Tag Archives: ATO

15 Things That Happened in the Last Three Weeks – April 1 to April 21

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When I end up working a few Sundays in a row it sort of messes up the whole “posts every Sunday” thing, so here is a recap of the last three weeks:

  1. Easter happened, which meant that there was a bit of a lull for the first two weeks – but there was still political stuff happening, just less dram a than is normal.
  2. Greens Senator Jordan Steele-John brought awareness of the fact that the 1980s era Parliament House is not really built for people with wheelchairs – especially the MP’s offices
  3. Former Labor Opposition Leader Kim Beazley will become the new WA Governor, after returning from Washington DC  where he was the Ambassador to the United States.
  4. Alinta Energy is offering to buy the Liddell power plant off AGL. Alinta has said they won’t ask for money from the taxpayers, but AGL is unlikely to sell the ageing plant as it is vital to its 2022 transition plans.
  5. The GST distribution between the states is being redistributed, with WA getting some more money, while money is being taken away from the (richer) East Coast.
  6. The Australian Taxation Office is in trouble for abusing their powers and being heavy-handed in their actions, with allegations that the motive was revenue raising rather than enforcing compliance.
  7. Kelly O’Dwyer then announced that there would be an investigation into the ATO’s practices.
  8. The National Broadband Network is still causing trouble with complaints about fibre to the node (FTTN) links (with some people returning to copper wire links) and concerns about the difference in service for people with FTTN, fibre to the premises (FTTP), and the new fibre to the curb (FTTC) plans.
  9. Malcolm Turnbull hit what the media dubbed the “Dirty Thirty” – as it has been thirty consecutive Newspolls lost to the Opposition, which Turnbull used as a measure to topple Tony Abbott. Turnbull says he regrets using thirty Newspolls as a measure of failure now, but used the attention to highlight his economic leadership.
  10. There was thought that if someone did use “Dirty Thirty” to try to topple Turnbull it’d probably be at the hands of Peter Dutton and Julie Bishop – however there really isn’t a viable alternative to Turnbull right now so we’re stuck with him 🙂
  11. There are new concerns about live sheep exports to the Middle East after footage was released of sheep dying of heat stress on one of the export ships. This has led the cross-bench and backbench MPs to either call for bans or changes to the live export trade.
  12. There was a rumour that Vanuatu was in talks with China to host a Chinese military base on the archipelago. Vanuatu has denied this strenuously, and Vanuatu’s Foreign Minister reportedly had no idea about any plans or talks.
  13. The Banking Royal Commission continued over the last three weeks and it has been shocking – banks and financial advisors have admitted to knowingly giving poor financial advice to customers and knowingly charging “fees for no service” that they were not entitled to, even charging fees to someone who was dead (and had been reported dead to the bank already).
  14. It has also been suggested that if Commissioner Hayne were to approach the Government and ask for an extension for the Royal Commission, he would likely get it, as the Government has realised that the banking sector has been very, very naughty.
  15. Malcolm Turnbull began his European Tour in London, attending the Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting (CHOGM) where the Queen made clear her “sincerest wish” that Prince Charles become the next Head of the Commonwealth – as the Queen’s headship of the Commonwealth of Nations is not hereditary.

 

I’ll be back to regular posting on Sundays this coming week.

The Two Weeks That Were – July 2 to July 15

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It may be the Winter Break for parliamentarians, but Malcolm Turnbull has been dealing with internal pressures within the Liberal Party. Tony Abbott believes the Liberal Party should be more conservative and seems to see himself as the voice of the conservatives within the party. The Labor party appears to be the party of unity at the moment, with both the Greens and the Liberals having internal issues. To his credit though, Turnbull has said that if he stops being PM he will quit parliament and not cause trouble. Somehow I think he’s more likely to keep that promise than Abbott was.

Turnbull spent the rest of the fortnight in Europe at the G20 in Hamburg, Germany, where he got to ride in “The Beast” – the car the US President rides in – and he and Lucy got a ride to Paris with Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte in the Presidential private plane. He then travelled to the UK and met the Queen. He may be a republican, but he enjoyed meeting her. He also said that most Australian republicans do like Queen Elizabeth, even if they don’t want to be ruled by her.

Speaking of the G20, ABC Political correspondent Chris Uhlmann went viral this week after his cutting analysis of Trump’s performance at the summit.

The die-hard Trump supporters think Uhlmann’s some kind of idiot who can’t cope with the new world order, but others think it may be a turning point as people begin to realise that they may not be the most powerful nation anymore.

Labor is challenging the election of David Gillespie MP after it emerged that he owns a shopping village with an Australia Post outlet, which they suggest means he has a financial interest with the Commonwealth and is therefore ineligible to have been elected into Parliament under the constitution. It’s being considered by the High Court, but the Liberals just thinks it’s a stunt.

The government is planning on introducing legislation to force social media companies to provide encryption keys to investigators in order to read messages on suspects’ phones. Most companies are annoyed with the plans because they believe it will weaken the system, and if the keys get in the wrong hands there will be security and privacy issues.

