THE retail king Gerry Harvey may have a personal fortune of about $1.6 billion but the Harvey Norman founder thinks donating to charity is “just wasted”.
Asked in a new book about the role he and Harvey Norman play in the community, Mr Harvey said giving money to people who “are not putting anything back into the community” is like “helping a whole heap of no-hopers to survive for no good reason”.
He said he believed in helping “develop people to their potential” because “when they achieve [their potential] they will put a lot more back into the community”.
“You could go out and give a million dollars to a charity tomorrow to help the homeless. You could argue that it is just wasted. They are not putting anything back into the community.
“It might be a callous way of putting it but what are they doing? You are helping a whole heap of no-hopers to survive for no good reason. They are just a drag on the whole community.
“So did that million you gave them help? It helped to keep them alive but did it help our society? No. Society might have been better off without them but we are supposed to look after the disadvantaged and so we do it. But it doesn’t help the society.”
Mr Harvey added: “That is not to say we don’t give money away to charities because we have given plenty away over the years. At the end of the day, the more quality individuals you develop in the community, the better off the community should be.”
Earlier this year, Harvey Norman donated beds to a charity, Bridge Back to Life, that helps homeless men find rental accommodation.
The comments are in a new book, Master CEOs, by the Sydney funds manager Matthew Kidman.
Clare Martin, the chief executive of the Australian Council of Social Service, said: “I have really been impressed at corporate Australia and their real involvement in the wider community … and I always thought that Harvey Norman shared that as well.
“It does surprise me that Gerry Harvey, who’s a very significant business figure, should not share the values of many other corporates.”
In the interview, Mr Harvey also said that despite his wealth, “I still have a fear about going broke. I always think about it.”
By Michael Evans
Right of reply for the billionaire fascist 🙂
Gerry Harvey Responds
26 November, 2008
It caused a passionate response, media reports that one of this city’s best known businessmen, Gerry Harvey had little time for the idea of giving money to the homeless…
He was quoted in The Sydney Morning Herald as saying that giving a leg up to people who ‘are not putting anything back into the community’ is like ‘helping a whole heap of no-hopers to survive for no good reason’.
His comments were a part of a new book, Master CEO’s. He has since said how much pain these reports caused him and joined Adam Spencer on 702 Breakfast to respond and explain his argument.
When asked if he really thinks that giving to the homeless is pointless, Mr Harvey said “Definitely not…the point is, I give a lot to all these charities, millions and millions and millions over the years, and I said, I’ve got the quote in front of me, ‘It’s sort of wasted in some respect giving it to people that you’re going to get no result from, but I still give it to them, we still should give it to them.’ I didn’t say at any stage that we shouldn’t give them the money.”
Gerry Harvey explained to Adam the essence of his message. “I believe you should help people. My point was, kids go to school, we develop them at school, we develop them later on in the workplace so that we get better quality individuals, so that we get less people that are dependent or get into problems. So, my real point was, let’s create better quality people, more of them so we have less people dependent.”
He describes a quality individual as “Someone that’s responsible for their own actions, they do the best they can in terms of educating themselves, helping others, just being a good corporate citizen.”
"Gerry Harvey has received $7.6 million in JobKeeper subsidies, and has increased profits by 20% this year. Now he wants volunteer sales assistants…" – from FB
Just another wealthfare bludger pic.twitter.com/rQSzhYj28E
— Mick Lawless – Planetary Patriot 🌏 ⏳ 🐨 (@motorcymick) November 24, 2020
His remarks are insensitive, blunt and careless. Don’t he realize that people have real psychological and emotional issues, many created by these giant corporates themselves.
Monopoly and export from overseas is also some of the reasons contributing to poverty.
Family breakdown, sexual immorality, sexual abuse of women and children, gambling, alcohol abuse are some of the many reasons that people suffer, children suffer and they lose their mindset or get shaken so badly that they can’t recover.
It shows how ignorant Harvey is how hard his heart is. He needs to gain more knowledge.
That’s an absurd statement Gerry Harvey made, even after backtracking & white washing it. Whenever you help a family who are homeless, it’s not like they hoard the money & put it under one of Gerry’s mattresses! The money goes on food at the shop, petrol at a service station, books for children at a book shop etc. The money gets put onto the economy.
You’re a mean nasty old man Gerry Harvey & money is the only god you worship.