Tag: What’s the Scam?
It all began with the LNP and Abbott government
“serious questions about command, leadership and management all the way to the top of the defence force and government.”
Source: A third Australian General referred to the NACC. What’s the scam? – Michael West
Qantas appears to be jacking up the price of fares to pay for a time-limited promotion. That is illegal under the Consumer & Competition Act.
Source: Qantas gets customers to pay surcharge during promo. What’s the scam? – Michael West
“The taxpayer is paying almost $700 million per year to a company masquerading as a hospital operator which, at best, can deliver services for 250 public beds, yet the Royal North Shore Hospital, which has about 700 public beds, costs the taxpayer about $700 million a year to run.”
Source: Heat is on to put Sydney’s privatised Cayman Islands hospital back in public hands – Michael West
Julian Assange’s case to be allowed an appeal of his extradition to the US is coming up in the High Court of Justice in London next week. We requested permission to attend via the court’s broadcast link but were refused. What’s the scam?
Source: Those pesky colonial journalists and justice for Assange. What’s the scam? – Michael West
Don’t let them dazzle you with political marketing. They’re just taking your money and giving it to their friends, and that’s all they’re doing.
Source: Foreign Military Aid: $95.3 Billion Sounds Like a Lot of Money. So Does Your Cut. – CounterPunch.org
We can only speculate on which of these areas will benefit most from Submarines being built in the UK and the US, the announcement is long on rhetoric and very, very short on detail. But who are we to argue? That AUKUS pot of gold is very real, even if the rainbow isn’t.
Source: Banana Shire takes AUKUS by storm. What’s the scam? – Michael West
Australia is the 7th most breached nation globally in 2023, according to Surfshark’s global data breach statistics recap.
Source: Australia ranks 7th globally on data breaches. What’s the Scam? – Michael West
Things that go KaChing in the Dark
Once the Governor-General’s proud pet project, the controversial Australian Future Leaders Foundation has vanished from the charity register. Jommy Tee reports the latest on the elusive charity … even a recent sighting of the mysterious King’s Cup itself!
The NSW government’s Landcom has sold a hectare of prime bushland in Sydney for just $41k to shopping centre developers but has declined to respond to questions about the number of people at the auction. Callum Foote reports.
Last month, the NSW Government’s land and property developer Landcom sold a hectare of bushland in Sydney’s Shire for just $41k. The median house price for the area is $1.4 million, with the sale going to shopping centre developer Revelop.
Source: Did you miss the auction? Shucks. Government sells a hectare of Sydney for just $41k – 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
Mainstream media is lobbying to keep Australia’s largest coal plant, Eraring, open for ‘reliability’. Origin wants it closed. What’s the scam?
Source: Old coal clunkers the problem, not the AEMO solution – 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
The broader question is whether essential public services should be privatised at all, especially sold to chronic tax avoiders operating in the Cayman Islands. Scamps is not the only one being snubbed for answers.
Royal North Shore Hospital charges $1m per public bed ($750m per year for 750 beds) and Northern Beaches $2.5m per bed ($600m for 250 beds). Numerous approaches have been made to the Northern Sydney Local Health District authorities – the regulator – by this publication for financial disclosures. Also to the hospital management and corporate overlords. All approaches have been rebuffed. What are they hiding?
Source: Caymans-owned Northern Beaches Hospital performs world-first “Headinthesandectomy” – Michael West
It’s not often the Australian Government acquires the same type of aircraft, from the same company, to perform a similar role across a span of 66 years. The Albanese Government’s purchase of new transport aircraft provides an interesting insight into the eye-watering costs of defence procurement. What’s the scam?
Put simply, the C130J, like the C130A before it, is an aerial truck.
No doubt the C130Js are more capable aircraft than their predecessors. But can they carry 10 times as much cargo in a given time, or fly ten times as far? Is each one ten times more capable? I doubt it.
Source: Half a bil per aerial truck for the Royal Australian Air Force – what’s the scam? – Michael West
Like the Fitzgerald Enquiry, the Robodebt Royal Commission has caught the public’s attention. You would hope we all learn from recent experience. The next time a political leader invites us to call them a derivative of their first name, tells us not to worry about that and they will save us from some claimed endemic fraudulent or radical activity by some group of people that really doesn’t exist – it’s really the time to commence worrying. Those that forget their history are destined to repeat it.
Source: Don’t you worry about that – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Murdoch continues to run his politically biased and opinionated “Talk TV” despite seemingly financial loss. What’s the Scam?
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has insisted he will not shut down TalkTV despite questions over the fledgling news channel’s future as it struggles to revive ailing viewer numbers.
Source: Rupert Murdoch to keep TalkTV open despite low viewing figures
The war industry, not Putin, is our most dangerous enemy.
this proxy war in Ukraine is designed to serve U.S. interests. It enriches the weapons manufacturers, weakens the Russian military and isolates Russia from Europe. What happens to Ukraine is irrelevant.
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
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
You don’t necessarily need to march in a parade, or donate to a charity, or cover yourself in glitter and pretend to be interested in The Real Housewives franchise, or go to a drag show – you just need to be smart enough to see that anti-trans hysteria is being pushed on you because they think you’re weak enough to fall for it.
Source: Nazis and grifters think you’re stupid enough to fall for trans panic, Australia | The Shot
He pulled a Trump and overvalued his assets and isn’t in court why?
In short, this is how he did it. Giuseppe decided to use accounting wizardry to turn Lakeba from a humble software development company into a high-flying investment company. This allowed him to claim the increase in the value of his multiple separate ventures as revenue, without the need to have much real customer revenue. He hired an “independent” valuer, whose identity remains a secret, who revalued the businesses.
The aim was to launch it on the ASX in a float, and possibly still is.
Carbon offset is replacing the pollution of one company with the non-pollution of another. Carbon credits are the trading mechanism for carbon offsets. Or put another way, a company that directly or indirectly emits a lot of carbon dioxide has two choices. It can continue to do so, and be penalised for not helping to reduce its carbon footprint (e.g. by regulators, government or shareholders), or, it can buy carbon credits to offset its own emission from someone who have earned such credits.
Source: Carbon credits and offsets – What’s the scam? – Michael West
The whining in corporate media over Treasurer Jim Chalmers modest changes to superannuation has been at fever pitch all week. What’s the scam?
Source: Media caps off a week of super dishonesty over super. What’s the scam? – Michael West
A research report published in the US this week cites numerous concerns with Adani’s business structure, accounting practices and its lofty valuation. Echoing Enron – one of the most spectacular corporate failures in recent history – the report even questions how Adani makes money, if at all. What’s the scam?
Source: Is Adani the next Enron? What’s the scam? – Michael West
Now an explanation is needed
After telling Rex Patrick his PM’s Diary FOI request would be processed for $1,344, and after Rex paid the deposit, the Prime Minister’s Office has backflipped and is now refusing to process the request for 29 pages on the grounds that doing so “would substantially and unreasonable interfere with the performance of the [Prime] Minister’s functions”. What’s the scam?
Source: Rex Hex: PM’s office backflips, refuses to release Albo’s diaries – Michael West
Kevin Gallagher was paid $37m over five years, more than Santos booked in profits, while they paid zero tax, raked in $20bn income from government gas permits, and never complained once about the $50bn of public subsidies to the fossil fuel sector. What’s the scam?
The trees were cut down, the profits of timber exporters have been rising strongly, yet the losses of VicForests are spiralling. What’s the scam?
olddogthoughts 
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