Aged Care fail – and now a Budget bonanza for Home Care freeloaders
The highest level of home care support costs $52,000. This $1000 a week buys, on average, less than nine hours of support. There’s plenty of skimming going on by aged care providers, some of whom are the nation’s biggest corporatised charities. With the budget expected to boost the number of home care packages without demanding any oversight, providers will be rubbing their hands with glee. Dr Sarah Russell reports.
Astra Zeneca vaccine not effective against new Covid strains as African variant spreads to Indonesia
New studies show the Astra Zeneca vaccine, the workhorse of Australia’s vaccine program, is just 10% effective against the virulent South African Covid strain, which reached Indonesian shores this week. Callum Foote investigates.
Red Cross defied basic principles of blood safety by recruiting Hepatitis C-infected donors
The Red Cross actively encouraged people it knew were infected with Hepatitis C to continue to donate blood in defiance of basic principles of blood safety. As set out by World Health Organisation guidelines, a safe blood donor is healthy and has no risk factors for HIV or other infections. Knowingly including infected blood into a therapeutic setting is a basic breach. Elizabeth Minter reports Part II of the infected blood scandal investigation.
Chevron: What’s the Scam?
Shell: What’s the Scam?
EnergyAustralia: What’s the Scam?
In Cold Blood: how privatisation of CSL abandoned the victims of Australia’s public health tragedy
Pharmaceutical giant CSL is one of Australia’s greatest corporate success stories, although its profits were forged on the sacrifice of the many thousands of Australians who gave their blood for free. Elizabeth Minter investigates the deals which left victims of the infected blood scandal stranded without compensation.
Tamed Estate: cosy media club getting Coalition’s ‘drops’ expands to include Rupert’s tabloids
And in true Orwellian Doublespeak, Prime Minister Scott Morrison used the war footing to paint himself as the champion of peace. Michael Tanner reports.
Numbers can lie: the science behind opinion polls
Opinion polls are given far too much importance, particularly given their methodology is not transparent; their language can shape answers; and only a small percentage of those who are contacted respond. Yet polls may also independently shape voting choices. Michael Tanner reports.
Crooked Consulting: EY and Deloitte spruik climate on one hand, the explosion in new coal projects on the other
Australia is ramping up a slew of new coal projects just as global demand for coal is in retreat. It’s justified by dodgy “independent expert” reports from the likes of Big Four firms Deloitte and EY. Luke Stacey and Michael West report on the flawed economics of overpaid government consultants which justifies the rush to produce new coal despite a coal market in decline.
Crocodile tears no mask for Coalition’s economic war on women
Well may Scott Morrison tear up as he relates how his daughters, wife and widowed mother drive his every decision. The facts are that every move of the Coalition government ensures women are poorer, more insecure at work and more vulnerable to violence on the job. The Industrial Relations bill pushed through last week is a final nail in the coffin for women. Alison Pennington reports.
JobSlayer: gas giants grab $300m subsidy then axe 3000 workers
The Government touts gas as a key plank of JobMaker, its Covid-19 recession recovery plan. To help “support jobs” the government has given the gas industry $300 million of taxpayers’ money in subsidies. In return, the industry has cut about 3000 workers, more than 10% of it workforce, in a boom production year.
Aged Care fail – and now a Budget bonanza for Home Care freeloaders
The highest level of home care support costs $52,000. This $1000 a week buys, on average, less than nine hours of support. There’s plenty of skimming going on by aged care providers, some of whom are the nation’s biggest corporatised charities. With the budget expected to boost the number of home care packages without demanding any oversight, providers will be rubbing their hands with glee. Dr Sarah Russell reports.
Chevron: What’s the Scam?
Shell: What’s the Scam?
EnergyAustralia: What’s the Scam?
Featured Stories
Astra Zeneca vaccine not effective against new Covid strains as African variant spreads to Indonesia
New studies show the Astra Zeneca vaccine, the workhorse of Australia’s vaccine program, is just 10% effective against the virulent South African Covid strain, which reached Indonesian shores this week. Callum Foote investigates.
Red Cross defied basic principles of blood safety by recruiting Hepatitis C-infected donors
The Red Cross actively encouraged people it knew were infected with Hepatitis C to continue to donate blood in defiance of basic principles of blood safety. As set out by World Health Organisation guidelines, a safe blood donor is healthy and has no risk factors for HIV or other infections. Knowingly including infected blood into a therapeutic setting is a basic breach. Elizabeth Minter reports Part II of the infected blood scandal investigation.
