Thursday, March 26, 2026

IRS agent, Frank Wilson

 Shoot, he wasn't even the most important agent in the fight against Al Capone. The man we SHOULD be lionizing is IRS agent, Frank Wilson


Pope questioning Elon Musk's massive wealth, saying, "If that is the only thing that has value anymore, then we're in big trouble."


ICE Turns to Private Industry to Track Down 100,000 Unaccompanied Children

Project Salt Box: [March 11, 2026], “ICE ERO released a request for proposals (RFP) on SAM.gov requesting contractor support to “conduct safety and wellness checks of an estimated 100,000 unaccompanied alien children (UAC) across the US.” Labeled as the “Safety Verification Initiative,” this RFP is the latest development in a year’s long campaign by ICE to track down UAC who were encountered by DHS and subsequently released from the care and custody of the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Refugee Resettlement. While the initiative is framed as a way to ensure the safety and well-being of this subset of children by performing wellness checks, immigrant advocates warn that it functions as yet another loophole to reinstate backdoor family separation. ICE officials have already been carrying out so‑called welfare checks nationwide with the stated goal of protecting children, but reporters and advocates have documented that these operations are being used to locate children for deportation and to target their sponsors for immigration enforcement or criminal prosecution. In practice, this means visits that are presented as “safety” checks can end with children removed from their homes and returned to federal custody, or with parents and caregivers arrested while children are left behind…”

See also Project Salt Box: The federal government has purchased a Salt Lake City warehouse for $145.4 million to house an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility, property records show — completing a deal that the building’s owner had publicly and emphatically rejected less than two months ago. The deed, recorded with Salt Lake County on March 11, transfers ownership of the Gardner Logistics Center on the city’s west side from RREEF CPIF 6020 W 300 S, LLC — an entity connected to the Ritchie Group, a family-owned Utah real estate developer — to the United States Department of Homeland Security. ICE is listed as the acquiring federal agency. The sale is a stunning reversal. In January, after roughly 100 protesters gathered outside the warehouse and Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall warned the facility would violate city zoning codes, the Ritchie Group declared it had “no plans to sell or lease the property in question to the federal government.” Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson called the announcement a relief, saying “a facility that potentially houses 7,500 detainees has no place in an urban area.” At the time, a combination of public pressure and bureaucratic maneuvering appeared to have killed the deal. It had not. The property, located near Salt Lake City International Airport and surrounded by Amazon and Walmart distribution facilities, would add 7,500 beds to ICE’s national detention network — one of the single largest expansions of the agency’s capacity in years…”



Archive directory unlocks secrets of world’s knowledge repositories

“For the first time, journalists and researchers have a searchable directory of over 1,500 of the world’s knowledge repositories. 

The new publication is from Newsjunkie.net, the data-journalism resource known for its “Who’s Behind the News” reporting. Guide to Public Archives II, a fully revised and expanded directory of the world’s artifact and document repositories, is designed to help journalists and scholars quickly and easily locate essential research materials. 

The updated guide now includes a full representation of essential archives from major institutions such as the Library of Congress and the Vatican Apostolic Archive to regional and specialized collections devoted to particular communities, disciplines, and eras, such as the Timorese Resistance Archive. Each entry has been significantly expanded, with richer descriptions, improved structure, and more detailed information on collections, access policies, and contact points. The Guide to Public Archives II has never been more necessary. 

It arrives at a moment of heightened urgency around the preservation of public records. As federal agencies remove datasets, government websites are compromised by misinformation, and historical records whitewashed, archivists, researchers, and journalists need a destination untarnished by ideology. The Guide to Public Archives II is a permanent, free reference to the world’s institutions that hold the record of human activity not altered by prejudice or partisanship…

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The current system for carving up the GST is busted - Michael Hudson: Iran, Israel, and World War III

This is the first comment to the Productivity Commission’s inquiry into how GST revenue – about $100 billion a year – is shared among the states and territories.
“WA already pay more GST contributions than all of Australia. We desperately need more GST to fix our critically ill hospital and health system, our schools are crumbling, lacking the funding to fix them and infrastructure including house [sic] is desperately lacking,” the West Australian resident notes.