Scott Ludlam has resigned from the Senate after he discovered he was still a dual citizen of Australia and New Zealand. Ludlam was born in NZ, and was naturalised as an Australian citizen when he was a teenager. He believed his NZ citizenship was superseded by the Aussie citizenship. Ludlam moved to Australia when he was three years old and has never considered NZ his ‘home’ so never really thought about it until a member of the public pointed out he was still a Kiwi. His seat will be filled by a recount, however, if he rectifies the citizen issue soon, he will be eligible for casual vacancies as they come up.

Finally this fortnight, the Fair Work Commission has ruled that casual employees can ask for full time employment, although employers can deny this request for “reasonable” reasons; the government will be paying Malek Fahd Islamic School $6.5 million in back funding after denying the school money because of alleged misappropriation of funds by the previous school board; someone at the ATO accidentally published how the agency hacks into phones, and the agency was unaware until the ABC called them; and Australia is considering if it needs a space agency.

Tweet of the Week

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

The ‘Foxification’ of the Sky News Channel – Buzzfeed

Chris Uhlmann on going viral – Canberra Times

The Week That Was – May 14 to May 20

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It was looking like a quiet, relatively calm week for federal politics this week. Then cam the ATO scandal.

The scandalous part of this whole tax office thing is that the Deputy Commissioner Michael Cranston has been stood down and will be appearing in court in the next few months for allegedly accessing and giving his son Adam confidential information that he shouldn’t have – in relation to an alleged conspiracy to defraud the Commonwealth. It’s especially awkward given he’s theoretically the most senior tax cop the country has. Cranston’s son, Adam, and daughter, Lauren, have also been arrested in relation to the matter, as have seven or eight others. It’s believed Cranston was unaware of what the information he allegedly gave was used for, but he did allegedly abuse his position. The government went for the angry and disappointed reaction – but to avoid screwing up the case against the accused they haven’t said much else.

Before the ATO drama broke this week, the regular post-Budget selling trip was looking relatively boring. This budget has been mostly well-received, with only a few issues really being hit on by the opposition and cross bench. I say mostly because the post-Budget opinion poll puts Labor in front of the Government by a few points in the two-party preferred. The tax issue is still the main point of contention. Australia has a progressive tax system, which means that the 80% of Australians that earn less than $80,000 per year, contribute around a third of the country’s tax revenue; while the other 20% who earn over $80,000 per year, contribute 70% of tax revenue.  While the Liberals wanting an increase in tax for everyone, no matter their salary, Labor only wants to increase taxes for those on high incomes.

Treasurer Scott Morrison is also annoyed with former Treasury Secretary Ken Henry – who now works for NAB – because Henry has said that banks will have to pass on the bank levy (applicable to the Big Five – Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, St George, NAB and ANZ) to customers, and he also criticised the tax. Morrison would like for the banks to just take the levy and not affect customers, but this is unlikely to happen. The Treasurer is also calling Ken Henry a hypocrite, because Henry once supported a previously floated bank tax.

The Navy has some issues with two relatively new ships – the HMAS Adelaide and the HMAS Canberra. It appears that the foreign designed and built ships have propulsion issues – and they’re unlikely to be fixed in time for war games with the United States in a month. The experts behind the ships have been called in and there appears to be a major design flaw in the systems causing problems.

Finally this week, some media companies are wanting the cross media ownership laws to be loosened; a Senate Inquiry is looking into research funding into low survival cancers such as brain cancer; and the Australian Medical Association says that same-sex marriage has positive health effects on those in same-sex relationships.

Tweet of the Week

 

Buzzfeed’s international offices get sassy during Eurovision…

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Juanita Phillips on what she doesn’t worry about as a single mum – SMH

Stan Grant on the “great divide” getting wider – ABC Online

 

The Week That Was – July 26 to August 1

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The ALP Conference finished last Sunday, with an agreement for a conscience vote on marriage equality for the next two parliamentary terms, a promise to introduce a marriage equality bill within the first 100 days of government if they win the next election, and an agreement to make climate change policy one of the key issues at the next election. Commentators believe Shorten has come out of the conference alright, but needs to prove himself as an alternative PM to non-ALP members. Meanwhile, Tony Abbott has been scaremongering on the proposed ETS that the ALP is taking to the next election, saying it is a big scary tax, only for Malcolm Turnbull to point out that the RET is technically a tax too.

Bronwyn Bishop is still under fire, originally for not apologising and going to Sophie Mirabella’s wedding on the taxpayer purse, then apologising because the PM’s office told her to, and then for a $6000 charter flight to seniors’ events and fundraisers two weeks after the $5000 chopper flight that started it all. There also appears to be some sort of link between the Ms Bishop and the charter company she’s been using, but it is not clear what that link is. Meanwhile Labor has announce that it will only support the government in condolence motions in Parliament, Meanwhile Christopher Pyne and Abbott are still supporting the Speaker, while Malcolm Turnbull has been tweeting about the trains he’s been taking and joking about justifying the $4 train ticket.

