Friday, March 27, 2026

Don Lemon is ready to stand up for press freedoms. Are the rest of us?

The one thing we need more than hope is action. Once we start to act, hope is everywhere.

Trump hit a new low — and the usual suspects in the media stay quiet or defend him

Trump’s comments on Robert Mueller’s death drew swift condemnation, while some allies ignored it or offered cover


Don Lemon is ready to stand up for press freedoms. Are the rest of us?

The former CNN anchor and independent journalist spoke about attacks on the free press while advising student journalists


ICE Seeking Office Space in Over 40 States

Project Saltbox: An RFI released today details ICE’s plans to rent co-working space for over 300 personnel nationwide

ICE is seeking co-working space for over 300 personnel nationwide, according to market research released earlier today. In the request, the agency outlines their need for flexible workspace (private offices and/or workstations). 

DOGE goes nuclear: How Trump invited Silicon Valley into America’s nuclear power regulator

Ars Technica: “Assume the NRC is going to do whatever we tell the NRC to do. Last summer, a group of officials from the Department of Energy gathered at the Idaho National Laboratory, a sprawling 890-square-mile complex in the eastern desert of Idaho where the US government built its first rudimentary nuclear power plant in 1951 and continues to test cutting-edge technology.


How the Daughter of a Russian Intelligence Officer Became a Recruiter for Epstein’s Trafficking Network

Important Stories tells the story of Lana Pozhidaeva — an MGIMO graduate, model, and daughter of career intelligence officers — who for many years was involved in Jeffrey Epstein’s network and recruited women for him from the former Soviet Union


Rubin: The Tax Nerd Who Bet His Life Savings Against DOGE

Richard Rubin reports on a young economist who staked his “life savings”—$342,195.63—on federal spending increasing during the first year of the Trump Administration, compared to the final quarter of the Biden Administration. And he won.

More on the intersection of prediction markets, herd wisdom, and mandatory spending—plus the economist’s winnings—below the fold.


What is the cost to Americans of the War in Iran?

Via Ben Amata, Government Information Librarian, University Library, California State University, Sacramento: “Neither DOD nor the Whitehouse are providing budgetary information at their websites, to Congress, or to the public on the Iran war costs. Some in Congress are commenting.

  1. https://www.congress.gov/119/crec/2026/03/18/172/49/CREC-2026-03-18-pt1-PgH2587-4.pdf
  2. https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/volume-172/issue-50/house-section/article/H2609-6?hl=iran+war&s=1&r=1
  3. https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/volume-172/issue-42/house-section/article/H2452-5?hl=iran+war&s=1&r=18
  4. See also – NPR – How much is the Iran war costing us? It’s really hard to estimate the total cost of war in the middle of one. Over the first six days of the Iran war, an estimated $11.3 billion was charged to the public purse. But long-term costs take years to manifest. Even daily costs are fuzzy. Take munitions: the Department of Defense hasn’t budgeted for many of the bombs it’s dropping. One more time. The bombs – the bombs! – are not totally priced in.
  5. TIME – How Much the War in Iran is Costing Americans
  6. National Priorities Project – Hegseth’s Request for $200 Billion for Iran War Should Go To Needy Americans
  7. CSIS – Iran War Cost Estimate Update: $11.3 Billion at Day 6, $16.5 Billion at Day 12


The Economist no paywall: “…In this war, Israel’s aim is clear: to demolish the threat posed by Iran’s regime. By contrast, Mr Trump and his cabinet have offered a mess of shifting assertions—about Iran’s missiles, nuclear weapons, regime change, following Israel’s lead, a “feeling” Iran was about to attack and settling scores after decades of enmity. Politically, vagueness gives Mr Trump room for manoeuvre. Strategically, his failure to say what Epic Fury is for is its biggest vulnerability. The result is a split-personality war.

