FATF Chance: Senators tackle Australia’s status as paradise for white collar criminals

 CBA’s contractor use sparks financial crimes compliance concerns

FATF Chance: Senators tackle Australia’s status as paradise for white collar criminals by Nathan Lynch For 15 years political parties have blocked action on stopping money laundering through Australia. Labor is planning to bring on a vote tomorrow for a parliamentary inquiry that could finally end the stalemate and ensure the nation is no longer a haven for the proceeds of foreign crime and corruption. Nathan Lynch reports.   Read »     “Worse than burning coal”: Hunter Energy powers on bid to burn wood by Jane McIntyre and Tom Ferrier Burning wood for biomass energy is on the rise as an alternative to coal. But it is even more dirty than coal and is leading to alarming levels of deforestation. Elizabeth Minter, Tom Ferrier and Jane McIntyre report.   Read »     Ode to Joyce by Michael West   Read »     Bungled Roll-out: Greg Hunt dissembles, confusion reigns over Pfizer vaccine deal by Callum Foote The vaccine rollout remains mired in confusion. Health Minister Greg Hunt is making contradictory claims about how many doses of the Pfizer vaccine the government could have bought in the middle last year. Callum Foote reports.   Read »     Barnaby Joyce is back – questions about his conduct remain by Kim Wingerei Barnaby Joyce proves that a history of questionable conduct, pork barrelling and shady dealings with water rights is no obstacle to National Party leadership. Here are "six of the best" from our QED database. QED demonstrates the crying need for a Federal ICAC.   Read »     Flight Risk: pressure to bring back travel agent trust accounts, save travellers from insolvency by Tasha May In 2014 intensive lobbying by travel agents got rid of protections for the travelling public when companies went bust. When Covid hit, many thousands of people lost huge amounts of money. Pressure is now growing for travel agents to set up mandatory trust accounts. Tasha May reports.   Read »     Government’s “appalling” error, rejects offer of 40 million Pfizer doses in July 2020 by Callum Foote After claiming “official” discussions with Pfizer had only started in December, Health Minister Greg Hunt has finally confirmed that the government met with Pfizer last July to discuss purchasing the Pfizer vaccine. Sources say Australia was given options for as many doses as needed to be delivered in January this year, yet government officials turned down the offer   Read »     The great GST hornbag – An $80B PR scam! by Michael West   Read »     Trivago, Wotif, Expedia, Hotels.com: What’s the Scam? by Michael West The multinational which owns a suite of online travel brands, Expedia, pays no tax in Australia but actually gets government subsidies. What’s the Scam?   Read »     Kalbar’s exotic minerals mine a huge risk to Victoria’s food bowl by Elizabeth Minter A hearing into the Environment Effects Statement for Kalbar's mineral sands project on rich Victorian farmland has been told about competition for billions of litres of water, high levels of uranium, untested technologies and a strange backflip by the project's "independent experts". Elizabeth Minter investigates.   Read »