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NACC Commissioner Brereton Must Go

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Australians waited way too long for a National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC). The fact that it is failing in its intended reason for being is a disgrace. NACC Commissioner Brereton must go, as it is no longer tenable for him to stay in the job following his compromised performance. Robodebt hangs over the NACC like the shameful episode in Australian government history it is. Never have the Australian people been so betrayed by a federal government and its administrative bodies. It is topical too because this automated f*** up bears the hallmarks of AI – the much heralded artificial intelligence.Continue Reading

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Four Corners Exposes $50 Billion ATO Losses

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ABC investigative reporters at work, as Four Corners exposes $50 billion ATO losses. The old joke about feeling like a mushroom, kept in the dark and fed on shit, comes to mind when considering what really goes in the halls of power. Macro corruption is the term used to describe the situation in Australia, where the amounts are very large when dirty deeds are done downunder. Scamming millions of dollars from the tax office via bogus GST claims would be an unlikely occurrence one would think. I mean, the ATO is a pillar of our whole national edifice, so it must be bristling with top line security, right? Wrong, it is a $50 billion black hole bad joke on that score.Continue Reading

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tax the rich

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In Australia they are talking about raising the flat consumption tax called the GST. Increasing the GST hurts the working poor more. After 4 years of a cost of living crisis due to high inflation, exacerbated by price gouging by big corporates, and the Reserve Bank steeply raising interest rates the experts think that the poor folk need another kicking. Who do you think copped it in the neck the most over this period? And prices on essentials have not come down, they are merely not rising by so much. Does the federal government really think that those hurting the most financially deserve another price hike on everything?Continue Reading

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Australia Remember What 10 Years of The Coalition Brought Us

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Have you ever asked yourself, as an Australian, why our leaders make such bad deals on our behalf? Why don’t the gas companies mining our gas pay taxes and royalties equivalent to the billions they make from selling our national resource? Is it corruption or the result of their inadequacy? The little men leading Australia: Astray. The contract details around AUKUS only reinforce this woeful deal making by our politicians and bureaucrats when dealing with international representatives. Is it the result of long standing national low self-esteem, gullibility, corrupt practices or a combination of all of these elements? Whatever it is, they are seriously underselling Australia and letting us all down at the big table where these things are negotiated.Continue Reading

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President Trump Calls Astronauts During First All-Woman Spacewalk (NHQ201910180018)

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James Paterson reckons associating Peter Dutton with Donald Trump is a desperate smear. Well, there are differences, decidedly, Donald Trump has more hair for instance. It is true, however, that both men have cosied up to Benjamin Netanyahu on junket tours to Israel. Both right wing leaders do not appreciate the plight of Palestinians if their behaviours and statements are anything to go by. Bashing any protest against the genocide of women, children and men in Gaza, with the ‘antisemitism’ accusation.  The divisive Dutton has repeatedly called for the power for politicians like himself to deport dual citizens. In America, Trump is having masked, plain clothed police grabbing academics from campuses and disappearing them. These professors and Fulbright scholars who are legally working in the US and have broken no laws have been taken and locked up. The only thing they did was write a pro-Palestinian essay in an academic journal. This is the behaviour of a fascist dictatorship.Continue Reading

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boy in black and white sweater covering his face with his tow hand

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It is important to note that economic and political cycles do not usually coincide. Australia remember what 10 years of the Coalition brought us. There is a considerable lag between policy and outcomes. A decade of the LNP Coalition federal governments saw the acceleration of housing unaffordability in Australia. Now, you might think that inflation driving up the prices of residential property is a good thing and your chance to get rich, but home owners, I have spoken with, see it differently. They invariably say, that sure having your house worth a lot of money can appear to be wealth but if you sell it you just have to go out and buy another one which is equally as expensive. Housing affordability has jumped from 5 times annual income up to 13 times in Australian cities, according to respected economic journalist Alan Kohler.Continue Reading

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Gavel, court hammer

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The NACC is a joke. The NACC is an undigested SNACC. The NACC is a  Nettled slumbering shadowy national embarrassment. Australia’s chronic problem with prosecuting corruption in the halls of power. Both side of politics at the pointy end protect their mates and peers. Macro corruption is the dirty secret we have writ large in this great southern land. Robodebt was politicians and public servants breaking the law and involved in corrupt behaviour. We have had a Royal Commission which found this to be true and  referred 6 individuals to the NACC. The National Anti-Corruption Commission failed to find grounds to proceed and this was then challenged on the grounds of a conflict of interest for its chairman and subsequently reviewed by an independent delegate. It is like a constipated elephant on the dunny with the accountability trying to get out. Australian elites look after each other’s backs when it comes to any of them actually facing prosecution.Continue Reading

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person holding debit card

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Welcome to Neoliberalism. Bienvenida. Here in downtown Neoliberalis there is a new kind of freedom. You are free to pay for everything. User pays, you see. There are no evil socialist  institutions, none left anyway. No universal healthcare. No social security, no welfare from the government. Indeed, we are doing away with the whole concept of government. Business can do it better. Business can do it cheaper and much more efficiently. Then, we don’t need public servants, do we? Non, monsieur. Only honest, salt of the earth billionaires to run the show. Welcome to Neoliberalism: Be free to pay forever.Continue Reading

ethnic businessman shaking hand of applicant in office

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Western democracies spruik their hopefully meritocratic qualities. The belief that through hard work and talent you can reach the upper echelons of your profession or work place. Careerism: Self-interest’s acceptable public face exists on this basis. Striving for success in any field is encouraged and culturally rewarded. Many bemoan the ever present dangers of nepotism and cronyism within our societies and nations. The elite private schools and old boy’s networks which operate in counter to any ideas of equal opportunity and fairness. Those of us with any pragmatic awareness of how the job market actually works know that it is largely driven by who you know and not what you know. This makes a mockery of any meritocratic ideals believed to be operating within Western democracies.Continue Reading

Arnold Rasnick, Virginia-Pocahontas Coal Company

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If the PwC consultancy crisis has revealed one important thing it is the role of accountants as professional enablers for rip off merchants in the corporate world. Now, we are informed via an ABC investigation of labour hire fraud in the oil and gas industry in Australia. The shifty paperwork was completed by a local accountant in Perth, WA – one Blake Read.Continue Reading