  • One face is operational. America and Israel have destroyed Iran’s navy and grounded its air force. They are wrecking its missile capability and its arms industry and targeting the regime and its brutal enforcers. Dominance of the skies means that America and Israel can fight on at will. Interceptor missiles are meanwhile defending bases and cities in Israel and the Gulf countries, even as Iran strikes at more targets than it did during the conflict last June. So far, at least, there are enough interceptors to keep going. The other face of this war is political, and it emerges from Iran’s strategy, which is about sowing doubt and confusion. To survive would count as victory for Iran’s regime. So far, it is succeeding. Far from falling apart, it is rushing to escalate horizontally—a fancy way of saying it is lashing out in all directions. This has a number of consequences.
  • One is that other countries are being sucked in. Iran has attacked the Gulf states, which have bet their future on being havens from the chaos gripping the rest of the Middle East. Fighting has also erupted in Lebanon as Israel smashes Hizbullah, Iran’s main proxy. France and Britain will defend their bases from attack. On March 4th NATOair defences shot down an Iranian missile bound for Turkey. Another consequence is economic. Iran has tried to shut the Strait of Hormuz, cutting off perhaps 20% of global oil supplies. It has also struck energy infrastructure, including the world’s biggest gas-liquefaction complex and Saudi Arabia’s largest refinery. The price of Brent crude is up by 14% since February 27th, to $83 a barrel. A megawatt-hour of natural gas in Europe costs €54 ($63), over 70% more than last week. As Asian buyers scramble for supplies, prices could go higher. The global economy could yet suffer a hit. If oil reaches $100 a barrel, GDP growth could be lowered by 0.4 percentage points and inflation raised by 1.2 points.
  • The third potential consequence is chaos inside Iran. Roughly 40% of its 90m people belong to ethnic minorities, including Arabs, Azeris, Baluchis, Kurds and Lurs. The Arab spring showed how countries can fall apart. America and Israel are putting pressure on the regime by backing Kurdish insurgents—a reckless idea that could end up stoking Persian nationalism or civil war. Mr Trump may not care about this, but he could not ignore the effects spilling over Iran’s borders into the Gulf states, Iraq, Syria and Turkey…”



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After eight years in this mad house, I’ve seen it all – including surprising friendships

Alexandra aka Sasha reflects on eight years at the Bear Pit


When I became the Crown Employee at the Bear Pit Johnny Johnson suggested that you do not have to be mad to work at NSW Parliament House, but it helps… I survived 21 years 


Librarian and Committee apparatchik, Catherine Watson, in her emails in early 2000s  confirmed that it helped to be crazy to thrive in the Parliamentary corridors of power ;-) 


After eight years in this mad house, I’ve seen it all – including surprising friendships

Alexandra Smith State Political Editor March 26, 2026

In the dead of night, an MP turned up to NSW Parliament House in his underpants. He’d forgotten his house keys, apparently. The most popular premier in recent memory had a secret dodgy boyfriend who ruined her political career at the height of a global pandemic. Her replacement, it emerged, had worn a Nazi uniform to his 21st. He survived the scandal, despite the best efforts of his own party colleagues who were behind the salacious leak.
If I were to write a memoir of my eight years as state political editor of the Herald, I reckon a publisher would class it as a piece of fiction. There is simply no stranger, more dysfunctional workplace than NSW Parliament House. As I hang up my hat this week and move to a new role at the Herald, I have been reflecting on some of the greatest hits in my time in the mad house.
A wild ride: Former premier Gladys Berejiklian and her ex-partner Daryl Maguire, centre. Clockwise from top left, short-lived Labor leader Jodi McKay, former premier Dominic Perrottet, ex-Labor leader Luke Foley, jailed former Liberal MP Gareth Ward, Fred Nile with Alex Greenwich, and 90-minute upper house president Natasha Maclaren-Jones. GRAPHIC: MONIQUE WESTERMANN
I swear all tales are true.
It was 2020 and NSW Labor had a year earlier been embroiled in a corruption scandal involving a Chinese developer and wads of cash in an Aldi shopping bag. Shaoquett Moselmane, the party’s little-known upper house MP, caused an almighty stir when his Parliament House office and Rockdale home were sensationally raided by ASIO and federal police. A spy for China in Macquarie Street? You can imagine the shock. Moselmane was swiftly booted from the ALP, although he was almost as swiftly returned to the fold when it emerged it was his staffer John Zhang – not Moselmane – who was of interest to security officials. Neither has been charged. Onwards and upwards.
Jodi McKay was Labor leader at the time. The one-time newsreader had replaced Michael Daley after his infamous racist gaffe weeks out from the 2019 election when he claimed young Sydneysiders were fleeing the city and being replaced by “Asians with PhDs”. He apologised profusely, but the damage was done. Labor lost that election.
Daley had been parachuted into the job because a drunk Luke Foley was forced to quit politicsafter putting his hand down the dress of then ABC journalist Ashleigh Raper. Eventually, Chris Minns took on the Labor leadership, although it took three attempts, including one ill-fated shot when a senior party figure quipped the now premier had so few supporters they “could fit into the front seat of a Suzuki Swift”.
The Liberals have churned through leaders, too. Gladys Berejiklian became a beloved figure after her handling of bushfires and COVID. But the state was shocked when it emerged she had been dating fellow MP Daryl Maguire. The announcement of an ICAC investigation into whether the premier breached the public trust by keeping the relationship a secret forced her resignation.
Heir apparent Dominic Perrottet replaced Berejiklian, although he had a scare just before the 2023 election when fellow Liberals turned on him and threatened to release a photo from his 21st birthday, at which he dressed in a Nazi uniform. Said photo never materialised. Perrottet lost the 2023 election and Mark Speakman took over. Speakman lasted less than two years in the job before he was replaced by Kellie Sloane. 

