As a former prime minister, Abbott will automatically receive an annual pension of $296,000 – a raise of almost $90,000 on his backbencher’s salary of $207,100.
The new rules also align Abbott’s entitlements with those of the other former prime ministers, reflecting his exit from parliament after he lost his seat of Warringah to the independent Zali Steggall.
Former prime ministers are entitled to a parliamentary retirement travel entitlement – which was previously known as the lifetime gold pass – which grants them up to 30 domestic return trips a year.
Turnbull scrapped the lifetime gold pass for former federal MPs and vowed he would never use it.
As a former prime minister Abbott will also be entitled to office accommodation, unlimited postage for official business and the same publication allowance as MPs.
‘It’s a miracle’: Helsinki’s radical solution to homelessness Guardian
Antony Green's memorable moments: Back in 1991 I infomed Antony that under communism we knew the results years before the booths closed ...
Across Australia’s central deserts, floodwaters are filling Kati Thanda-Lake
AFP raids News Corp journalist's home over alleged national security leak
Antony Green's memorable moments: Back in 1991 I infomed Antony that under communism we knew the results years before the booths closed ...
Across Australia’s central deserts, floodwaters are filling Kati Thanda-Lake
AFP raids News Corp journalist's home over alleged national security leak
-
AFP officers raid the Canberra home of a News Corp journalist who reported that the Federal Government was considering spying on Australian
Mike Kaeding, via
LinkedIn
Leadership is not
about titles, positions, or flowcharts. It is about one life influencing
another.Past installments of Jason Kottke's media diet are available here.
I keep track of every media thing I “consume”, so here are quick reviews of some things I’ve read, seen, heard, and experienced in the past two months. I never wrote a proper report on my trip to Mexico City, so I put some of the highlights in here. I’m in the middle of several things right now. On TV, I’m watching Our Planet, In Search of Greatness, Street Food, Chernobyl, The Clinton Affair,Reconstruction: America After the Civil War, and This Giant Beast That is the Global Economy. I don’t normally watch 19 different things at one time, but life’s felt a little scattered lately. For books, I’m listening to Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond on audiobook and I’m making good progress on Robert Caro’sWorking (highly recommended).
The Silk Roads: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan. Hard to summarize but there’s certainly something interesting on almost every page. (A-)
Fleabag. Bitingly funny and poignant, a real gem. (A+)
Skyscraper. Die Hard + the Sherlock Holmes story A Scandal in Bohemia + #sponcon for Big Duct Tape. I love a good disaster movie. (B+)
Mexico City. Great food, vegetation everywhere, beautiful architecture, culturally fascinating, super walkable/bikeable/scooterable. I am definitely visiting here again as soon as I can. (A)
Puyol Taco Omakase. Delicious & fun & a great experience, but I’m not sure the food was obviously so much better than some of the best street food I had in Mexico City. I had this same experience in Bangkok years ago…street food is tough to beat when there’s a thriving culture of markets, carts, and stalls. (B+)
The National Museum of Anthropology. One of my new favorite museums in the world. The only thing possibly more impressive than the collection is the architecture of the building. (A+)
Teotihuacán. I had high hopes for this archeological site and I was still blown away by it. (A+)
AirPods. This is my favorite gadget in years, the first real VR/AR device that feels seamless (and not like a Segway for your face). The freedom of wireless headphones feels similar to when I first used a laptop, wifi, and dockless bike share. (A+)
Homecoming. So many things to love about this, but one of my favorites is the shots of the audience watching Beyoncé and the rare moments when she watches them back: “I see you.” And also the way they put a cohesive show together while showcasing individual talents and styles. (A-)
Homecoming: The Live Album. Come on, a marching band playing Beyoncé hits? That this works so well is a small miracle. (A-)
Avengers: Endgame. I liked but didn’t love it. It was like the ST:TNG finale and the Six Feet Under finale mashed together and not done as well. It also seemed too predictable. (B)
Avengers: Age of Ultron. Now that the Thanos narrative arc is complete, this is an underrated installment. (B+)
Casa Luis Barragán. This was like being in someone’s creative mind. The layering of the garden reminded me of Disney’s use of the multiplane camera in the forest scene in Bambi. (B+)
Gelatin Sincronizada Gelitin (NSFW). I was skeptical of this art performance at first — a bunch of half-naked people painting on a moving canvas using paintbrushes coming out of their butts — but it ended up being a really cool thing to experience. (B+)
Game of Thrones. I’m not quite as critical of the final season as everyone else seems to be. Still, it seems like since the show left the cozy confines of George RR Martin’s books, it has struggled at times. (B+)
Wandering Earth. Based on the short story by Liu Cixin (author of the Three Body Problem trilogy), this disaster movie is a little uneven at the start but finishes strong. (B)
Halt and Catch Fire Vol 2. The music was one of the many great things about this show. (A-)
