In July, Gosford tax agent Grant Tomkinson was banned for at least 18 months after he was found to have failed to lodge two income tax returns, 27 business activity statements (BAS) and 12 BAS in his capacity as trustee of the WT Martin & Associates Staff Super Fund.
Separately, Brisbane-based tax agent Grant McCarthy saw his registration terminated and barred from reapplying for at least two years after racking up personal tax debts of over $860,000 by the time of his hearing before the AAT.
‘Lead the way’: TPB sounds warning over blatant disregard of personal tax affairs
Gold Coast property developer, Mr Kevin Barnard has been sentenced at the Southport District Court for fraudulently obtaining $147,763 in GST refunds.
Federal police and organised crime investigators will be able to take over the online “dark web” accounts of criminals and terrorists and hack into their networks under new powers that passed Parliament on Wednesday.
But legal and human rights groups are concerned the government didn’t adopt all the recommendations from a cross-party committee, particularly a call for judicial oversight, and the laws were debated and passed in less than 24 hours.
The Australian Federal Police and Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission will now have unprecedented powers to penetrate the networks of criminals using domestic servers to operate on the dark web. They’re also able to modify or delete harmful content such as child exploitation material under the laws.
Police powers to hack and disrupt dark web pass Parliament
Having the ability to secretly hack into people’s computers, take over their social media channels, and spy on them fundamentally undermines our right to privacy.
Surveillance is power, and that is a threat to our free and open societies.
In Germany, we know from recent history how devastating a surveillance state is.
Together we must fight for privacy!
Is The The End of Human Rights
Wisdom of Pastor Martin Niemoller …
How Hackers Can Bypass 2FA And See All Your Text Messages
I mean, what the hell qualifies this guy to make a sociopolitical judgment regarding free speech? Free speech means the right to shoot your mouth off even if you’re wrong. This clown has no trouble exercising it. He just doesn’t want anybody who he doesn’t agree with to exercise it.
Murdoch’s Fox News issues ABC with legal threat over ‘Four Corners’ Trump episode
There's something of an open secret in the cybersecurity world: internet service providers quietly give away detailed information about which computer is communicating with another to private businesses, which then sells access to that data to a range of third parties, according to multiple sources in the threat intelligence industry.
How Data Brokers Sell Access to the Backbone of the Internet
Spywhale: inside the AFP’s two-month April Fools’ joke that didn’t make it off the ground
A gag by the Australian Federal Police about turning a beloved hot air balloon into an eye in the sky didn't take flight.
AUG 25, 2021
How many Australian Federal Police does it take to come up with an April Fools’ joke?
At least six, according to emails released in response to a freedom of information request.
A trove of internal correspondence leading up to April Fools’ Day 2021 shows how ACT policing staff brainstormed, developed and ultimately shelved a surveillance-themed parody of Skywhale, the Patricia Piccinini-designed hot air balloon popular in Canberra.
Australian police forces use social media as a key outreach strategy, peddling memes and other humorous content to build an audience and communicate messages.
On February 9, the AFP’s acting social media manager sent an email asking someone to come up with April Fools’ Day concepts, noting that they’d done jokes in the past: “Please keep in mind when brainstorming sensitivities in public opinion at the moment and please consider how each of your ideas may be perceived.”
The very next day, a social media officer emailed back a number of ideas (which have been mostly been redacted in the AFP’s released documents), including a pitch for “Spywhale”.
“ACT Policing has announced the launch of its latest tool in the fight against (speeding motorists/securing the border/graffiti/topic crime type). Introducing the Spywhale,” the email says.
Its author details how Piccinini’s creation would be transformed into an arm of the surveillance state, attaching “eight long-range infrared cameras” to the Skywhale’s teats. A photoshopped version of the hot air balloon is attached, complete with an AFP cap on the fantastical creature’s head.
The team decided to plough ahead with the Spywhale pitch but nixed the original name. A March 16 internal email calls the character as “CSIwhale” instead, perhaps to avoid the negative connotations of a police panopticon.
The Spywhale project was grounded after a courtesy check-in with the ACT government. On March 29, one AFP staff member broke the bad news to another.
“I got the sky whale concept approved from our end and then when we reached out to the ACT Govt who advised we weren’t allowed to due to rules, regulations and copyright issues :(“, the email said.
In the end, there was no April Fools’ Day joke posted to ACT Policing’s social media profiles. Instead it posted about busting a marijuana grow house.
