Finance
Mayday: two shadowy Chinese corporations behind Virgin’s plan to control Australian airbase
This is the story the Murdoch press buried. Investigative reporter, Anthony Klan, defected from The Australian newspaper after News Corp bosses muzzled his investigations, including this expose into secret Chinese plans to establish an aviation facility on an Australian airforce base.
Tax
Who Guards the Guards? Big Four prepare for war as beach-side senator brings corporate inquiry
A former school teacher from Copacabana Beach has just locked horns with the four most powerful private institutions on the planet. And they don't like it. The shoddy audit standards, massive government consulting business and global tax avoidance
Energy
The Ultimate Gouge: why Australia, the world’s #1 exporter, now imports gas
What an outrage it is that the Northern Territory doesn't increase its grape production, rather than importing wine from South Australia! And what about those lazy Tasmanians; rather than producing their own mangoes and pineapples they import them from Queensland!
Government
In supporting jobless, Australia comes a stone cold, motherless last
Another global agency has exposed Australia as bringing up the rear in care for the disadvantaged. Alan Austin reports from Europe.
Business
Has ACCC let Facebook and Google off the hook?
Australia's consumer watchdog, the ACCC, has released its long-awaited final report on the market power of Facebook and Google. Long on rhetoric (all 623 pages of it) and short on recommendations, it's unlikely to dent the massive market power of these search and social media behemoths. Kim Wingerei reports.
Markets
Qantas and the Man with the Dragon Tattoo … and his “Uncle”
Qantas inked a freight deal with alleged associates of Chinese Triads in 2017. The airline clearly didn't check the bona fides of its business partners, which they could have googled in one-minute flat. Michael Sainsbury and Michael West report on Reuben Milne, the man behind the deal.
Despatch
News Takes and Updates
Despatch
Latest
ClubsNSW: silent on toxic pokies culture
The thuggish ClubsNSW, poker machine promoter extraordinaire and champion of NSW clubs' billion dollar pokies income, is given to whining about media coverage of the predatory clubs pokies culture. Yet this publication is yet to hear "boo".
Stories
Qantas gilds lily on Macau lobsters deal with Triads
“Possibly the most expensive crustaceans in history at roughly $4,000 per lobster”. Qantas took a multi-million dollar hit to its bottom line as it engaged in a drawn-out contractual battle with its Macau freight partner, JetFast Limited, a company which had financial backing from the son of an accused Triad kingpin.
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Fencegate: lawyer arrested, charged with crimes against humanity for sending too many emails to local council
Have you ever had a fence? Have you ever had a neighbour? When was the last time you were arrested and plonked in a police cell for annoying your local councillors? If you have tears, prepare to shed them now. Michael West reports on #fencegate.
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Propaganda Prescription: how Australia can get its economic mojo back
The Liberal Party, its ideological ally the IPA and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp have done a remarkable job of pushing the false narrative of superior Liberal economic management. The Labor Party has invited submissions to its 2019 campaign review. Alan Austin, who offers a solution.
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Revealed: Qantas venture with Triads skids off runway
Qantas has an unblemished record when it comes to safety. Unfortunately the same can’t be said when it comes to doing deals with international crime gangs. Michael Sainsbury reports.
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Australia falls to all-time OECD low on jobs but $A rallies against Zambian kwacha
Australia’s drift down the global league ladder continues, on a range of metrics. A sobering account of how Australia’s economy is faring versus those of its global peers by Alan Austin.
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Tailwinds: government denials heighten intrigue over Virgin’s veiled partners
There are Chinese interests behind aviation projects in Tasmania, Western Australia and southern NSW but the intrigue surrounding Virgin’s mega-pilot-school proposal for Tamworth makes it a special case. Anthony Klan reports on the latest twist in the Tamworth saga, the strange denials from NSW Government and local council.
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Private Health Insurance: time to dump it, says Menadue
Indefensible for public health, indefensible for taxpayers and their $12 billion subsidy. Private Health Insurance is a “wreck”, writes John Menadue. Put the funds into Medicare.
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Reform Calls: private health insurance at the crossroads
The Grattan Institute fears the private health insurance industry (PHI) is in a death spiral. Should taxpayers continue to subsidise PHI? Professor John Dwyer reports.
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Old Fashioned: club pokies profits soar, standards stagnate
Entirely dominated by old white Anglo-Irish men, the club poker machine industry fails basic corporate governance standards. Michael West reports the latest investigation of NSW clubs
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Barely legal: Arrium, a fee-fest for financiers, a misery-fest for shareholders
Hidden accounts, rapacious insolvency tactics, greedy bankers, weak government. The pillage of Arrium has been a travesty for shareholders and creditors and begs the question: should short-selling laws be upgraded to save vital industries from financial ruin?
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McKinsey & Co: Libs trounce Labor in consultant spending blow-outs
Analysis of McKinsey & Co contracts administered by Labor and LNP governments over the last 12 years shows cost blow-outs in eight out of 23 Coalition contracts compared with Labor’s two. The Coalition’s superior economic management narrative is taking quite a battering
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Extinction Crisis: Director of National Parks slammed by audit amid decade funding squeeze
IN APRIL 2017, the Commonwealth Director of National Parks (DNP) translocated eight endangered Norfolk Island green parrots from Norfolk Island to what was hoped would be their new home on Phillip Island.
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Licked and loaded: how much are clubs pushing free grog on pokies players?
Allegations that pubs and clubs in NSW fuel poker machine gambling with free alcohol will not go away. How much free alcohol is flowing in the gaming rooms of NSW?
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India’s water crisis: alarm bells for Australia, world economy
The arrival of monsoon season may not be enough to save India from the grip of a devastating water crisis. At what point does national crisis evolve to global catastrophe? Michael Sainsbury reports.
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Growth in jobs deteriorates since penalty rate cuts
Jobs growth in the retail and hospitality sectors has more than halved since the introduction of Sunday penalty rates, a new study has revealed. Mike Bruce reports.
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Pokie Profits Investigation: clubs put executive pay, the state and empire building before community service
Huge gaming profits versus a minuscule return to the community. Vaulting pay for their executives and billions for the NSW Government. These are the findings of the most in-depth investigation into top NSW club finances to date.
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Paul Barratt: Australia should not participate in conflict with Iran
Australia should not participate in any military action against Iran. The current tensions have been created by the Trump Administration, and the ANZUS Alliance creates no obligation for us to assist. The President of Australians for War Powers Reform and former Secretary, Department of Defence, Paul Barratt AO, reports.
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Indiore and Twitter: one good suspension deserves another
Lawyers are fond of sending threat letters and demanding those who receive them keep it “Private and Confidential”. There is no basis in law for keeping unsolicited threats “Private and Confidential”.
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Hospital Pass: Josh Frydenberg and the Coalition as, ahem, superior economic managers
Measuring the track record of Australia’s treasurers by worst growth figures detonates the Coalition myth of superior economic management. Michael West reports on 50 years of treasurers and Scott Morrison’s hospital pass to Josh Frydenberg.
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While global household incomes grow thanks to the boom, here’s why ours keep falling
When it comes to household income, Australians continue to miss out on the current boom being shared elsewhere in comparable countries. Why? Because the Coalition has set the levers – tax levels, tax non-collections, wages, penalty rates, government spending, infrastructure investment or rather lack of – to maximise corporate profits at the expense of most Australians. @AlanAustin001 reports.
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Revolving Doors
Australian politicians and bureaucrats with links to fossil fuel & resource extraction industries.
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Top 40 Tax Dodgers for 2019
Who are Australia’s biggest Corporate Tax Dodgers using 4 years Australian Tax Office transparency data.
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