INSULTING CONSULTING
A Senate inquiry into the behaviour of large consulting firms has found that PwC used confidential tax information to “influence the direction of negotiations to reform international tax systems”, Nine newspapers report. The report was released yesterday, 14 months after PwC personnel were found to have used government tax information in their dealings with corporate tax avoiders. Labor has called for the recommendations of the inquiry to be implemented, while the Greens (who made their own report) have said they don’t go far enough, calling for an end to political donations from large consulting firms and a five-year ban on PwC from doing government work. Australia spends more per capita than any other country on consultants, AAP reports, raising concerns about how transparent, necessary and cost-effective the work of consultants actually is. Conflicts of interest are common, with Greens Senator Barbara Pocock saying they are “built into the sector”.
Meanwhile, it could be that Peter Dutton should have consulted someone on the optics of taking a taxpayer-funded private jet to a News Corp event in Tamworth at the cost of $23,000, as Guardian Australia has revealed. The Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority has published its most recent round of findings, with Dutton’s trip to the Gina Rinehart-sponsored event coming under scrutiny amid the opposition leader’s cost of living ticket. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was the top expenses spender in the June 2023 quarter at $911,708 reported spending, with Dutton behind on $809,587. It comes as the salaries of Australian chief executives rose by 14% in the past financial year, according to a new survey of nearly 1,100 companies reported by The Canberra Times. The cost of living is clearly not affecting CEOs, with the average salary of a chief executive of an ASX 200 listed company sitting at $1.37 million in 2023-24, up from $1.14 million in 2022-23. Minimum-wage workers can expect a 3.75% increase in July. Lucky them.
PARIS AGREEMENT LEGISLATED
The Greens and several crossbenchers have vowed to block any attempt by the Coalition to renege on Australia’s Paris Agreement climate targets, with Adam Bandt saying that the targets have been “Dutton-proofed” and couldn’t be weakened even if the opposition leader wins the next election, according to The Australian. The Climate Change Act, as well as at least a dozen other pieces of legislation, reference the Paris Agreement targets and would need to be amended before any change to Australia’s ambitions could be made. In any case, Bandt seems pretty confident this won’t eventuate, saying “The Liberals haven’t got a chance in hell at winning the next election”. It comes as Climate 200 convenor Simon Holmes à Court has all but praised the opposition leader for “not even pretending” to care about climate change, saying “It makes our life easier when he nails his colours to the mast”, according to The Age. There are rumblings from unnamed Liberal sources, says the paper, that they wish Dutton had more widely discussed his intention to scrap emissions targets, with some worried the stance will affect Liberal votes in city seats.
Meanwhile, South Australia describes its proposal to effectively ban political donations at the state level as “world-leading”, according to the ABC. The draft legislation proposes to ban registered South Australian political parties, members of Parliament and political candidates from giving or receiving electoral donations and gifts — though new parties and candidates could receive donations of up to $2,700 to ensure they are not disadvantaged. Premier Peter Malinauskas says the proposal will likely include a High Court challenge as “the act of making a political donation is a form of political communication”, but his government will give it a “red-hot try” anyway. Malinauskas said to Guardian Australia that he thinks it is “something that democracies everywhere should be pursuing” — the legislation reflects a similar bill introduced by federal lower house crossbenchers in March which called for a ban on donations from “socially harmful” industries.
SAY WHAT?
I heard a message, yes, and I’m very, very grateful for that.
Kevin Spacey
The actor, accused of sexual assault (accusations he denies), claims he was passed on a message of support from none other than King Charles himself.
CRIKEY RECAP
“The foreign interference scheme has in recent years been criticised for being ‘heavy-handed’ and ‘doing more harm than good’, and an ‘abject failure’ — even Turnbull admitted ‘the scheme has failed’. As we entered the current decade, the China threat narrative has evolved to include a new refrain in our media: the ‘drums of war’. These media stories, with breathlessly alarming headlines, have created a nervous nation with a worried public facing an uncertain future.