In Cold Blood: how privatisation of CSL abandoned the victims of Australia’s public health tragedy
Pharmaceutical giant CSL is one of Australia’s greatest corporate success stories, although its profits were forged on the sacrifice of the many thousands of Australians who gave their blood for free. Elizabeth Minter investigates the deals which left victims of the infected blood scandal stranded without compensation.
Tamed Estate: cosy media club getting Coalition’s ‘drops’ expands to include Rupert’s tabloids
And in true Orwellian Doublespeak, Prime Minister Scott Morrison used the war footing to paint himself as the champion of peace. Michael Tanner reports.
Numbers can lie: the science behind opinion polls
Opinion polls are given far too much importance, particularly given their methodology is not transparent; their language can shape answers; and only a small percentage of those who are contacted respond. Yet polls may also independently shape voting choices. Michael Tanner reports.
“Now Is Not The Time To Talk About Building A Quarantine Facility”
<!– by The Shovel –> There will be other times to talk about building a purpose built facility to properly accommodate returning Australians, but that time is not now, the Prime Minister has told journalists. In a press conference to announce...
Bill And Melinda Gates’s Marriage Has Encountered A Problem And Needs To Close
<!– by The Shovel –> Bill and Melinda Gates have announced that they will be shutting down their marriage, after other attempts to keep it working failed. In a joint statement, the couple of 27 years blamed busy lives. “We have had too many...
Calls To Rename Dedicated Quarantine Facilities ‘Australian War Memorials’ To Ensure They Get Built
<!– by The Shovel –> More than a year after the pandemic began and with no plans for a dedicated quarantine facility in sight, The Shovel is calling on custom built facilities to be renamed ‘Australian War Memorials’ to ensure they are immediately...
Stuff made up by The Shovel
Tax Haven Weather
Pearls & Irritations
Has the Government’s economic strategy really changed, and what can we expect in future?
The Government’s new focus on unemployment as the key target for budget policy is welcome. But it will need to spend more and therefore tax more, if Australia is to achieve its full economic...
Tudge fudges school results and funding
The Minister for Education, Alan Tudge, was fudging figures to denigrate Australia’s school performance at the The Age education summit last week. He claimed the UK as the new benchmark for...
WTO and climate change – a clash of treaties
The emission reduction measures proposed by governments to meet their Paris Climate Agreement commitments will violate their legally binding WTO obligations. This clash of treaties will have...
Covid-19 Vaccines: Australia on the side of wealthy countries and Big Pharma
The Covid-19 vaccination program is becoming an ethical discussion of the difference between national vs global, private vs public, and whether to co-operate or to compete. It is also about who pays...
Why the Hawke-Keating government remains the gold standard
You don’t have to be partisan or nostalgic to lament the quality of political leadership in Australia. The mediocrity of the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison coalition governments, the chronic...
Courtesy of John Menadue.
Tax Haven Weather
Astra Zeneca vaccine not effective against new Covid strains as African variant spreads to Indonesia
New studies show the Astra Zeneca vaccine, the workhorse of Australia’s vaccine program, is just 10% effective against the virulent South African Covid strain, which reached Indonesian shores this week. Callum Foote investigates.
In Cold Blood: how privatisation of CSL abandoned the victims of Australia’s public health tragedy
Pharmaceutical giant CSL is one of Australia’s greatest corporate success stories, although its profits were forged on the sacrifice of the many thousands of Australians who gave their blood for free. Elizabeth Minter investigates the deals which left victims of the infected blood scandal stranded without compensation.
Numbers can lie: the science behind opinion polls
Opinion polls are given far too much importance, particularly given their methodology is not transparent; their language can shape answers; and only a small percentage of those who are contacted respond. Yet polls may also independently shape voting choices. Michael Tanner reports.
Revealed: Australia’s Top 40 Tax Dodgers for 2021
Drumroll … trumpets, red carpet: we are rolling out Australia’s Top 40 Tax Dodgers for 2021. Michael West unveils the villains and the heroes of the tax scene, including new gongs this year for Lifetime Achievement Award and UnAustralian of the Year.