Running from COPS. A podcast about how media and law enforcement in America intersect to great and terrible effect. (B+)
Eating bugs. I tasted crickets, grasshoppers, and grubs at the market: mostly just salty. I had beef tartare and guacamole with grasshoppers on it. They added a nice crunch to the guac. Wouldn’t exactly go out of the way for them, but they weren’t bad. (B)
Panaderia Rosetta. Did I have one of the best pain au chocolat I’ve ever had here? Yes. Yes, I did. Also extremely delicious: everything else I tried. (A-)
Against the Rules. A podcast from Michael Lewis about what’s happening to the concept of fairness in America. The episode about Salvator Mundi, the supposed Leonardo masterpiece, is particularly interesting. (A-)
Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth. I have a new appreciation of how much Tolkien did in creating his books: writing, map making, world building, art, constructing languages. (B+)
Frida Kahlo’s Blue House. A striking house with a lush courtyard, but the highlight was seeing Kahlo’s work area much the way she left it when she died. (B+)
Street Food Essentials by Club Tengo Hambre. Mexico City is a huge place with so much to do that I wanted to hit the ground running right away, so I booked this street food tour. Definitely a good idea. We sampled so many different kinds of tacos & gorditas & quesadillas that I lost count. Highlights: huitlacoche quesadillas, al pastor tacos, fresh Oaxaca cheese at the Mercado de San Juan, and the blue corn masa used to make tlacoyos at one of our last stops — probably the best tortilla I’ve ever eaten. (A-)
The Matrix. This came out 20 years ago. I watched it with my 11-yo son the other day and he thought the special effects “held up pretty well”. (A)
Electric scooters. I used the Lime dockless electric scooters for the first time when I was in Mexico City and I loved experience. Easier than a bike and a fun & fast way to get around the city. Cons: the combo of the speed & small wheels can be dangerous and cities generally don’t have the infrastructure to accommodate them yet. (B+)
Paprika. Inventive and visually dazzling. Purportedly an influence on Christopher Nolan’s Inception. (B+)
Oh and just because, here’s a photo I took recently in my backyard that makes it seem like I live in Narnia or The Shire:
- Theresa
May's legacy on tax avoidance is unforgivable (31
May 2019)
- Canada: CRA signs secret settlement with wealthy KPMG clients involved in offshore tax scheme (31 May 2019)
- G20 countries to consider tax policy for digital giants (31 May 2019)
- France tops list for providing unlawful tax breaks using state aid (31 May 2019)
- Notifications
to EU Commission about unlawful tax breaks rocket
(31 May 2019)
- HMRC TAX & NIC RECEIPTS (31 May 2019)
- Prosecutions
top 1000 as HMRC focuses on tax evasion by individuals
(31 May 2019)
- UK
Income based: Gross operating surplus of corporations : Total: CP SA
£m (31 May 2019)
- OECD: International community agrees on a road map for resolving the tax challenges arising from digitalisation of the economy (31 May 2019)
- OECD Programme of Work to Develop a Consensus Solution to the Tax Challenges Arising from the Digitalisation of the Economy (31 May 2019)
- Tax Evasion and Inequality - offshore tax evasion is highly concentrated among the rich; 0.01 percent richest households evade about 25 percent of their taxes (31 May 2019)
- The UK effect of incorporations on tax receipts (31 May 2019)
- Revolving Doors: one in five peers advise private business while serving in parliament (31 May 2019)
- UK Chief medical
officer considers recommending tax on unhealthy food (31
May 2019)
- New ranking reveals corporate tax havens behind breakdown of global corporate tax system; toll of UK’s tax war exposed (29 May 2019)
- Channel Islands 'among worst tax havens' worldwide (29 May 2019)
- UK by far the biggest enabler of global corporate tax dodging (29 May 2019)
- Rich must pay their fair share and not hide it away in tax havens (29 May 2019)
- Companies avoid £100bn in tax through 'spider's web' of offshore havens (29 May 2019)
- Trump's tax cut law barely boosted growth or wages (29 May 2019)
- The Dummy Company at the Heart of Deutsche Bank Money Laundering Probe (29 May 2019)
- County
by Country Reporting: Shell pledges to reveal the taxes it
pays in every country (29 May 2019)
- Tax system doesn't help cut inequality (29 May 2019)
- A
tax on red meat? That won't save the planet – or do much
to improve health (29 May 2019)
- UK
is 'world's greatest enabler' of corporate tax avoidance
(28 May 2019)
- Tax
system does help reduce UK's inequality problem, says report
(28 May 2019)
- HMRC reaches prosecution referral target again (28 May 2019)
- Millions
raised from tax evading dog breeders (28 May 2019)
- UK Government consults on extension of royalty withholding tax (28 May 2019)
- North Korea: UN report says people 'trapped in cycle of corruption' (28 May 2019)
- HMRC: Role of professional bodies in the regulation of tax agents (28 May 2019)
- Hopes of saving British Steel rise as potential buyers emerge (28 May 2019)
- British Steel shows the poor incentives embedded in private equity (28 May 2019)
- The British Steel scandal is a corporate disaster entirely made in the UK (24 May 2019)
- Actors union accuses HMRC of 'unfair' tax scrutiny (24 May 2019)
- IRS targets law firm's client list in offshore tax avoidance probe (24 May 2019)
- From money-laundering to fake news, Russia has played us for fools (24 May 2019)