The Albanese Government is refusing to release details of six gas reservation scheme options that could make energy significantly cheaper, arguing for secrecy which serves the interests of multinational gas companies. Transparency warrior Rex Patrick with the story.
Source: Redacted. Gas lobby in lock-step with Government on “secret” gas reservation options – Michael West
The Albanese government has to make a vital decision: support Australians who are financially under water, or keep an election promise. Economist Peter Martin reports on the controversial Stage 3 tax cuts.
But when asked in an Australia Institute survey what was more important – keeping a promise or reacting to changing economic circumstances – 61% picked reacting to changing circumstances.
Even among Coalition voters, 56% supported reacting to changing circumstances.
It puts the Stage 3 tax cuts in play. There’s still time, and plenty of electoral and economic reasons to rejig them.
So slow to change so fast to say No
The jury remains out on hydrogen. Yet a massive new fossil fuel project planned for Victoria’s Western Port Bay, to supply energy for Japan, is subsidised by state and federal governments. Sarah Russell and Jane Carnegie report on the risks to the local environment and the planet.
The HESC project plans to use coal gasification to create hydrogen from coal supplied by AGL in the Latrobe Valley. The project provides a new potential for coal to be burned many years longer than had been planned by AGL’s coal-fired power stations. HESC was given social licence and political impetus following the closure of Latrobe Valley coal production and the spectre of widespread unemployment.
A few years ago we outed News for orchestrating a $903 million loan to Foxtel. As if Foxtel needed a loan at the very apogee of its profitability. No matter, the loan carried a hefty interest rate of 12 per cent. So News was effectively lending money to its cashed-up pay TV business Foxtel at 12 per cent, claiming tax deductions on the loan and lending the money back to itself at an interest rate of zero.
Why has the prolific social media feed of the Chinese Communist Party watcher in Australia’s Parliament House suddenly gone quiet?
Source: Manchurian Candidate: prolific Chinese Communist spy hunter suddenly silent – Michael West
We are very excited to announce that Michael West Media will be starting an airline. We haven’t set a date yet, nor do we have any planes, pilots or stewards, but watch this space, tickets will be on sale soon!
We made this decision after Qantas – an actual airline with planes, pilots, stewards, and some very clever finance people, revealed to the world (and the ACCC) that although it is an airline, it doesn’t really sell airline tickets as such. Its customers are:
not buying a specific flight when they book to travel but instead a ‘bundle of rights’ to fly.
Source: Welcome to West Air – our latest flight of Qantas fancy! – Michael West
Israel has killed more than 7000 Palestinians since the brutal Hamas attacks of October 7 sparked the war on Gaza. Human rights lawyer Greg Barns SC examines Australia’s complicity in war crimes.
Source: Israel’s bombardment of Palestinians: is Australia complicit in war crimes? – Michael West
Indonesian politics are played hard. Corruption is a given, but a devious ploy to keep the president Jokowi wielding power has backfired with wholesale anger against a gross display of law-bending and nepotism. Duncan Graham reports.
Source: Indonesian elections: the making of a dynasty and unmaking of democracy? – Michael West
This is an everyday experience Indigenous Australians dealt with for years. Stan Grant spoke of the fear felt when Social Services knocked. The kids immediately ran in fear and hid.
The aftermath of police mistakes The warrant to take the children should never have been issued. The Children’s Court orders should never had been made. Yet the DCJ think it’s reasonable that Angela should be out of pocket for the ordeal. This story is a true story, but for two things. 1) All the names have been changed for legal reasons and 2) the words in this article fall far short of properly describing the trauma caused by the events. A gross misfeasance has taken place; a gross misfeasance that could happen to anyone in NSW who doesn’t have half a million Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) followers, like Friendly Jordies does. The NSW Premier, Chris Minns, ought to intervene directing the Secretary of the DCJ, Michael Tidbal, to not only pay Angela’s Court cost, but also compensation – although the Premier must recognise that no amount of compensation will ever really heal the children’s trauma.