This has led to a curious and paradoxical situation: although Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong has urged the media to ‘lower the heat’ about any potential conflict with China over Taiwan, Defence Minister Richard Marles may have found such media rhetoric helpful, given it helps shore up public support for AUKUS. In other words, the ‘heat’ created by the media has created a favourable public opinion environment for Labor to sell its AUKUS pact to Australian taxpayers.”
“The NACC, for its part, has been relatively forthcoming as far as corruption watchdogs go. As reporters who have worked with the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption will know, that body is nearly completely mired in secrecy and appears to have a general policy of never answering questions about investigations. The NACC, by contrast, did issue a reply to questions once Senate evidence had made clear the Tourism Australia matter was under consideration.
A national anti-corruption body that creates more secrecy in Canberra rather than shining light into the bureaucracy is likely not what the creators of the watchdog had in mind, and it remains to be seen if pointing to NACC advice will continue to be a valid excuse for silence in the future. A need to operate in a discreet manner so as to not jeopardise investigations may be understandable, but does that mean every matter touched by the NACC automatically becomes a state secret? Parliamentarians must answer that question before the next similar situation arises.”
“A senior executive of the company that supplies the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) with sniper rifles will address an Australian government-backed arms exhibition, in a further demonstration of Labor’s support for companies complicit in the mass killing of Palestinians in Gaza.
Ferdi Kluever, the general manager of business development at Queensland arms firm NIOA Australia & New Zealand, will speak at the Land Forces 2024 arms exhibition in Melbourne in September on ‘Realising the Defence Industry Development Strategy for ADF Munitions’. The expo ‘is organised and conducted by AMDA Foundation [an arms industry exhibition non-profit] with support from the Australian Army, the Australian Department of Defence and the Defence Science and Technology Group’. The Victorian government is also sponsoring the event.
READ ALL ABOUT IT
Southern Baptists vote to oppose use of IVF (The New York Times) ($)
Hezbollah fires dozens of rockets into Israel after strike kills commander (BBC)
Le Pen, Wilders and allies meet in Brussels for talks on forming far-right EU supergroup (euronews)
US expands Russia sanctions, targets chips sent via China (Reuters)
What to do if you, or someone you know, is targeted with deepfake porn or AI nudes (The Conversation)
THE COMMENTARIAT
Obsessing over the inflation rate misses one key point: the economy is more than just how fast prices are rising — Greg Jericho (The Guardian): “The shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, displayed his inflation myopia when he recently retweeted a chart showing that among ‘peer’ countries of the US, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the eurozone, Australia has had inflation accelerate since December last year. Such political lines are understandable, but less clear is why commentators and economists would parrot them.
Last week came the news that Canada’s central bank and the European Central Bank (ECB) had cut their interest rates by 25 basis — this, commentators were quick to argue, proved we need higher rates to get inflation below 3%. For example, the Australian Financial Review’s economics editor, John Kehoe, tweeted in excitement: ‘Canada becomes first major economy to cut rates, lifting market mood. This is what happens when you get inflation down to 2.7% and lift the cash rate to 5%. You can cut interest rates! Australia inflation is 3.6% and cash rate 4.35%.’ Yeah. Woohoo.”
Can Trump rein in his own base on abortion? — Christopher Rhodes (Al Jazeera): “To be clear, Trump doesn’t substantively care about abortion rights. He seems to have gone from being ‘very pro-choice’ in 1999 to being ‘pro-life’ in 2011 to advocating legal punishment for women who had abortions during his 2016 campaign. However, Trump does care about winning, or more precisely about being perceived as a winner. That is why as recently as last year, he was taking credit for ‘killing’ Roe v Wade, the landmark case that guaranteed abortion rights until the Supreme Court overturned it in 2022.
‘After 50 years of failure with nobody coming even close, I was able to kill Roe v Wade, much to the ‘shock’ of everyone,’ Trump posted on his Truth Social platform last year, adding: ‘Without me the pro Life movement would have just kept losing.’ The problem that Trump now has is that the MAGA crowd sit far to the right of him on the issue of abortion and he does not seem able to rein them in. In fact, moderating his rhetoric on abortion may alienate some of his supporters, especially the white conservative evangelical base.”
