50.760 --> 0:14:53.320 So that will be a bit of a shame if. 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:55.400 I can't find it, because that's taking on a lot 0:14:55.440 --> 0:14:56.640 of pressure. That's a lot of pressure. 0:14:57.360 --> 0:15:00.400 Well, yeah, people reached out to me saying can you 0:15:00.440 --> 0:15:03.800 do something? Can you kind of raise some awareness about 0:15:03.800 --> 0:15:06.560 this and try to tell me where my money went? 0:15:07.520 --> 0:15:09.400 And so far don't have an answer. I have a 0:15:09.440 --> 0:15:10.880 lot of theories. 0:15:11.840 --> 0:15:14.800 And hopefully we confirm some of them up and we 0:15:14.800 --> 0:15:19.880 can cross some of them out as what's happened body? 0:15:19.920 --> 0:15:22.800 What do you think that you What do you think 0:15:22.840 --> 0:15:23.600 when you kind of. 0:15:23.600 --> 0:15:26.640 Set out to answer a question in a story and 0:15:26.720 --> 0:15:28.840 you get to this point where it's not looking like 0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:31.160 you can you have a kind of solid answer on it. 0:15:32.600 --> 0:15:36.320 I think the journey is the journeys as an answer, 0:15:36.600 --> 0:15:38.360 here's the non type a response. 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:42.440 What's the expression The journey beats the destination? 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:46.040 Maybe the money was the friends we made along the way. 0:15:48.920 --> 0:15:52.440 After a long drive five and a bit hours, we 0:15:52.600 --> 0:15:56.320 arrive our dead Huntsmand greets me on the welcome out 0:15:56.320 --> 0:15:59.480 of my motel room. Next time I notice it the 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:03.920 spiders not so dead. Body has moved slightly. The area 0:16:04.000 --> 0:16:07.880 looks like any other quiet coastal town, long stretches of road, 0:16:08.440 --> 0:16:11.440 drought plagued patches of grass, and plenty of fly in 0:16:11.600 --> 0:16:14.520 fly out miners around the place, driving up the price 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:15.320 of coffee. 0:16:16.000 --> 0:16:16.920 Do you want to get something? 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:19.480 Yeah? 0:16:20.080 --> 0:16:21.640 How do you think we're going about blending in? 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:26.360 We are not doing great. Nina's big microphone stands out 0:16:26.400 --> 0:16:29.960 on the bright and sunny foreshore. It's hard to see 0:16:30.000 --> 0:16:33.080 Allan's vision to turn this place into a virtual village, 0:16:33.720 --> 0:16:35.960 but maybe the people that live here have another view 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:39.120 on things. We ask a couple of ladies walking by 0:16:39.280 --> 0:16:42.320 if they think Geralton could be Australia's Silicon Valley. 0:16:42.520 --> 0:16:45.760 Don't know anything about it? 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:46.520 Is it a mine? 0:16:46.720 --> 0:16:49.760 I see? Silicon Valley is like this really innovative place 0:16:49.760 --> 0:16:53.400 in America where all their startups begin, Like Google all 0:16:53.480 --> 0:16:56.320 kind of started from Silicon Valley, so it's kind of 0:16:56.320 --> 0:16:59.040 seen as this really entrepreneurial. 0:16:58.160 --> 0:17:00.000 Place to be technology. 0:17:00.200 --> 0:17:03.400 Yeah, a real tech take your own place. Why wouldn't 0:17:03.400 --> 0:17:04.119 you go to Perth for that? 0:17:04.359 --> 0:17:05.840 Or are you look they're looking for. 0:17:05.800 --> 0:17:08.159 Somewhere different to Perth or yeah, I don't know. 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:11.240 We're the biggest regional town normal. 0:17:11.000 --> 0:17:15.800 Per But so you don't think that would be a 0:17:15.840 --> 0:17:16.359 good idea. 0:17:16.880 --> 0:17:19.000 I just feel like during lax a little bit. 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:22.520 So if Geraldon was never going to cut it as 0:17:22.560 --> 0:17:25.720 a tech center, why would Allan be so interested in 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:28.520 the town? A local couple fills us. 0:17:28.440 --> 0:17:32.520 In Mainly because there are people with money and sometimes 0:17:32.600 --> 0:17:37.040 you have limited ideas if you don't have a financial advisor, 0:17:37.119 --> 0:17:39.720 you just think, oh wow, that sounds great, that sounds 0:17:40.280 --> 0:17:44.040 like it could work, but maybe they don't do the research. 0:17:44.119 --> 0:17:47.320 So because there is some money here, because we've got 0:17:47.359 --> 0:17:50.960 the farming, Yeah, we've got the farming. We've got also 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:53.800 the gray fish industry, there are people with money here, 0:17:53.880 --> 0:17:56.320 and if you're wanting to grow your money and invest 0:17:57.040 --> 0:18:00.040 I'd say that would probably be the reasons maybe the 0:18:00.119 --> 0:18:04.280 reasons why. And it's a remoteness from the city as well. 0:18:04.760 --> 0:18:08.240 And there is also a little bit of a small town, 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:12.120 small community mentality too, so you tend to trust people 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:13.240 that comes into town. 0:18:14.160 --> 0:18:16.920 There are many investors in town, but not many willing 0:18:16.960 --> 0:18:20.080 to talk to us. Some are still true believers in 0:18:20.119 --> 0:18:23.440 Allan's vision and others just don't want to think about 0:18:23.480 --> 0:18:24.359 Safe World ever. 0:18:24.400 --> 0:18:24.760 Again. 