Source: Family in distress as Police Fixated Persons Unit hits the wrong target, again – Michael West
Beset by “schoolyard bickering in the Murdoch media” the Liberal Party is in disarray, out of office in every state and territory save Tasmania. Steph Preston reports as the NSW Liberal Party fails to find a suitable administrator to push through much needed reforms identified after the Federal election loss. Does nobody want the job?
Source: Branches and Beefs: is anybody up for a job in the Liberal Party? – Michael West
In fairness, having dealt with politicians for years, many are hard-working and well intended. Many will vote for the things which are in the public interest, although it may cost them a few pennies.
When it comes to the sacred cow of property, however, it is hard to see real reform because more than 60% of Australians own their own home. So, there is no money in it, and there are no votes in it, and voting against the interests of most of one’s peers makes the whole damn thing harder, as does the reality of voting with the party line. Imagine a politician taking a policy to the party which would affect the personal finances of so many of their peers.
Our elected representatives own a lot of investment properties, 297 which are declared. How does that impact on their decision making?
Source: Sacred Cow: are politicians’ many houses an impediment to property, rental reform? – Michael West
Why is the rule of law applied in ways which reward a bad corporation, Oracle, with regulatory munificence, while a good citizen, Richard Boyle, acting for the integrity of the public service is dragged through legal hell? Wally The Chartered Accountant asks Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus.
Remember tax evasion and the Pandora Papers or was that the Paradise Papers? Where the fuck did that go? Glen Wheatly put his hand up and confessed. They threw him into jail and we were done with it. The Caymans simply laughed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora_Papers
Waffle, fastidious yet unadulterated waffle. This is the day of the PwC whitewash. Michael West reports on two cover-ups, that of PwC and PwC Global.
The Accountants of Fortune at PwC hired Ziggy Switkowski to conduct an ‘independent’ review into the governance of the Big 4 firm. Nobody knows better than PwC that you don’t commission an ‘independent expert report’ if you don’t know what it’s going to say. And so it is that Ziggy has delivered a humbling admonishment spectacularly lacking in evidence of any wrong-doing, but long on motherhood statements.
Source: Ziggy plays for time: PwC’s dual ‘independent reports’ a dual whitewash – Michael West
How is it for these wanna-be fascists to be normalised when they once lurked in the shadows?
By Steph Preston | Sep 25, 2023
A man at the centre of an infamous alt-right push to take over the NSW Young Nationals in 2018 has been unceremoniously dumped from the office of the first ever independent MP for Wagga Wagga, after Michael West Media informed him he had unwittingly hired an extremist.
Source: Michael West Media – investigative journalists – always independent
Transparency when do we want it NOW!!
It can’t be correct that a government-of-the-day can, by defunding its FOI apparatus, steals away a right given to us by Parliament to have timely access to information useful for scrutinising that very same government. Rex Patrick is taking his FOI fight to the Full Bench of the Federal Court.
Source: Appeal for Transparency: Rex Patrick takes secrecy fight to the Full Federal Court – Michael West
Rupert Murdoch has announced that he is becoming ‘Chairman Emeritus’ of News Corp and Fox Corporation, leaving his previous co-chair, favoured son Lachlan Murdoch, to be in charge of both, all by himself. What’s the scam?
Source: Stepping down? Will Chairman Emiritus Ruper Murdoch still pull the strings? – Michael West
These are Voices to Parliament listened to. These Donations are seen as real “Money from the Heart Statements”
The business forums of both major parties sell political access to corporate Australia, and they make a pretty penny doing so. Many of Australia’s largest companies are members and their events can raise hundreds of thousands in one night. Zacharias Szumer investigates.
Source: Who’s at the party? The thriving business of corporate access to politicians – Michael West
From the dodgy politician getting a mining license against the wishes of landowners, to the multimillion-dollar government IT contract awarded to a company belonging to a friend of a federal minister. Corruption is rarely visible but its impacts are felt by every Australian, Clancy Moore reports.