EDIT 5PM August 2 – Bronwyn Bishop has resigned.

After the Labor Party agreed to have a quota of 50% women in parliament in the next couple of years, which has sparked discussion about why women don’t go into politics, with some suggesting that Question Time has something to do with it. Senior Liberals are not in favour of targets despite the fact that the general belief is that the Liberal Party has problems with women.

The Royal Commission into Child Abuse looked into Jehovah’s Witnesses, where it was revealed that church elders investigated abuse claims internally, and never reported any cases to the police. Members of the church also admitted to destroying notes.

Finally this week, the guy who came back from Syria last week has been charged with terrorism offences, paperwork acquired by the ABC through Freedom of Information shows the ATO was worried about people rorting the small business tax breaks, they may have found a section of the MH370 washed up on the French overseas department of Réunion, and Russia vetoed a UN Security Council Resolution to have a tribunal look into the downing of MH17, which made Julie Bishop angry.

Tweet of the Week

Things I’ve Been Looking at Online

Barrie Cassidy on the Bishop and Goodes Sagas – ABC The Drum

Stan Grant on racism and being Indigenous – The Guardian

SBS2’s The Feed – Douche of the Week

The Week That Was – June 29 to July 5

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This week has primarily focused on the two Asylum Seeker boats out near Christmas Island. We know they exist, that on of them is possibly from India, that the Detention Centre on Christmas Island is preparing for new people and that they are the first boats in quite a long time. Since then, nothing has been heard from the government who have said it’s an “on-water operation” that they won’t comment on just yet, and we don’t even know if the boats have made it ashore or if the asylum seekers are even alive.

There are concerns that the refugees are being assessed on the boats they arrived on. The UNHCR is concerned as well, reminding Australia that it is illegal to return people to a place where they fear for their safety under international law. However, Scott Morrison appears to be trying to find a way around that and he could use his ministerial powers to intervene in cases.

There are also more suggestions of streamlining welfare payments again. It’s suggested that people with “non-permanent” disabilities could be taken off the Disability Support Pension (DSP) and onto New Start – which is considerably less money. Also, I’d like to know what a “non-permanent disability” is. The Opposition is angry, especially Anthony Albanese, who was raised by his single mother with the DSP as most of her income.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse released an interim report, saying that they had heard shocking stories and that the number of complaints was so high, they would need two more years and another $100 million to continue their investigations. They are investigating at least 70 institutions and say that adults have failed children. The government in considering the request for more time and money. The Royal Commission is also annoyed at the Vatican, because they asked for all the documents pertaining to paedophile priests in Australia and they’ve only received two. And speaking of the Catholic Church, despite Cardinal Pell telling the Commission that the church will stop using the “Ellis Defence” (the defence that says that the Church is not a legal entity that can be sued) in sexual abuse cases, they are still using it.

The NDIS is still facing problems a year after its launch, with many people facing bureaucratic battles. It appears that very few people are aware of their rights under the scheme and are in fact losing out on some of the things they had before. There is also questions over what should be funded and whether or nor iPads are worth funding – despite the fact that some are actually being used to help with communication.

This week also saw the new senators being shown the ropes in Canberra, in what is affectionately called “Senate Kindy”. It appears that Palmer United Party Senator Jacqui Lambie wants to become PM eventually and that the only thing that David Leyonhjelm learnt at Senate Kindy was not to go to wineries in ComCars.

Speaking of David Leyonhjelm, he may just help get the Paid Parental Leave Scheme through the Senate, however he wants to see a deregulation of childcare, such that there are cheaper options for families. Sussan Ley, the Assistant Education Minister, says that while she thinks it could be a good, it isn’t on the cards – something the Opposition and childcare associations are happy about, saying that people want quality and safety when it comes to taking care of their kids.

Finally, the Commonwealth Bank (CBA) saga continues, with the CEO apologising for messing up and telling people that they are opening up an investigation. However, there are still concerns because the investigation will be internal and only after that investigation will anyone external be brought in, and even the CBA will choose who the external person is. The Financial Planning Association does support a Royal Commission, unless the CBA sorts everything out, especially its compensation.

Also this week, a 17-year-old Western Sydney teenager is reportedly in the Middle East, presumably to fight in Syria or Iraq, Julie Bishop travelled to Myanmar on a trip that focused on trade and education, there are plans to ban Australians from bringing back souvenirs from ‘canned hunting’ trips and be aware of a scam in which you are called by someone saying they are from the ATO, recite your tax details and tell you have overdue taxes – somehow some people’s tax details have been sold on the black market.

Tweet of the Week

What I’ve been Reading/Watching/Listening etc

The UN now recognises same-sex marriage – Gaystar News

Tony Abbott in trouble for saying Australia was ‘unsettled’ before colonisation – SBS Online