Latest Government Stories

Under the foreign interference legislation, Ian Cunliffe, a lawyer with 50 years’ experience, faces many decades in jail for daring to influence public policy with his campaigning. His fate now rests in the hands of Attorney General Christian Porter.

Michael Tanner weighs the evidence as Victorian Premier Dan Andrews charts a way out of the state’s lockdown.

The privatisation of the Australian Public Service is proceeding at a staggering pace. Documents accessed under FoI laws reveal that even senior roles, including assistant directors, executive officers and ministerial advisers, are outsourced. It is hidden, unaccountable and rips off taxpayers. Geordie Wilson reports.

Claims that the release of information poses a risk to national security can be used to avoid legitimate scrutiny of conduct. If ever there were reasons to suspect a cover-up by this government, the Bernard Collaery and Witness K court cases are prime examples, writes Ian Cunliffe.

Everyone knocks Google and Facebook, but the government’s proposal to force them to hand a colossal sum of money to local media companies is the nearest thing to ‘sovereign risk’ you’ll ever see, writes Bernard Keane.

We live in a time when politicians saying “the buck stops here” only applies when there is not a problem, writes Michael Pascoe.

The Liberals have appointed all the key personnel to corporate cop ASIC. The decision on whether to appeal the loss it suffered in the court case it brought against advertising mogul Harold Mitchell will be a key test. Stephen Mayne makes the case for an appeal.

Instead of crafting policies to tackle causes rather than symptoms of issues, Australian leaders have used terror laws to turn social and national problems into security issues that demand a military response. Allan Behm investigates.

Attorney General Christian Porter failed to disclose his use of controversial National Security Information (NSI) orders in criminal proceedings, blaming an “administrative oversight”.

Christian Porter is waging war against Bernard Collaery and his client in pushing the line that the sky will fall in if the Commonwealth has to admit in open court that ASIS bugged Timor-Leste officials. Yet the allegation has been noted in hundreds of reports and nobody seems in any doubt it is true. Lawyer Ian Cunliffe reports on the latest judgment in the saga that has cost nearly $2.5 million before the trial has even started.

Dr Sarah Russell critically examines two documents that Scott Morrison asserts were the federal government’s pandemic plan for aged care. The first is a set of vague guidelines that places responsibility for protecting residents on individual providers. The second is a plan for the health sector, not aged care.

From Robodebt to Ruby Princess, politicians are past masters at ducking responsibility, though busy prosecuting their perceived foes. Will they stop at nothing to avoid being accountable, asks Elizabeth Minter. Taxpayers are on the hook for $3 million in court costs fighting whistleblowers, and threatened High Court action to stop a federal employee giving evidence to the Ruby Princess Inquiry. All the while, in the absence of a federal anti-corruption commission, the political scandals unfold, and pass without consequence.

The publicly owned workers compensation scheme paid for a right-wing US political operative to work in Treasurer Dominic Perrottet’s office. Instead of ordering a judicial inquiry into the scandal, Premier Gladys Berejiklian continues to stand by her man, writes Wendy Bacon.

The Commonwealth has been extremely cruel to Centrelink recipients but there’s no suggestion that those who designed and implemented Robodebt will face any punishment. Yet lawyers who unwittingly cause distress to public officials when defending clients could face criminal charges.

Trump is adding to the US sanctions list at a rate never seen before, without Congressional oversight or the requirement to produce evidence. Sanctioning the International Criminal Court over its unanimous ruling to investigate US military personnel for alleged war crimes could see the names of victims of war crimes added to a list previously reserved for terrorists, war criminals, dictators and international drug lords.

If it’s good enough for tennis stars and entertainers, it’s good enough for multinational tax avoiders and consultants. Michael West addresses the Senate Inquiry into Finance and Public Administration today. This is an edited version of the opening statement to the Committee which oversees public accountability in which he calls for measures to protect Australian taxpayers from reckless spending and opaque disclosure.

Only one member of the Australian media questioned Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s narrative about the “innocent” failure of Kevin Rudd’s Closing the Gap scheme. This failure of accountability from all major Australian media outlets skirts over the $1 billion in funding cut from Indigenous services. Callum Foote lays down the real numbers in this investigation of yet another instance of media succumbing to Government public relations narratives.

Decode China, a new China news service in Australia is funded by the US State Department and has links to Falun Gong and ASPI, which is funded also by US arms manufacturers.