Source: The invisible hand of ‘legal’ corruption costs every Australian – Michael West
The Qantas Code of Conduct and Ethics is perhaps the most ignored and hypocritical document in corporate Australia. Michael Sainsbury checks out the myriad breaches.
Source: The Qantas Code of Conduct and Ethics … yes it’s real – Michael West
Unintended consequences
Paul Keating envisaged a superannuation system which funded the aged in retirement. It has turned into a giant tax shelter where wealth is captured and passed on to descendants, and where falling home ownership was not factored in. Harry Chemay reports.
Source: Falling home ownership: the elephant in the superannuation retirement room – Michael West
The City of Sydney and City of Melbourne have been relying heavily on cheap Chinese and Turkish carbon offsets to get to net zero. Does it make sense to pay foreign governments for projects which they would operate regardless? Callum Foote investigates.
Source: The Price of Green: City of Sydney pays Chinese, Turks to get net zero – Michael West
IPA would make that the BIG 5 advisors. Add News Corp and you will find the BIG 6. Or were they LNP Lobbyists friends with benefits?
Australia’s original Big 4 ‘whistleblower’ George Rozvany called for the bust up of PwC, EY, KPMG and Deloitte in these pages eight years ago. These “unregulated private partnerships” have cost Australia dearly.
Source: George Rozvany: living in the shadows of the Big 4 and the art of sudden reappearance – Michael West
Will the government finally act on money-laundering laws promised 17 years ago, or once again be thwarted by lobbyists for lawyers, accountants and property developers? With Madagascar, China and Haiti, Australia is a global laggard. Callum Foote reports.
Source: Action on money-laundering, property price relief, or plus ça change? – Michael West
Australian entrepreneur and ex-PwC partner David A. Collard is being sued for rent on both his fancy apartment in Manhattan as well as Scale’s 88th floor World Trade Centre head quarters. That’s on top of an ATO tax raid, unpaid staff and creditors, and defaulting on the purchase of Britishvolt in the UK. Sean Johnson of Open Politics reports.
Source: Getting Scalier: David A. Collard’s creditors, lawsuits, now a thing of Scale – Michael West
“Eye-watering”, “fines jump 10,000% in huge crackdown”! The Big 4 crackdown has arrived in the most cracking down fashion. But what is it really? Michael West reports.
Source: Crackdown! Better watch out you Big 4, we’ll wave a stern finger at yers – Michael West
Why are foreign investors so attracted to Australia? Why is the ASX being hollowed out by takeovers? Why do we consumers pay too much? A UBS research report has the answers. Michael West reports.
Source: The Lucky Investor Country: if the RBA has a conundrum, spare a thought for the ACCC – Michael West
Doctor and Teal rep for Mackellar, Sophie Scamps, has called on Northern Beaches Hospital boss to resign if he can’t deliver on youth mental health
Source: Caymans-owned Northern Beaches Hospital performs world-first “Headinthesandectomy” – Michael West
“Innocent until proven guilty”. The LNP and media gave her the opportunity to do a Stuart Robert, resign, and deflect the blame away from them. However, we still have a principle to uphold “The Separation of Powers” in this country. The ALP, unlike the LNP, accept that.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed off on Kathryn Campbell’s termination on June 21, 2022, the day before he announced she was off to serve in a plum $892K per annum job in Defence’s AUKUS team. The big question is why? Rex Patrick reveals the FOIs.
Source: Yes to Kathryn Campbell’s plum job Prime Minister, but why? – Michael West
Australian companies worth billions of dollars are slipping into private hands at an alarming rate. Stephen Mayne explores what’s driving it and why it’s a worry.
Environmental lobby group takes two Federal government finance bodies to court over concerns they are funding destructive projects — and not being upfront about the consequences, Zacharias Szumer reports.
Source: Michael West Media – investigative journalists – always independent
While “Governing” dominates the historic mindset and is passed down generationally we will remain a Colony whose interests lie in serving someone else rather than the people of this nation. It’s time to say YES to remind us on whose land this nation was born and YES to a Republic for who future governments should be elected to serve, ALL its people. The French did it with a Revolution we can do it with a referendum ballot box.
