Finance
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WestConnex: Labor’s triumph of politics over policy
Towering behind them was The Grand Organ, the world's largest organ. As they rose to address the Labor Party faithful that day at Sydney Town Hall, Bill Shorten and NSW Labor leader Luke Foley may not have known it but beneath them lay ten thousand bones.
Tax
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Lend Lease: double dipping and Dutch tripping
What Lendlease has been doing is buying villages, claiming a bonanza of deductions by changing the contracts from lease to loan arrangements, booking the benefit of those deductions to its bottom line, and ignoring the tax law that says you can’t double dip.
Energy
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Nine Lies: how the gas cartel clouted Australia with price rises
There is not a gas market. There is a gas cartel. Ergo the nosebleed price rises. Four players dominate production in Australia and exports of liquid natural gas (LNG) too: Santos, Origin Energy, Shell and Exxon/BHP. The latter are effectively one player as they enjoy joint-marketing arrangements.
Government
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Opening statement to Senate Aged Care Inquiry
There is a conflict of interest in corporations operating aged care facilities in Australia. This is the conflict between maximising financial returns for shareholders and maintaining decent levels of care for the elderly.
Business
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Sam Chisholm and the sorry state of Australia’s digital media landscape
It was Sam Chisholm’s backroom antics which helped cause Telstra’s decline and led to...
Markets
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Titanium had a lot of brass
Sky News presenter: “So, a 200 per cent return – correct me if I’m wrong –...
Sydney Democracy Network
Sydney Democracy Network
Despatch
Despatch
Recent Stories
Homelessness, government outsourcing and “getting kids off the books”
The job of dealing with homeless children is not like a plumbing job, says Laurie Matthews. You can’t just call the plumber and get the drain fixed.
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Retirement villages: how grandma and grandpa become corporate financiers
It would be interesting to know just how many retirees know, when they finally alight upon a leafy retirement village to while away their twilight years, that they are using their nest eggs to make a large, unsecured, interest-free loan to a property developer.
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Scourge of lobbyists to continue in a change of government
It looks if the scourge of lobbyists will continue in Canberra if Bill Shorten wins the next election. As with the Coalition, there is no sign the ALP is prepared to curb the way lobbyists are corrupting public policy in Australia.
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Crisis Telstra: we’ve seen that movie before
Each part of Telstra CEO Andy Penn’s dramatic company overhaul – which involves shedding...
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Tony Abbott and the machinations of the Ramsay Centre imbroglio
Tony Abbott may have ruined his own dream of running the Ramsay Centre, but he couldn’t have...
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Businesses kowtowing to Beijing is nothing new — ask Qantas
Qantas’ recent concession to the Chinese government reminds us that if you want to do...
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Foreign company rights to sue Australia are still in the trade pact mix
Multinationals suing governments when they don’t fancy a change in Australia’s laws which might hit their profits? It’s not current Labor Party policy. It’s not Greens policy or that of the cross-benchers. The former ALP government spurned it too. Former PM John Howard rejected it for the US Free Trade Agreement.
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WestConnex sale looms as bidding duel narrows to Transurban, industry funds
It is little wonder that trust in government is bruised by the day. The secrecy and dissembling over Australia’s largest infrastructure project, WestConnex, is a case in point.
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Trump talks America First but his actions are China First
Donald Trump promised to put America, and especially American workers, first in every decision,...
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Companies to sue for defamation? Nip this in the bud
Allowing companies to sue is a threat to free speech, writes contributing editor for The Monthly, Paddy Manning.
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Crushing dissent
what they had not anticipated was that Robertson would go public and that his “allegations” – rather than being unfounded and defamatory, reckless, disparaging, dishonest, misleading, extremely false and denigrating – were true.
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Global lawmakers should follow Australia’s lead on cigarette packaging
Lawmakers in South East Asia should follow Australia’s lead and stomp out “glamorous” cigarette...
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ETF Fightback: passive manager attacks the active myths
It’s no coincidence that the groups most threatened by the groundswell of money into ETFs and index investing are also their staunchest and most vocal opponents. Any time there is hostile press on ETFs, you can be sure the author behind it is an active fund manager.
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CBA’s BankWest takeover debacle and APRA’s “appalling” regulatory fail
When the HBOS Group collapsed in 2008, UK taxpayers were left to fund a £17 billion bank bail-out. It was a prudential disaster that contributed to the break-up of the UK’s Financial Services Authority (FSA).
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The Price of Silence: by Commonwealth Bank whistleblower Dr Benjamin Koh
The Commonwealth Bank’s psychopathic pursuit of profits came into came into full view when its former chief medical officer Dr Benjamin Koh went public about Comminsure, the bank’s life insurance arm, cheating sick and dying customers on insurance policies they had paid for for years.
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Top 40: tax flipside of the big bad banks
The biggest taxpayer in Australia is Commonwealth Bank, which showered the national coffers with an humongous $9.3 billion over three years. Between them, the Big Four banks recorded $31 billion in tax payable.
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Top 40: Platinum takes gong as Australia’s top corporate taxpayer
Australia’s number one corporate taxpayer is Platinum Asset Management. Founded and controlled by legendary investor Kerr Neilson, Platinum pays more tax, dollar-for-dollar of income, than any other large company in this country.
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Aveo’s billions: behind the impenetrable aged-care empire
From Hong Kong and Malaysia, from the tax havens of Bermuda and the British Virgin Islands and...
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Road-bump for government by consultants amid UK calls for Big Four bust-up
The ultimate “take-out” is that the cost of government is rising, not falling, despite the cuts to bureaucracy and despite the rhetoric of private sector efficiency
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Leaders in denial on climate as emissions blow out
NEXT TIME you hear a political leader talk about progress in curbing greenhouse emissions, bear...
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Stranglehold: global tech giants push up prices
Noticed the price of an Uber sneaking up lately? Rising fees perhaps from online travel agencies...
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Marty Cohen: the man behind CBA’s sales culture unveiled
“Rah-rah-style motivational forums” and a $40 million chit for US consultant Marty Cohen helped to shape the aggressive cross-selling Commonwealth Bank sales culture which led, in part, to the customer disaster now unfolding at the banking Royal Commission. Michael Sainsbury reports.
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Great Barrier Reef: funding links to climate sceptics and political donors
Of the half a billion dollars earmarked for the Great Barrier Reef in Tuesday’s Budget, the lion’s share goes to a foundation with climate-denial links and whose patrons make the largest donations to the ruling Liberal National Party coalition
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Stacking boards with mates and creating group think mentality a recipe for disaster
Does the Game of Mates extend to board appointments? According to Sherene Smith‘s research,...
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View the complete top 40 Tax Dodgers list here
View the complete top 40 Tax Heroes list here
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