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:28.640 One man is open to a visit, though, Warren Bardon, 0:18:29.040 --> 0:18:31.520 a distant cousin of Phil who we'd met in Perth. 0:18:32.840 --> 0:18:35.399 Warren has lived in geraldon his whole life, and you 0:18:35.480 --> 0:18:38.240 can tell because he wasn't breaking a sweat in the 0:18:38.320 --> 0:18:41.000 non air conditioned house we met him in even though 0:18:41.040 --> 0:18:45.240 the mercury was topping forty four degrees. Warren, his brother 0:18:45.359 --> 0:18:48.560 and his dad invested in the Safe World's program through 0:18:48.680 --> 0:18:53.200 Rod McKay, who Phil also mentioned. Unlike Phil, Warren didn't 0:18:53.240 --> 0:18:54.480 know Rod beforehand. 0:18:55.160 --> 0:18:58.439 He was sort of the main player in West Australia Safeworlds. 0:18:58.760 --> 0:19:02.359 My brother was. He liked the idea and everyone he 0:19:02.440 --> 0:19:04.080 spoke to one of the pieces of the. 0:19:04.119 --> 0:19:07.280 Safewelds and you wanted a piece of it as well. Yeah, 0:19:07.320 --> 0:19:10.199 so what did they say to you? What did you 0:19:10.240 --> 0:19:12.000 think it was that made you want a piece of it? 0:19:12.280 --> 0:19:16.280 Well, mainly pushing the idea that it's a lot better 0:19:16.280 --> 0:19:22.000 than Google and it'll overtake Google. We will finish up 0:19:22.040 --> 0:19:24.600 having its own banking systems and all sorts like that. 0:19:24.600 --> 0:19:27.159 We were told Alan when he come across here. He 0:19:27.280 --> 0:19:30.360 said that basically Google at the time was worth ran 0:19:30.400 --> 0:19:33.360 about thousand dollars a year, and everybody sort of said, wow, 0:19:33.960 --> 0:19:36.520 it's worth checking some money out. So everyone sort of 0:19:36.520 --> 0:19:37.439 just jumped on board with it. 0:19:38.160 --> 0:19:40.760 When Alan flew into Geraldton and held a meeting for 0:19:40.840 --> 0:19:45.320 potential investors in town, Warren went along. He can't remember 0:19:45.359 --> 0:19:47.840 when it was, though he did start investing in two 0:19:47.880 --> 0:19:48.720 thousand and nine. 0:19:49.280 --> 0:19:50.760 Where was the meeting? Was it in a kind of 0:19:50.800 --> 0:19:51.679 town hall or. 0:19:53.280 --> 0:19:56.000 Down the Ocean center down there? The conference room there, 0:19:56.400 --> 0:19:57.920 and we might ed to check that out in the 0:19:57.960 --> 0:19:59.000 middle of town there. 0:19:58.920 --> 0:20:02.080 And were there many people? How many people? 0:20:02.880 --> 0:20:03.760 In thirty or forty? 0:20:03.800 --> 0:20:06.760 There was he showing you anything, showcasing anything. 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:09.520 I remember he did try to shower something on the computer, 0:20:09.640 --> 0:20:11.200 but he couldn't get it sort of work, and probably 0:20:11.240 --> 0:20:14.600 can sort of blame Telta or something that anyway, So 0:20:15.119 --> 0:20:18.080 he just kept talking about how great it was. 0:20:18.920 --> 0:20:21.919 Even with the text crew up. Warren was convinced and 0:20:21.960 --> 0:20:25.280 put in some money. The next time Alan came to town, 0:20:25.359 --> 0:20:26.440 it was more eventful. 0:20:26.720 --> 0:20:29.040 The second meeting, a couple of people just walked down 0:20:29.080 --> 0:20:32.800 the meeting. Really, I remember Alan saying, well, then they 0:20:32.880 --> 0:20:34.679 run to walkout if they want to walk out something. 0:20:35.640 --> 0:20:37.520 Well, do you know why they walked out? 0:20:37.760 --> 0:20:39.520 I think they thought it wasn't going to happen. 0:20:40.880 --> 0:20:45.119 Yeah, well that's kind of pretty like strong reaction to it. 0:20:45.200 --> 0:20:46.800 Were you were you tempted to walk out? 0:20:47.119 --> 0:20:47.320 No? 0:20:47.440 --> 0:20:50.480 Not really no, no, yeah, Like I said, he's got 0:20:50.480 --> 0:20:53.919 the idea. And when you speak to people like Rod McKay, 0:20:53.960 --> 0:20:57.119 well he was actually really on the committee apparently, and 0:20:57.119 --> 0:21:00.320 he was on the board or whatever you say. He's 0:21:00.359 --> 0:21:03.080 a very honest person. And I heard he put quite 0:21:03.119 --> 0:21:06.040 a bit of money in it. And so you work 0:21:06.080 --> 0:21:08.960 on trust when you're working with those or meet those 0:21:09.000 --> 0:21:09.880 sort of people. 0:21:09.760 --> 0:21:14.280 You know, working on trust. Warren ended up investing big time. 0:21:14.680 --> 0:21:17.240 I think I finished up putting him about twenty twenty 0:21:17.280 --> 0:21:20.800 thousand in. I bought shares for me kids, you know, 0:21:20.800 --> 0:21:22.560 a couple of thousand shares each, sort of two and 0:21:22.600 --> 0:21:24.560