DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION – AUSTRALIA

10 years on, ASIC drops Rio pursuit

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Nick Evans
The Australian – Page: 15 : 1-Mar-22

Rio Tinto has agreed to settle the Australian Securities & Investments Commission’s legal action over the $US29bn writedown of its Mozambique coal assets in early 2013. The $750,000 civil penalty for breaching Rio Tinto’s continuous disclosure obligations in the lead-up to the writedown must be approved by the Federal Court. ASIC has dropped most of the original charges against Rio Tinto, as well as former CEO Tom Albanese and ex-CFO Guy Elliott. Rio Tinto had acquired Mozambique-focused Riversdale Mining for $US3.7bn in 2011.

CORPORATES
RIO TINTO LIMITED – ASX RIO, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, RIVERSDALE MINING LIMITED

United Australia Party’s $80m-plus war chest sparks call to limit election spending

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Christopher Knaus
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 23-Feb-22

The Centre for Public Integrity has outlined a range of proposed measures aimed at removing the influence of money in federal politics. Amongst other things, it has proposed capping donations to political parties, reducing the disclosure threshold for campaign donations to $1,000 and strengthening the Australian Electoral Commission’s powers to enforce donation laws. The Centre’s reform blueprint follows the United Australia Party’s recent revelation that its campaign budget for the upcoming federal election will exceed the $80m it spent on the 2019 poll.

CORPORATES
CENTRE FOR PUBLIC INTEGRITY, UNITED AUSTRALIA PARTY

Privacy fight for BHP vax order as miners caught faking jabs

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 19-Jan-22

BHP has defended its decision to require all employees to provide proof of their COVID-19 vaccination status by 31 January. The resources group says it needs all relevant information to ensure that employees are not faking their vaccination status. A spokesman says that immunisation history statements and COVID-19 digital certificates will only be viewed by members of BHP’s health and medical teams. The CFMEU has expressed concern about the privacy implications of BHP’s policy, and has taken the matter to the Fair Work Commission.

CORPORATES
BHP GROUP LIMITED – ASX BHP, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA

ABC in cover-up claim over Louise Milligan’s tweets about MP Andrew Laming

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Janet Fife-Yeomans
The Daily Telegraph – Page: Online : 26-Oct-21

The ABC is under renewed scrutiny over Andrew Laming’s defamation payout after the public broadcaster declined to release 161 documents concerning the case. The documents in question involve internal discussions regarding the tweets of journalist Louise Milligan about the federal Liberal MP. The documents were requested via freedom of information laws, but the ABC released copies of the documents in which most of the text had been blacked out. One Nation MP Mark Latham has urged Communications Minister Paul Fletcher to release all documents relating to the Laming case.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, ONE NATION PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS

Senate backs inquiry into whether tax commissioner should release JobKeeper details

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Daniel Hurst
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 20-Oct-21

Tax commissioner Chris Jordan will come under scrutiny by the Senate’s privileges committee over his refusal to disclose the details of companies with annual turnover of more than $10m that received JobKeeper payments. Jordan had contended that doing so would not be in the public interest, but the Senate has voted 25-21 to hold an inquiry into whether he had disobeyed a lawful order of the upper house. Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar has criticised Labor for supporting the motion, which was put forward by independent senator Rex Patrick. Jordan could potentially face jail if he is found to be in contempt of the Senate.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

National cabinet secrecy: senator to cross the floor

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Ronald Mizen
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 10 : 29-Sep-21

The federal government will need the support of four crossbench senators for its legislation to overturn a Federal Court ruling on the status of the national cabinet. Justice Richard White recently ruled in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal that the national cabinet is not covered by secrecy laws. Liberal senator Gerard Rennick has advised that he will vote against the legislation, stating that he has no time for secrecy and that Australians have a right to know what is discussed in meetings of the national cabinet.

CORPORATES
FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. ADMINISTRATIVE APPEALS TRIBUNAL, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Late payers put on notice

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Robert Gottliebsen
The Australian – Page: 21 : 25-Jun-20

The federal government proposes to introduce a new supplier payments disclosure regime for businesses with turnover of $100m or more. They will be required to submit regular reports on how quickly they pay the invoices of small business suppliers. The disclosure regime takes effect at the start of 2021, but the 3,000 or so large enterprises that will be affected need to start preparing for it immediately. The proposed Payment Times Reporting Regulator will be responsible for enforcing the legislation and determining whether a supplier is a small business for the purposes of the disclosure regime.

CORPORATES

APRA probes super fund pain

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Gerard Cockburn
The Australian – Page: 16 : 25-Jun-20

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority will increase its oversight of the nation’s superannuation funds in response to the coronavirus pandemic. APRA will require super funds to provide it with a range of data on both a monthly and quarterly basis for the duration of the health crisis. Amongst other things, APRA is concerned about the impact of the federal government’s early access scheme is having on super funds, with almost $16bn having been withdrawn to date.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN PRUDENTIAL REGULATION AUTHORITY

Australian privacy watchdog launches court action against Facebook over Cambridge Analytica access

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Jack Snape, Ariel Bogle
abc.net au – Page: Online : 10-Mar-20

The Australian Information Commissioner has taken social media firm Facebook to the Federal Court for allegedly breaching the privacy of around 311,127 Australians in regard to the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The Commissioner has stated that the court can impose a fine of up to $1.7 million for each "serious and repeated" offence. The UK privacy watchdog has previously fined Facebook Stg500,000 billion ($998,000) over the Cambridge Analytica episode, while a US Federal Trade Commission investigation resulted in Facebook paying US5 billion ($7.64 billion) over allegations that it duped users over their ability to control personal information.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE AUSTRALIAN INFORMATION COMMISSIONER, FACEBOOK INCORPORATED, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA LLC, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

Agent of interference: How Labor’s top lawyer steered bureaucrats against ex-PM

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Joe Kelly
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 31-Jan-20

Andrew Cooper, the Australian organiser of the 2019 Conservative Political Action Conference, was asked to register under the federal government’s Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme. The request was made by the Attorney General’s Department. According to documents released under freedom of information laws, Labor frontbencher Mark Dreyfus encouraged department officials to investigate whether the CPAC would trigger registration requirements under the scheme at a meeting in July. The Department also asked former prime minister Tony Abbott to register under the scheme as he was to speak at the event; both Cooper and Abbott rejected the requests. A spokesperson for Dreyfus says the opposition cannot tell public servants to do anything.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY