AUSTRALIA – POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

KPMG referred to national anti-Corruption watchdog

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Original article by David Ross
The Australian – Page: 13 & 19 : 17-Jun-26

Greens senator Barbara Pocock has referred KPMG to the National Anti-Corruption Commission in response to the accounting firm’s audit scandal. Pocock is concerned that KPMG may have breached the Commonwealth Supplier Code of Conduct, while she contends that a temporary ban on new public contracts is inadequate. The three-month ban does not apply to extensions on existing contracts; KPMG holds some $653m worth of public contracts with the federal government. Pocock is a vocal critic of the nation’s four major accounting firms.

CORPORATES
KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. NATIONAL ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN GREENS

Strategy of the rebellion: Joyce to take on Chalmers

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Original article by Sarah Ison, Greg Brown
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 17-Jun-26

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson will make her first National Press Club speech today, as the increasingly popular party prepares to allocate portfolios to its team of six MPs and senators. Former deputy prime minister and National Party defector Barnaby Joyce expects to be given the treasury portfolio; Joyce contends that he is best suited to take on Treasurer Jim Chalmers, given that he is a former accountant and served on the expenditure review committee when the Coalition was in office. Meanwhile, independent economist Saul Eslake has called for One Nation have its policies costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office; he says the party’s cost-of-living measures would not help to reduce the underlying inflation rate.

CORPORATES
ONE NATION PARTY, NATIONAL PRESS CLUB (AUSTRALIA), NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA. PARLIAMENTARY BUDGET OFFICE

Review puts top bureaucrats’ pay under spotlight

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Original article by Nicola Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 17-Jun-26

The independent Remuneration Tribunal is undertaking a 14-month review of senior federal public servants’ remuneration packages. It will assess the salaries of the top 26 bureaucrats, whose salaries range from $816,000 to $1,035,690 a year. The tribunal is seeking feedback from the public as to whether their salaries and benefits are "appropriate", and it recently completed the first public consultation phase of the review. Departmental secretaries are entitled to a range of benefits, including domestic airline lounge memberships, business-class airfares and relocation expenses if they do not live in Canberra.

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AUSTRALIA. REMUNERATION TRIBUNAL

Compo run for foreign criminals

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Original article by Paul Garvey
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 11-Jun-26

The High Court has rejected the federal government’s argument that it should not be liable to pay compensation to people who were held in indefinite detention. The government had contended that it should have immunity from compensation claims arising from the court’s landmark 2023 ruling in the ‘NZYQ’ case that indefinite detention is unlawful. More than 300 foreign-born criminals were released into the community as a result of that ruling. Legal experts warn that in addition to this cohort, asylum-seekers and refugees who were held in detention could also be entitled to compensation.

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HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

One Nation’s incredibly sloppy financial reports reveal more than $1m in missing or worthless assets

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Original article by Sarah Martin
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 11-Jun-26

Professor Matthew Pinnuck from the University of Melbourne says the quality of One Nation’s financial statements is "very poor and unprofessional", and raises questions about the party’s fitness for government. Professor Pinnuck’s comments are based on his assessment of the financial returns that One Nation lodged with Queensland’s Office of Fair Trading from 2016 to 2022; he says the financial statements show that One Nation had been bought and sold substantial assets over this period, but they had not been recorded on the party’s balance sheet. One Nation has not filed annual returns with the Office of Fair Trading since 2022.

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ONE NATION PARTY, QUEENSLAND. OFFICE OF FAIR TRADING, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE

Non-compete clause: Taylor confidant’s shock call on One Nation

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Original article by Rosie Lewis, Greg Brown, Paul Garvey
The Australian – Page: 1 & 5 : 11-Jun-26

Liberal MP Tony Pasin says the Coalition should work with One Nation to ensure that Labor is defeated at the next federal election. Pasin contends that the Liberals and One Nation should identify electorates where each party has the best chance of winning, and focus their campaigning on these seats rather than competing with each other in all electorates. Pasin says he is concerned that the Liberals and One Nation will spend the next two electoral cycles fighting each other, resulting in a "very bad Labor government" retaining office. Meanwhile, opinion is divided within the Liberals as to whether the party should direct preferences to One Nation at the next election.

CORPORATES
LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, ONE NATION PARTY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Big tech warns news tax a global precedent

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Original article by Sam Buckingham-Jones
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 3-Jun-26

Two US lobby groups have criticised the proposed News Bargaining Incentive in submissions to the federal government. The Software & Information Industry Association and the National Foreign Trade Council both represent technology giants such as Meta and Google, while the latter’s members also include Amazon, Coca-Cola and Shell. The NFTC contends in its submission that the NBI is a "discriminatory" digital services tax that primarily targets US companies. The NBI would impose an additional tax of 2.25 per cent on the Australian revenue of Meta, Google and TikTok if they fail to secure commercial deals with local news publishers for using their content.

CORPORATES
SOFTWARE AND INFORMATION INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION, UNITED STATES. NATIONAL FOREIGN TRADE COUNCIL, META PLATFORMS INCORPORATED, GOOGLE INCORPORATED, AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, THE COCA-COLA COMPANY, SHELL PLC, TIKTOK

Internal torpedo alert: PM faces AUKUS strife

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Original article by Greg Brown, Ben Packham
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 3-Jun-26

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles has responded to a growing push to reconsider the AUKUS alliance by emphasising that the federal government fully supports the defence pact. The United Workers Union’s national secretary Tim Kennedy is amongst those who have called for AUKUS to be reassessed, as have some Labor MPs and teal independents. Former industry minister Ed Husic used Labor’s caucus meeting yesterday to urge a new vote on the alliance, contending that the terms of the deal have changed following the revelation that Australia will now acquire three used Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines; the original deal had included one brand-new vessel.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, UNITED WORKERS UNION

Workers pay as income taxes hit a 30-year high

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Original article by Michael Read
The Australian Financial Review – Page: B5 : 13-May-26

The federal government’s budget includes a new and permanent income tax break for wage and salary earners. The Working Australians Tax Offset will be worth up to $250 per annum and is slated to cost about $3bn in its first full year of operation; an estimated 13.3 million workers will be entitled to the tax offset, although it will not be available until they submit tax returns for the 2027-28 financial year. Meanwhile, the budget papers show that government revenue from individuals’ income tax is forecast to exceed $382bn in 2027-28; this equates to 52 per cent of the total tax take, and it is expected to rise to 54.5 per cent by 2029-30.

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$77bn tax grab

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Original article by Greg Brown
The Australian – Page: 1 & 11 : 13-May-26

The federal government’s budget papers show that the nation’s gross debt is set to exceed $1 trillion in 2026-27, while it is forecast to peak at 35.8 per cent of GDP in 2028-29. Net debt is in turn forecast to top $616bn by mid-2027, while the budget includes net tax increases totalling $77bn. Meanwhile, the government is set to post deficits for the next decade and will not deliver a balanced budget until 2034-35, although the latter is based on expectations of higher tax revenue and projected savings from NDIS reforms. The budget also includes a productivity package for the business sector; amongst other things, the instant asset write-off will become a permanent feature of the tax system, while the loss carry back tax offset will be reinstated; however, the government now expects its productivity growth target of 1.2 per cent to be achieved three years later than expected.

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