The Usual Suspects: oil and gas majors star in Australian tax heist
Angus Taylor’s rescue package for the oil industry is a testament to governments getting gamed by large corporations. The latest Tax Office transparency data shows oil and gas juggernauts are Australia’s biggest tax cheats, again, yet now they are crying for public subsidies – and getting them – to prop up their oil refineries. Michael West reports on the good and the bad in multinational tax dodging land.
Confession time for Lendlease as Tax Office bears down on humungous tax rort
Nine Entertainment chief Hugh Marks dumped for having sex, Christine Holgate chopped at Australia Post over $20,000 in bonuses. Meanwhile, the top brass at Lendlease, having presided over a $500 million tax scam, nonchalantly say they are “continuing to engage with the ATO and await the finalisation of its draft determination”. Michael West reports.
New Nationals candidate rejects dirty tricks, Nats junk fake websites, yet John Barilaro defiant
Following Michael West Media’s report on domain squatting by the NSW Nationals in the lead-up to the Upper Hunter by-election, the Nationals candidate has directed the party to relinquish the domains, in apparent defiance of Nationals’ leader John Barilaro. Callum Foote reports.
Domain Squatters: Nationals play dirty website tactics to defeat foes in NSW by-election
The Nationals are counterfeiting the online identities of their political foes in a critical by-election in NSW by registering other peoples’ domain names, once again employing “bad faith” tactics that a regulator criticised them for using in 2019. Callum Foote reports.
End neo-liberal experiment: gutting of bureaucracy led to vaccine and aged care failures
The vaccine rollout debacle is further evidence that the federal Department of Health should not be in charge of reforming the aged care sector, as recommended by one of the Aged Care Royal Commissioners. And when will governments of all political persuasions finally wake up to the failed economic model that is neoliberalism? Dr Sarah Russell and Elizabeth Minter report.
Where’s Wally: find your favourite taxpayer subsidy to the fossil fuel giants
At almost $20,000 per minute, the Government spends more on fossil fuel subsidies than on the Australian Army, writes Rod Campbell.
Spermageddon: everyday chemicals lead to 50% drop in sperm count in Western men
Women will struggle to get pregnant naturally in the next few decades without stronger regulation of chemicals. Rates of miscarriages, abnormalities in penis development and intersexuality are all increasing at alarming levels. Professors Alex Ford and Gary Hutchison report.
“Scientifically Indefensible”: how a $13 billion political fix is killing the Murray Darling Basin
The federal government continues to squander $13 billion of taxpayers’ money in an unlawful mess that was supposed to fix this country’s greatest environmental catastrophe – the destruction of the Murray Darling Basin. It is a tale of political interference, scientific censorship and deception, pressure from lobbyists and bureaucratic cowardice. Richard Beasley SC reports.
JobMaker scheme fails youth as super accounts drained and JobKeeper bypassed gig economy
The Coalition government’s signature employment policy for young people JobMaker has created just 609 jobs. And thanks to the flawed design of JobKeeper, which shut out many young people from key financial support, superannuation accounts were emptied, for which the young will pay a heavy price down the track. Kathryn Daley, Belinda Johnson and Patrick O’Keefe report.
Psst, about that lazy $178 billion the banks have parked at the Reserve Bank …
The banks have $178 billion sitting on deposit with the Reserve Bank, earning zero interest. It was $155 billion a month ago. This is newly created money. In crude terms, the RBA is “printing” money hand over fist, but why are the banks not lending it? Why is there no nation-building infrastructure program like the US? Michael West investigates.
Group of Eight universities concede to ASIO, restrict vital research engagement with China
China is provoking every country in its region. But that is no reason to cut off all contact, including scientific engagement, particularly if we want to avoid war, writes Brian Toohey.
Astra Zeneca vaccine not effective against new Covid strains as African variant spreads to Indonesia
New studies show the Astra Zeneca vaccine, the workhorse of Australia’s vaccine program, is just 10% effective against the virulent South African Covid strain, which reached Indonesian shores this week. Callum Foote investigates.
In Cold Blood: how privatisation of CSL abandoned the victims of Australia’s public health tragedy
Pharmaceutical giant CSL is one of Australia’s greatest corporate success stories, although its profits were forged on the sacrifice of the many thousands of Australians who gave their blood for free. Elizabeth Minter investigates the deals which left victims of the infected blood scandal stranded without compensation.
