Tranche 2 Anti Money Laundering and Counter Terror Financing Laws Protect Us All. In 1988, I was a trainee detective with the Australian Federal Police working in Sydney, when Australia passed the Cash Transaction Reports Act 1988 (later renamed the Financial Transaction Reports Act). This was the beginning of the introduction of Australia’s Anti-Money Laundering Continue reading »
Government
Knowing with any degree of certainty what motivates the behaviour and decision making of political leaders whose skill set is focused on creating public perceptions, is problematic. Accordingly, it’s prudent to look less at what they say and more at what they do or don’t do. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland Continue reading »
“It’s not the word I would use”… As Western Australian Senator Fatima Payman breaks party ranks to condemn the Gazan genocide, Defence Minister Richard Marles, in defiance of the International Court of Justice and United Nations, is attempting to shield Israel and deter MPs from using the term ‘genocide’ . Last week Federal Parliament was Continue reading »
The Extradition hearing of Dan Duggan, an Australian citizen and father of six who has been held in solitary confinement for 19 months in breach of U.N. conventions at the request of the United States, will be held this Friday in a Magistrate’s Court in Sydney. Astonishing details have emerged of his relationship with the Continue reading »
The increasing number of Grandparents paying private school fees has enabled elite schools to evade Commonwealth parent income tests determining the rate of taxpayer funding that goes to society’s most wealthy and least in need students. Some private schools have acknowledged that many grandparents pay school fees. In effect, this is an admission that they Continue reading »
It is curious that though the Russia-Ukraine conflict is now in its third year, Australian audiences have been only given one side of the picture: that of Ukraine and its Western backers. The commercial outlets, no doubt, have their reasons for acting like Pravda would in Russia and toeing the line of the Australian government Continue reading »
Every element of Australia’s health system is in trouble. But you’d never know it from looking at this year’s budget. Every previous Labor government since the second world war had good reasons to boast of its performance in health policy. The Albanese government, on the evidence, does not. The 2024-25 budget leaves the nation’s crumbling Continue reading »
This past Budget week had the most intense focus on immigration levels that I can remember (and I’ve been watching immigration policy in Budget week for over 35 years). It confirms that immigration levels will be a dominant issue at the next Election. But debates about immigration levels can be a mixture of substance as Continue reading »
In the movie Apocalypse Now, Robert Duval’s character, Colonel Bill Kilgore, reflectively observes that, despite the smell of victory, ‘Someday this war’s gonna end’. So too, the war in Gaza is going to end. The only questions are how and when. Despite growing external pressure, the current Israeli cabinet is only inclined to end the Continue reading »
After considering Opposition criticisms, this article concludes that this Budget reflects Labor’s competent economic management. However, a more ambitious tax reform agenda is needed to adequately provide all the services that Australians expect. Labor’s macroeconomic strategy Essentially Labor faced a difficult balancing act with this budget. The challenge was to improve the cost of living Continue reading »