Leadership rumblings have always featured on Macquarie Street. In 2021, Liberal MLC Natasha Maclaren-Jones stormed the president’s chair in the upper house, staging a sit-in, after an unedifying five-week spat over the rightful successor to retiring Liberal president John Ajaka. Maclaren-Jones lasted 90 minutes as president, the shortest tenure in history, before she was booted from the chair amid unruly scenes. She was replaced by a Liberal bloke, Matthew Mason-Cox, who was promptly expelled from the party for having the audacity to run against premier Berejiklian’s pick, Maclaren-Jones.
There have been one-hit wonders, too. The first and only time anyone had heard of ex-Liberal MLC Lou Amato was when he tried to team with like-minded conservative MPs Tanya Davies and Mason-Cox to overthrow Berejiklian, who was popular but had not yet hit the highs of her COVID era. It was 2019 and Berejiklian was in Europe on a trade trip, with press gallery journalists in tow. Back in NSW, with the boss out of the country, the Coalition government was tearing itself apart over laws to decriminalise abortion. Amato, Davies and Mason-Cox declared Berejiklian’s support for the laws was so outrageous that they would move a spill motion against her. It failed before it started. Amato was forever after known as “Lou who?”
There have been spectacular own goals, too. Blue Mountains Labor MP Trish Doyle accused a Nationals MP of texting a sex worker during question time to offer her $1000 to come to Parliament House. Michael Johnsen named himself as the accused MP and resigned amid allegations, which he denied, that he had raped the same woman. Police investigated those claims but the Director of Public Prosecutions found insufficient evidence to proceed with charges. Johnsen’s departure forced a byelection in his seat of Upper Hunter. Labor expected to win. It didn’t. The Nationals held the seat – and it ended McKay’s leadership.
In 2024, Gareth Ward, the once-popular Liberal member for Kiama, arrived at Parliament House at 4am in his underpants, explaining that he was there to collect keys because he had locked himself out of his home. Ward is now serving time in jail for sexually abusing two young men. Former Pittwater MP Rory Amon, meanwhile, is awaiting news on whether he will face a retrial after a jury cleared him of eight of 10 charges relating to the alleged sexual abuse of a 13-year-old boy.
However, amid the crimes and corruption, the political machinations and dirty tricks, I have also seen the best in people. One of the longest serving MPs in this place was the moral crusader Fred Nile, who had been known for praying for the heavens to open on the night of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras – literally to rain on its parade. Nile’s nemesis was the gay independent member for Sydney, Alex Greenwich, who led the campaign for same-sex marriage. They agreed on nothing. Until 2022, when the pair formed the most unlikely alliance through a shared passion for Indigenous rights and reconciliation.
After the 2023 election, former federal Labor leader Mark Latham, now in the NSW upper house, tweeted a vile, homophobic remark about Greenwich. Nile jumped to the defence of his former foe and declared “Alex is loved”.
Despite its quirkiness and eclectic characters, NSW Parliament is too often seen as the poor, unsophisticatedcousin to Canberra. The B-team, if you like. In reality, state parliament has a massive impact on our lives. Macquarie Street keeps the trains running, the schools open and the hospitals operating. We could not survive without it. It’s been a wild, wonderful ride.
Alexandra Smith is state political editor.