In RoboDebt’s wake, our very system of government needs to be bulldozed and rebuilt. Rex Patrick argues it is time for a republican model, for separation of powers.
Something has gone horribly wrong in how customers are treated. We all know it. Peter Mills traces the problem back to how executives and business leaders are incentivised.
Source: Michael West Media – investigative journalists – always independent
The double standard is glaring, further illuminated by the findings of the Robodebt Royal Commission. While the AFP dithered for years investigating the blue-chippers from PwC for selling state secrets to foreign corporations, it was as quick as a rat up a drainpipe when it came to sending out letters to Centrelink clients threatening them with prison sentences unless they paid their Robodebts. Michael West reports.
Source: Robodebt and Robododger: PwC’s consulting operation revealed – Michael West
Ethical accountants are groaning in the wake of the PwC scandal which has thrashed the reputation of the profession. While most accountants abide by ethical standards, the Big 4 have dragged the profession into the mud. Wally the Chartered Accountant reports on the decline of ethics and self-regulation.
Source: Cheats never prosper! Or do they PwC and KPMG? – Michael West
To media hysterics, Dan Andrews got a pay rise this week, making him the country’s highest paid premier or chief minister. But that’s not the whole story, as James Fitzgerald-Sice reports
Source: Premier pay rates: are we getting value for money? – Michael West
Peter Costello’s Secret Sovereign Investment Fund
Australia’s sovereign wealth fund manages more than $200 billion of taxpayer’s funds but does so with a notorious penchant for secrecy. This third instalment in a series from Rex Patrick and Philip Dorling shines a spotlight on the Future Fund’s surprising gambling stake.
Source: Michael West Media – investigative journalists – always independent
Let me be upfront: I’ll be voting for the Voice to Parliament. But I won’t be voting yes because I think it will give Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people any substantial influence on national policy. Rather I’ll be voting yes because it’s the only option on the table to give Indigenous Australians at least some recognition in our Constitution.
Conspiracies do exist and their organized generally at the top of societies economic ladder
PwC advised Lendlease on the billion-dollar tax scam which is now subject to Australian Tax Office audit. As Lendlease whistleblower Tony Watson fights the giant in court over his dismissal as a tax lawyer, documents obtained by MWM show Watson warned a PwC tax partner and group finance chief Tarun Gupta the tax scheme was a rort. Michael West reports.
Source: Anatomy of a Cover-Up: whistleblower warned PwC and Lendlease of $1b tax scam – Michael West
The great scientific scam promoted by the Fossil Fuel Industry
Doubts have been raised about the long-term viability of two of the world’s most-celebrated and most-studied offshore carbon capture and storage projects, raising new concerns over massive government subsidies for the controversial method of removing carbon from the atmosphere
Source: Michael West Media – investigative journalists – always independent
Justice Anthony Besanko found that Chris Masters and Nick Mackenzies and their publishers were substantially reporting the truth about Ben Roberts-Smith. It is a win for quality investigative journalism, but will we now see criminal charges against the former soldier?
Source: A win for journalism. But Ben Roberts-Smith is still at large. What’s the scam? – Michael West
Ch9 and it’s stable of journalists have been sorted OUT
Yet from Nine Entertainment’s chairman down to senior editors though this is an organisation of yes-men and yes-women. The likes of yours truly, Michael Pascoe, Mike Carleton, John Hewson – just to name a few – have been weeded out for failing to cower sufficiently to Nine’s advertisers and assorted corporate and political agendas.
Descending the greasy pole all the way down from Liberal Party heavyweight and fundraiser Peter Costello, we have Editorial Director James Chessell (who is an ex-Liberal staffer for Joe Hockey), his 2IC Tory Maguire (whose husband is a Liberal Party linked lobbyist), Editor in Chief of the AFR Michael Stutchbury, a true believer in the virtue of big business whose ideology is to the right of the Liberal Party.