The GST is broken, and hurting NSW and Victoria badly


The NSW treasurer wants to “stop the rip-off” of GST arrangements, calling for wholesale changes to the way the tax revenue is distributed each year.

Commenting on the state government’s submission to an inquiry into GST reform, led by the Productivity Commission, Daniel Mookhey said current settings were complex and opaque.

The treasurer proposed a per capita distribution, which he said would remove a possible drag on the productive capacity of the national economy.

“The current system for carving up the GST is busted.

Mookhey calls for GST formula reset, end to NSW ‘carrying the Federation’


Dr Cope is pleased as he always argued that more professional women should be in Librarian Leadership
A public servant who began Alison’s career with the National Library of Australia as a graduate 20 years ago has been chosen as the institution’s next director-general.


BBC and NWA: the day ABC staff went on strike – and left Aunty looking ‘a bit different’

Triple J signed off with the hip-hop anthem Express Yourself while other radio and TV networks filled the air with BBC broadcasts, re-runs and soothing music


Federal Cyber Experts Thought Microsoft’s Cloud Was “a Pile of Shit.” They Approved It Anyway.


A year after Trump administration cuts, Voice of America and its sister outlets are mostly shadows of their former selves

Layoffs, lawsuits and lost trust have left US-funded global news outlets diminished, creating openings for authoritarian leaders abroad


The web of offshore companies that allowed Chelsea to cheat the system

As FA chairman at time of rule breaches says club got off lightly with sanctions, we take closer look at £47m secret payments that helped secure star players such as Eden Hazard


Michael Hudson: Iran, Israel, and World War III

Michael Hudson provides a deep dive into US foreign policy and its use of dollar dominance.


The Epistemic Break of the Iran War

The Iran War is shattering the U.S. illusion of power, breaking truths that are being replaced by AI models and creating an epistemic collapse


2026 World Cup Tax Implications

Bloomberg Law: FIFA 2026 World Cup Blows the Whistle on Complex Tax Risks

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KPMG’s alleged dirty deeds at odds with CEO’s sermon

KPMG allegedly misused Lendlease data to win audit work 
Edmund Tadros and Hannah Wootton 
Updated Mar 25, 2026 – 7.52pm

 KPMG Australia has been accused of misusing confidential information from its client Lendlease to win external audit work for Westpac and Dexus, while allegedly failing to act on a whistleblower complaint.

The claims, raised under parliamentary privilege by Labor senator Deborah O’Neill on behalf of an unnamed former KPMG executive, include allegations that the firm used inside information to win the external audit contracts for Macquarie Group and Westpac and improperly used internal Telstra data.

Labor senator Deborah O’Neill raised the KPMG allegations in the Senate on Tuesday night. Alex Ellinghausen

The firm failed to act on the unnamed whistleblower’s detailed May 2024 complaint, O’Neill told the Senate on Tuesday night. KPMG instead took action against the whistleblower and “the disclosure was re-characterised as a workplace grievance”.

“The whistleblower goes on to detail their efforts to escalate their disclosure, including [to] KPMG executives, KPMG International ... and eventually, ASIC, before making this disclosure to me, a parliamentarian, in the public interest,” O’Neill said.

A spokeswoman for the corporate regulator said that “strict confidentially requirements” meant that the Australian Securities and Investments Commission couldn’t comment nor confirm the existence of whistleblower reports.


She told parliament she had “taken great care to verify, via documentation, the authenticity of the matters I am putting on record here in the Senate of the Australian Parliament tonight” but did not provide details of this evidence.

KPMG Australia’s leaders said the firm had already commissioned two separate law firms to investigate the claims but were “unable to substantiate any claims of wrongdoing” and the complainant had failed on 20 occasions to provide further evidence to back up the allegations.