Numbers can lie: the science behind opinion polls
Opinion polls are given far too much importance, particularly given their methodology is not transparent; their language can shape answers; and only a small percentage of those who are contacted respond. Yet polls may also independently shape voting choices. Michael Tanner reports.
Revealed: Australia’s Top 40 Tax Dodgers for 2021
Drumroll … trumpets, red carpet: we are rolling out Australia’s Top 40 Tax Dodgers for 2021. Michael West unveils the villains and the heroes of the tax scene, including new gongs this year for Lifetime Achievement Award and UnAustralian of the Year.
The Usual Suspects: oil and gas majors star in Australian tax heist
Angus Taylor’s rescue package for the oil industry is a testament to governments getting gamed by large corporations. The latest Tax Office transparency data shows oil and gas juggernauts are Australia’s biggest tax cheats, again, yet now they are crying for public subsidies – and getting them – to prop up their oil refineries. Michael West reports on the good and the bad in multinational tax dodging land.
Confession time for Lendlease as Tax Office bears down on humungous tax rort
Nine Entertainment chief Hugh Marks dumped for having sex, Christine Holgate chopped at Australia Post over $20,000 in bonuses. Meanwhile, the top brass at Lendlease, having presided over a $500 million tax scam, nonchalantly say they are “continuing to engage with the ATO and await the finalisation of its draft determination”. Michael West reports.
New Nationals candidate rejects dirty tricks, Nats junk fake websites, yet John Barilaro defiant
Following Michael West Media’s report on domain squatting by the NSW Nationals in the lead-up to the Upper Hunter by-election, the Nationals candidate has directed the party to relinquish the domains, in apparent defiance of Nationals’ leader John Barilaro. Callum Foote reports.
Domain Squatters: Nationals play dirty website tactics to defeat foes in NSW by-election
The Nationals are counterfeiting the online identities of their political foes in a critical by-election in NSW by registering other peoples’ domain names, once again employing “bad faith” tactics that a regulator criticised them for using in 2019. Callum Foote reports.
End neo-liberal experiment: gutting of bureaucracy led to vaccine and aged care failures
The vaccine rollout debacle is further evidence that the federal Department of Health should not be in charge of reforming the aged care sector, as recommended by one of the Aged Care Royal Commissioners. And when will governments of all political persuasions finally wake up to the failed economic model that is neoliberalism? Dr Sarah Russell and Elizabeth Minter report.
Where’s Wally: find your favourite taxpayer subsidy to the fossil fuel giants
At almost $20,000 per minute, the Government spends more on fossil fuel subsidies than on the Australian Army, writes Rod Campbell.
Spermageddon: everyday chemicals lead to 50% drop in sperm count in Western men
Women will struggle to get pregnant naturally in the next few decades without stronger regulation of chemicals. Rates of miscarriages, abnormalities in penis development and intersexuality are all increasing at alarming levels. Professors Alex Ford and Gary Hutchison report.
“Scientifically Indefensible”: how a $13 billion political fix is killing the Murray Darling Basin
The federal government continues to squander $13 billion of taxpayers’ money in an unlawful mess that was supposed to fix this country’s greatest environmental catastrophe – the destruction of the Murray Darling Basin. It is a tale of political interference, scientific censorship and deception, pressure from lobbyists and bureaucratic cowardice. Richard Beasley SC reports.
JobMaker scheme fails youth as super accounts drained and JobKeeper bypassed gig economy
The Coalition government’s signature employment policy for young people JobMaker has created just 609 jobs. And thanks to the flawed design of JobKeeper, which shut out many young people from key financial support, superannuation accounts were emptied, for which the young will pay a heavy price down the track. Kathryn Daley, Belinda Johnson and Patrick O’Keefe report.
Psst, about that lazy $178 billion the banks have parked at the Reserve Bank …
The banks have $178 billion sitting on deposit with the Reserve Bank, earning zero interest. It was $155 billion a month ago. This is newly created money. In crude terms, the RBA is “printing” money hand over fist, but why are the banks not lending it? Why is there no nation-building infrastructure program like the US? Michael West investigates.
Group of Eight universities concede to ASIO, restrict vital research engagement with China
China is provoking every country in its region. But that is no reason to cut off all contact, including scientific engagement, particularly if we want to avoid war, writes Brian Toohey.
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