Category: Michael West

Is Government intervention viable, or just a favour for Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and Peter Costello’s Nine Entertainment? Opposition is growing both locally and globally to media laws introduced by the Coalition Government requiring tech giants Google and Facebook to pay for displaying news content. Kim Wingerei delves into the

Like aged care, quarantine is the responsibility of the federal government. Yet the Morrison government forced that role onto the states and territories, and deployed a submissive media to snipe from the sidelines.

While governments continue to spruik the supposed economic benefits of urban car racing events such as the Grand Prix and Supercars 500, the lack of transparency simply highlights an endemic culture of cronyism. Christine Everingham and Patricia Johnson investigate.

The resources industry donated $136.8 million over two decades to Australian political parties. Donations buy a lot of influence, with research showing that for every US$1 spent, the return on investment can be as high as US$220. In return, public policy is moulded to suit the interests of the highest

Spruiking the Coalition’s 2020 tax cuts; Australians’ ‘$200 billion’ war chest; Google’s experiments; free speech; and even a Liberal Party self-congratulatory piece on the NBN. Michael Tanner checks out the past week in the mainstream media.

The silencing of environmental scientists, as revealed in a study late last year, is profoundly damaging to our democracy, wastes taxpayers’ money, takes a huge personal toll, allows fake news to proliferate and short-changes the public. Elizabeth Minter reports.

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.

Corporate America is frantically distancing itself from Donald Trump in the dying days of his presidency after spending four years financing him, enjoying his tax giveaways, his attacks on workers and gutting of regulations to fatten corporate profits. Elizabeth Minter reports on the rank hypocrisy, even extending to Scott Morrison’s

It’s time to tackle charity rorts, writes William De Maria. The richest schools are charities, as are big businesses like Queensland Sugar Limited. Even the likes of AI Group and NSW Business Chamber Ltd, organisations which fight against higher pay and better conditions for workers, enjoy charity and tax exempt