Five major allegations

Senator O’Neill outlined five major whistleblower allegations under parliamentary privilege. No dates were provided for the allegations.

The first involved “confidential Lendlease board papers” being “taken and circulated internally within KPMG and used to support pursuit of major audit tenders including Westpac and Dexus,” O’Neill said.

The whistleblower alleged that the documents were taken by senior executives and secured in one partner’s locker. KPMG has audited Lendlease since 1958, well beyond what is considered good corporate practice.

The second allegation claimed “improper access” to Telstra information.

“KPMG personnel offered access to restricted documents from Telstra’s IT environment, via a Telstra-issued laptop,” O’Neil quoted the whistleblower as alleging. “These documents related to Telstra AI governance policies and internal practices during a live external audit tender ...”

The third allegation relates to the way the firm won the Macquarie Group audit, the most coveted and valuable auditing contract in the country. The allegation related to the role of KPMG partner-turned-Macquarie director Michelle Hinchliffe in the tender process.

Macquarie’s chairman Glenn Stevens has previously called these allegations “silly talk” and said Hinchliffe was a “highly credentialled, highly esteemed” former partner.

Similar concerns about conflicts of interest in the tender process for Westpac’s $30 million audit contract in 2024 were at the heart of the fourth allegation.

“Throughout the tender, KPMG received feedback of position intelligence not available to competitors. This included that the tender was KPMG’s to lose, commentary undermining EY’s proposed lead partner, guidance to reduce KPMG’s fee by approximately 25 per cent and advice on managing perception optics.”

Rear Window has previously noted the number of ex-KPMG personnel within Westpac, including audit committee chair Peter Nash, chief financial officer Michael Rowland and director Michael Ullmer. There is no suggestion they provided KPMG with any private information, only that the allegation was raised in parliament.

The final allegation referred to KPMG’s late 2024 win of the Dexus external audit from PwC.

“On the sixth of November 2023 a meeting was held at KPMG Barangaroo’s office,” O’Neill, quoting the whistleblower said, “During that meeting ... an arrangement was proposed where one of the people present would leave his laptop open with Dexus internal audit documents visible while he went for lunch, allowing external audit personnel to view them.”

‘No evidence’: KPMG Australia

In a joint statement, KPMG Australia chairman Martin Sheppard and KPMG Australia chief executive Andrew Yates denied the firm was involved in any wrongdoing.

“Almost two years ago, a former employee of KPMG Australia made serious allegations and claims relating to their time at the firm,” they said.

“While there was no evidence provided at the time to support the allegations, we have treated the matter seriously. We commissioned two separate law firms: one to review our firm’s investigation into the claims and one to conduct its own external investigation. On the basis of what we have been provided, we have been unable to substantiate any claims of wrongdoing raised with us.”

The men called the five allegations “new and unsubstantiated” and said that the firm had “requested evidence from the former employee to support the claims on more than 20 occasions and offered multiple pathways for providing information, including via external legal counsel, a whistleblower service, and direct access to KPMG non-executive directors.”

They said KPMG has asked O’Neill to share the evidence relating to allegations she possesses and again invited “the former employee to provide evidence” through the firm’s existing whistleblowing channels.

The firm has also contacted “the clients named in the Senate” and that ASIC was aware of the allegations. 

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Macquarie win puts KPMG on track to dominate ASX20 audits

Find out the inside scoop about Accenture, Deloitte, EY, KPMG, PwC and McKinsey. Sign up to our weekly Professional Life newsletter.

 leads our coverage of the professional services sector. He is based in our Sydney newsroom.Email Edmund at edmundtadros@afr.com.au
 is a Rear Window columnist, based in Melbourne. Connect with Hannah on Twitter. Email Hannah at hannah.wootton@afr.com

KPMG’s alleged dirty deeds at odds with CEO’s sermons

 Perhaps Andrew Yates can use these latest claims as an “opportunity to learn” how to walk the talk on ethical standards. 
Hannah Wootton Mar 25, 2026 – 7.38pm

