Finance
Latest
Royal Commission: extortionate bank fees even on cash
The gaze of Royal Commissioner Kenneth Hayne will be fixed upon industry funds for the next couple of weeks.
Tax
Latest
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
Latest
Declare NEG “dead, buried” and wait for the election
The best outcome for electricity consumers would be for state governments to kill the National...
Government
Latest
Exempt: how Defence dodges the taxman
Foreign military contractors have been awarded a staggering $73 billion in contracts, apparently tax-free, because successive governments have struck contracts directly with offshore companies, even as far afield as the Atlantic tax haven of Bermuda.
Business
Latest
Dee Why RSL: pokies, prodigious profits and personal tragedy
Gary van Duinen took his own life after a thirteen-hour binge on the pokies two months ago. His...
Markets
Latest
How super funds play the rating game (part 1)
It’s that time of the year again when super funds release their annual performance. Chris Brycki...
Despatch
Despatch
Sydney Democracy Network
Sydney Democracy Network
Recent Stories
Censored? ASIC leak vanishes from ABC website quicker than a Snickers
A story about Australia’s corporate regulator titled, ASIC plans to rebrand itself as “strong, vigilant and fair”, was posted on the ABC’s website on Sunday evening. The story was taken down yesterday.
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#ReefGate: extinct disclosures and the Karl Metric
“The @GBRFoundation deserves and will use every cent in its arsenal to save the reef,” declared Today Show host Karl Stefanovich over the weekend, hardly suspecting the Twitter onslaught which was to follow.
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Spin trumps evidence in driving aged care policy
At the current Senate Inquiry into ‘Financial and tax practices of for-profit aged care...
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Cereal Offenders: how the sugar lobby wins friends and targets enemies
Leaked documents have revealed the secret tactics used by a food industry front group to sanitise negative messages about breakfast cereals
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Ross Garnaut: The Future of Chinese Economic Growth
At any level of development in any country, but especially from upper-middle incomes, growth...
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How Australian media put Pravda in the shade
Hook, line and sinker. Mainstream media has swallowed the government’s latest PR stunt on tax as if it were the most unimpeachable of peer-reviewed scientific formulae. When it comes to rewriting political press releases, they’ve put Pravda in the shade.
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The persecution of big business knows no bounds
If you have tears, prepare to shed them now. For there is a victim in these parts, a leviathan victim. Persecuted and forsaken, it is the Business Council of Australia, the collective of the world’s biggest companies which operate in Australia.
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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...
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My Health Record: the doctor’s tale
If you’re the sort of person who’s never had a parking ticket and has a similarly unremarkable medical history then you can almost certainly ignore this. On the other hand, if you are one of the one in three of women who have had a termination of pregnancy in their lifetime, or last year you were among the one in five people who had a mental health issue, or among the 125,000 people treated for an alcohol or drug problem, you need to read this.
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Aged Care: corporate conflicts run deep
Eldercare profits are at record levels, numbers of trained nurses are down by a third, and the number of residents who need special care are up 50 per cent. The Senate Inquiry into the Financial and Tax Practices of For-Profit Aged-Care Providers kicks off tomorrow. Is the system broken? Are taxpayers getting value for money? In this opinion piece, Michael Wynne of Aged Care Crisis, an independent volunteer organisation which advocates for aged care residents, writes that cost-cutting and the pursuit of profits often come at the expense of care. As ageing demographics are exploding, the system needs an overhaul.
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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.
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Gas: importing exports will lead to more profiteering
Australia is destined to become the world’s biggest exporter of gas, writes analyst Bruce Robertson. Importing gas to solve the challenge of rampaging gas prices is ludicrous and only paves the way for the gas cartel to further profiteer at the expense of consumers. The answer is clear; a “domestic reservation policy” which earmarks Australian gas for Australia consumers. What is lacking is political will.
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