Finance
Knapp: Big Four failed Australia for their multinational clients
This submission by Jeffrey Knapp to the current Parliamentary Inquiry into the Regulation of Auditing in Australia documents how the Big 4 audit firms – KPMG, PwC, Deloitte and EY – have undermined Australian auditing and financial reporting practice for multinational clients.
Tax
Tender Truncheons: Lendlease concedes Tax Office closes net on retirement village racket
"Outlaw these indulgent and selfish practices that threaten the livelihood of fellow Australians," declared Scott Morrison last week as the protests raged outside a Melbourne mining conference. Tax avoidance, Lendlease.
Energy
Gas: how Australia privatised the profits and socialised the losses
Norway delivered its oil & gas riches to its people, Australia delivered the profits into foreign hands, having done the exploration, spending years and billions proving up giant gas fields. As the gas cartel rakes in the profits exporting LNG at the expense of local consumers
Government
Latest Aussie Tax Haven Sale: Pyramids of Brookfield get Treasurer’s tick to take aged care empire
Five people died at a children's hospital in Scotland built by Brookfield, billions have been stripped offshore in Australian assets, yet Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has approved the sale of the nursing home and retirement village business Aveo.
Business
Tabcorp’s welfare payment from RSL veterans fund keeps pokie losses ticking
The RSL in Victoria is captured by the pokies lobby and Tabcorp. As we remember the fallen on Remembrance Day, don’t forget the dubious deals and scandals besetting the RSL, writes journalist and anti-gaming campaigner Stephen Mayne
Markets
Australia falls to stone cold last in Credit Suisse wealth report
An influential global wealth survey has highlighted the world’s greatest loser in economic outcomes this year — Australia. Alan Austin reports.
Despatch
News Takes and Updates
Despatch
Latest
Abbott & Turnbull right on the NBN … for all the wrong reasons
The National Broadband Network is an unmitigated disaster not just for broadband delivery in Australia, but for how it has contributed to the devaluation of a whole industry sector.
Stories
Reserve Bank condemns Coalition mismanagement … not in so many words
Monetary policy can be helpful but fiscal stimulus is also clearly needed to halt Australia’s flagging economy. Such was the latest message from the Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe as the Coalition stubbornly clings to its budget surplus. Alan Austin reports.
Read More
PayDaze at IPFA: the Agency for Who Knows What leads the way on disclosure, not
October in Canberra heralds the annual reporting season for government departments and agencies. Given the interest in Angus Taylor’s brainchild, the Infrastructure and Project Financing Agency (IPFA), its latest 2018/19 Annual Report was eagerly anticipated. Jommy Tee reports.
Read More
Toxic “Safety” orders the latest tool to shut down free speech
It’s #YourRightToKnow. There are many ways to silence the media. @MichaelWestBiz reports on the latest abuse against free speech.
Read More
Whistleblower: another Australian intelligence officer in trouble with the law
One of the more puzzling aspects of the 12 month incarceration of Australian-British academic Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert by the Iranian regime is that the Australian government decided to stay silent about the whole thing.
Read More
Exhumed: evidence Barnaby Joyce whitewashed role in Watergate
A long forgotten 2006 transcript from the ABC’s 7:30 Report bowls up undisputed evidence that Barnaby Joyce deliberately stonewalled and fudged the facts about his role in the #Watergate scandal.
Read More
Privatisation Fetish and QE: will government surrender the economic rescue to the banks?
Three interest rate cuts have failed to lift the economy. As have the Government’s $1080 tax breaks. Printing money is now a serious option. Quantitative Easing they call it, or “QE”.
Read More
Particracy Rules: the triumph of clever politics over leadership
We live in a particracy – the party-room rules and we are run by clever politicians, not leaders with courage and the fortitude to make tough decisions.
Read More
True Lies: Mathias Cormann caught by his own department for economic fairy tales
Mathias Cormann has been exposed for gilding the lily by a report from his own government department, or maybe he just got the facts wildly wrong. The report proved Australia’s Finance Minister wrong on Australia’s gross debt, net worth, taxation levels, infrastructure, government spending and the surplus
Read More
Homes Alone: despite record rates, Australia lags world as housing crisis grips
Thinking of building a new house? Well, you are among millions worldwide doing exactly that right now. But you are probably not an Australian. Alan Austin reports.
Read More
Toxic Tests: why is US Army funding Tafenoquine drug trials on Perth students?
Why is the US army funding antimalarial trials on Perth’s cash-strapped students with a drug found to be neurotoxic a decade ago?
Read More
Streaming Wars: the battle for Australian subscriptions heats up
From Netflix and Stan to Amazon Prime Video, YouTube Premium and Foxtel/Kayo Sports, Australia is a battleground for worldwide entertainment behemoths and local players vying for our collective eyeballs and our streaming dollars
Read More
The Streisand Effect: lawyers’ threats backfire amid the rising trade in hurt feelings
Clive Palmer is suing Youtube sensation Jordan Shanks for defamation. Instead of capitulating however, Shanks doubled down and tore strips off Palmer in the funniest response to a legal threat yet.
Read More
Big Cotton eyes off the wild rivers of Northern Australia
Water chasers, with Big Cotton as the central actor, are eyeing off the wild rivers of Northern Australia.
Read More
Whither the Economy? the MWI measures the Government on its own priorities
Where is the Australian economy heading? The new MW Index rates the Government according to the...
Read More
Frank and fearless advice? Stop political donations from government consultants
The Coalition’s binge on consultants to replace “frank and fearless” advice from public servants has earned it the nickname The Dairy
Read More
A Netflix Original: Dreams of Theft Downunder
Dreams of Tax Theft Downunder is the story of Netflix Inc, a company from the United States which lusts after tax-free money from Downunder. Masquerading as a small-time debt collector,
Read More
Budget repair well under way? Not so fast Josh Frydenberg
The federal Government is desperate to depict the 2018-19 budget finalised on Thursday as evidence of a sound economy and budget repair well underway. It proves the opposite. Alan Austin reports.
Read More
Mates Deal: ASIC tweaks the law, #Watergate data buried
The company at the centre of the #Watergate scandal has been gifted a cushy exemption from filing financial reports by the corporate regulator.
Read More
China drives Australian flying school frenzy — and punters are out for blood
The expected arrival of thousands of Chinese pilot training students over the next decade is driving the current Australian pilot training school frenzy – and the punters are out for blood, Michael Sainsbury reports.
Read More
Corporatocracy: inside the Cash Ban
The Government and Opposition are about to push through laws to hobble the cash economy, laws based on advice from KPMG. Michael West looks at the real reasons behind the jihad on cash.
Read More
MW30
Top 40 Tax Dodgers
Revolving Doors
Subscribe
This website must remain free, to reach the largest possible audience. If you can spare $5 a month, join the fight.
Don't pay so you can read it. Pay so everybody can read it.
Subscriptions can be changed at anytime by logging into