Late on Tuesday night, when the nation’s chief financial officers were edging towards sleep, Labor’s Deborah O’Neill launched into a speech in the Senate that would make them sit bolt upright.
She used parliamentary privilege to air a laundry list of claims by a former KPMG executive, alleging the firm misused confidential client information and capitalised on conflicted networks of contacts to get work with other companies. Those name-dropped as the victims (or targets) of the alleged misconduct include Lendlease, Westpac, Dexus, Telstra and Macquarie.
Senator Deborah O’Neill isn’t afraid of taking the big four consulting firms to task. Alex Ellinghausen
It creates an awkward situation for KPMG chief executive Andrew Yates. He’s been out in force since the PwC tax leaks saga, positioning his firm as the most ethical of the majors. A bigger rival being engulfed by an existential scandal isn’t a business opportunity that comes along every day!
“We can no longer sit by and watch our profession be tarnished by the unethical actions of a few,” he and the firm’s then-chair Alison Kitchen wrote in an all-staff email following the scandal in 2023.
It was “a privilege to support our clients” and be “trusted with confidential information”, they continued. “We committed to exhibiting the highest standards of personal and professional integrity in everything we do”.

That same year, he labelled PwC’s conduct as “disturbing” and “clearly unethical and unacceptable” in a Senate hearing. “There would have been strong action taken by our chairman and board” had it occurred at KPMG. Which it wouldn’t, he suggested, given the firm’s ethical superiority.
The positioning has worked, too. KPMG’s had a stellar runof securing lucrative audit contracts lately, including taking both Macquarie’s (worth $75 million) and Brambles’ ($9 million) off PwC. The government didn’t cut off KPMG from consulting work post-tax leaks to the same extent it did the others either. It pulled in at least 30 per cent more in public sector fees than Deloitte and EY in 2023 and 2024.
Of course, O’Neill’s claims are just allegations. According to a joint statement from Yates and KPMG chair Martin Sheppard on Wednesday, the firm had looked into the whistleblower’s complaints but had not been able to substantiate any. But O’Neill isn’t the type to use parliamentary privilege to air claims she doesn’t think are true. She’s been a thorn in the side of the big four for several years and has been bang on in many of her concerns.
KPMG hasn’t been scandal-free during Yates’ publicity campaign either. There have been accusations it overcharged defence, revelations staff used AI to cheat in tests, and concerns about conflicts in its NSW government work. Even then, Yates either tried to Jedi mind-trick awayany evidence of issues (the powermapping), or waved his hand slowly and pitched them as “opportunities to improve” and “share our learnings” with less holy businesses.
What was raised during Late Night with Deb is next level, though. Allegations range from KPMG partners using confidential Lendlease board papers to support the firm’s bids for other audit tenders, to staff working out how to sneakily share information from its internal audit work for Dexus to get the external audit contract. Then, separate to the allegations about misusing client information, O’Neill turned to claims about how KPMG may leverage conflicted networks to get work. She canvassed concerns raised in this column about KPMG partner-turned-Macquarie director Michelle Hinchliffe’s involvement in selecting the silver doughnut’s next auditor, and suggested the firm capitalise even more on similar conflicts to get Westpac’s audit.
Any client of KPMG’s must be asking how safe the confidential information they give the firm is, and how it manages (or dare we say, celebrates and leverages) conflicts of interest.
“KPMG maintains the highest standards of professional conduct,” the pair said. “We are confident in the integrity of our processes and our people.”
It’s almost a copy-and-paste job from Yates’ all-staff email in 2023. Except it’s his own firm, not PwC, in the headlights now.
The country’s most expert opinion and analysis. Sign up to our weekly Opinion newsletter.
 is a Rear Window columnist, based in Melbourne. Connect with Hannah on Twitter. Email Hannah at hannah.wootton@afr.com

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