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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

Whistleblower allegations spark parliamentary probe into KPMG Australia


Professional services editor

A powerful parliamentary committee met privately on Thursday to hear evidence from an unnamed whistleblower about multiple allegations of wrongdoing by KPMG Australia regarding the handling of confidential client information.

The joint committee on corporations and financial services is assessing the evidence provided by a former KPMG executive and has invited other parties to come forward. The move raises the possibility that KPMG Australia partners and staff may be called to testify before parliament.

The claims, raised under parliamentary privilege by Labor senator Deborah O’Neill on behalf of the former KPMG executive on Tuesday, include allegations the firm misused confidential information from its client Lendlease to win external audit work for Westpac and Dexus, and improperly used internal Telstra data.

The whistleblower also alleged that KPMG partners and staff used inside information to win external audit contracts for Macquarie Group and Westpac, failed to properly report artificial intelligence exam cheating allegations and then failed to act on the complaints.

KPMG said the firm was “unable to substantiate” the allegations despite multiple internal and external investigations, and the complainant had failed on 20 occasions to provide further evidence.

O’Neill, who is the committee chairman, said: “The allegations made by the former KPMG employee relate to areas of investigation that have previously been the subject of inquiry by the committee, notably the 2023–24 inquiry into ethics and professional accountability and the 2016–17 inquiry into whistleblower protections.

“Accordingly, the committee today conducted public and confidential (in-camera) hearings seeking further evidence to enable it to determine if the allegations raised warrant any further action or inquiry by the committee.”

She said that “witnesses are protected by parliamentary privilege, making it unlawful for anyone to threaten or disadvantage a witness on account of evidence given to a committee”.

“The committee will consider the evidence that it has received before taking further action, and invites any party in possession of any relevant information or documentation that may assist, to contact the committee secretariat,” she said.

A KPMG spokeswoman said the firm would cooperate with any parliamentary investigation but declined to comment further

Clients decline to comment

Lendlease and Westpac declined to comment on the allegations raised by the whistleblower. Dexus and Telstra referred questions to KPMG. Macquarie Group is yet to comment.

One issue is when the companies were informed about the claims, given KPMG states the matters were first raised “almost two years ago” in a statement on Wednesday. At least one company indicated that the first time the allegations were acknowledged by KPMG was after O’Neill spoke in the Senate.

In February, the government dodged a bipartisan proposal to slash partner numbers at the big four consulting firms to a maximum of 400 equity partners and separate the management of their audit and non-audit practices.

The idea was that smaller partnerships would alleviate “problems associated with large partnerships and governance failures within such firms”, according to the ethics and professional accountability inquiry report.

The government’s six-page response to the 40 inquiry recommendations highlighted changes it had already made, including the introduction of tighter procurement rules, increased penalties for tax adviser misconduct and strengthening of its accounting and auditing advisory bodies. The proposal to slash partner numbers is now part of “ongoing policy work” by the government.

Recommendations that cover partnership, governance and auditing standards are also being examined by Treasury, which is yet to report back more than one-and-a-half years after its public consultation period ended.

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Finance warned KPMG over cheating disclosure

KPMG and Coforge

KPMG taps India’s Coforge for EA outsourcing to save $17m annually




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


 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. 

RELATED
KPMG did not consider its cheating scandal to be a “significant event”.

Finance warned KPMG over cheating disclosure

KPMG has scored a major victory by winning the Macquarie Group audit.

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.
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 is a Rear Window columnist, based in Melbourne. Connect with Hannah on Twitter. Email Hannah at hannah.wootton@afr.com

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