On the radio front, it’s no accident that Nine owns 2GB and 3AW. On the TV front, it’s no accident Nine Network is now framing The Voice as “The Divisive Voice to Parliament“. This is unambiguous Coalition messaging.
Source: On captured media: we respond to Nine Entertainment and the AFR’s tepid hit-job – Michael West
Woohoo! Two of the biggest tax cheats, ExxonMobil and Chevron (auditors for both are PwC) have finally begun to pay a mite of income tax in Australia but they also ripped out more than $13bn in dividends and returns of capital last year. Michael West reports their latest financials.
Is this news or “blackmail” trying to get the government to subsidize an already failing coal-fired power station. Any subsidy today should be a foot on the accelerator of renewables.
The Fossil Fuel Industry is promoting this media and it comes across as extortion particularly when already obsolete power plants are promoted as necessary because “renewables can’t do the job”. This sort of negative fearmongering argument was never posited when coal-fired stations were being built way back when we were still lighting candles and burning wood.
“Then we might think that we’re fine, we might let Eraring go, thinking the worst case scenario hasn’t happened, therefore it can’t happen.” Eraring, located south of Newcastle, is Australia’s largest coal-fired power station and biggest single emitter of greenhouse gases.
Source: Could ‘unreliable’ be the new normal for energy users? – Michael West
However, much like the looking-glass world of Eduardo Galeano, reality appeared to reflect the exact opposite of that narrative as Saul Holt KC, acting for the defence, methodically devastated Ms Keys’ credibility and, with sparing, yet unerringly precise brushstrokes, illustrated the absolute incompetence of Mr Miller’s investigation, as reported by MWM on Wednesday last.
Far too often, government departments and its agencies deny Freedom of Information requests without good reason. It leads to unnecessary delays, costs, and the withholding of information that the public deserves to know. What’s the scam?
Source: Playing chicken to the detriment of democracy and cost to the taxpayer – Michael West
What owning your own home has come to in Australia. This is a partnership offer to drive up the cost of housing, or a 3rd party acting in combination like a Muslim bank who can’t charge interest because they are unlicensed. Are they investment partners really and/or landlords who charge rent instead? Something current banks aren’t prepared to do. What they are saying is go find a surrogate parent or angel, it’s not our problem.
Would-be homebuyers teaming up with private investors to stump up a deposit has been floated as a possible model to ease Australia’s housing crisis.
Source: Co-purchasing homes flagged as fix for housing woes – Michael West
Taxpayers stump up for “man shot in buttocks” journalism as Google Australia pays a pittance in tax again thanks to “world first media reforms”. Michael West reports on a joke.
Source: Google Australia pays pittance in tax, pays media moguls instead – Michael West
Talk about being sold a fantasy
“Workers have enjoyed larger sums of 4%”! What a load of bullshit they have “suffered” by not keeping up with inflation and reducing what little savings they may have had doing precarious jobs. Meanwhile, business has enjoyed double-digit profits and paid less tax than the average middle-class family. Michael West seems to be selling a very colored story. One you generally see peddled by our mainstream Murdoch and Costello media. The truth of the matter is workers and their families are paying for the inflated profits of our biggest businesses.
While workers have enjoyed larger sums landing in their bank accounts, extremely high inflation has robbed Australians of a real wage rise.
Source: Wages and jobs data to take centre stage – Michael West
“Many who suffered RoboDebt are getting $350 per week while Campbell is receiving $17,100 per week. Every day she sits in Defence is a day of insult to those who suffered from the RoboDebt scheme. Rightly, there is anger in the community. Albanese must act.” (MWM)
Kathryn Campbell is well known in the parklands and on the footpaths where some of Australia’s most disadvantaged live. Witnesses at the RoboDebt Royal Commission made her the face of the governance scandal. But in stark contrast to those affected by RoboDebt, she now sits in a plum job inside the Department of Defence on her old $900K salary. Former senator Rex Patrick examines the ins and outs.
Source: Kathryn Campbell – from RoboDebt ignominy to plum Defence job with the PM’s help – Michael West
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