Revealed: 239 million reasons gambling reforms are being smothered

 “What hurts you, blesses you. Darkness is your candle.”

― Rumi

Bullion failures. ASIC disregards Senate and ignores whistleblower evidence

ASIC raids four properties in ANZ bond manipulation probe

The Australian Taxation Office is looking for executives in charge of taxes for the country's largest businesses to join an advisory group focused on improving the Australian taxation systems.  The ATO  encourage you to apply so you can share your insights and experience with the group.
EOI applications open for LBSG membership Contribute your experience and skills to the ATO’s Large Business Stewardship Group.

Hurricane Milton’s Paradise Lost: Multiple casualties as ferocious ‘once in a century’ storm rips through Florida causing catastrophic floods, plunging millions into darkness, spawning dozens of tornadoes and carving deadly path to OrlandoDaily Mail

 

Tracking map: Here’s the latest forecast track of Hurricane Milton Orlando Sentinel

Milton threatens to trigger flood insurance reckoning for Congress Politico

No, Hurricane Milton was not ‘engineered’ BBC

“The Committee to Protect Journalists says the Gaza war has been the “deadliest period for journalists” since it began gathering data in 1992... And it says every time a journalist: “… is killed... we lose fragments of the truth.”” #MediaWatch

Forty years after he was acquitted of spying, electrifying new evidence has emerged showing that top government official Bill Sutch was a KGB recruit working under the codename "Maori".

The Dominion Post has obtained copies of official KGB records that show Sutch was a 24-year veteran recruit of the feared Soviet spy agency when he was arrested while meeting a KGB agent at an Aro Valley park, in Wellington, in 1974.

But his daughter says the evidence does not match her father and maintains he was not involved with the Soviets.

Still a mystery after 50 years: The controversial spy story of Dr Bill Sutch

Revealed: 239 million reasons gambling reforms are being smothered

Freedom of Information disclosures show the government favours Big Media and Big Gambling in lobbying battle to nix gambling ads reform.

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Rex Patrick

Shredders and dustpans. Mark Dreyfus’ desperate sweep on taxpayers Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus looks to spend thousands more of taxpayers’ dollars to appeal a Full Federal Court decision that denied the right of ministers to shred politically sensitive documents as they leave office. Read Rex Patrick

Her Secret Service: The Forgotten Women of British Intelligence by Claire Hubbard-Hall

Since the inception of the Secret Service Bureau back in 1909, women have worked at the very heart of British secret intelligence - yet their contributions have been all but written out of history. Now, drawing on private and previously-classified documents, leading historian Claire Hubbard-Hall brings their gripping true stories to life. 

From encoding orders and decrypting enemy messages to penning propaganda and infiltrating organisations, the women of British intelligence played a pivotal role in both the First and Second World Wars. Prepare to meet the true custodians of Britain's military secrets, from Kathleen Pettigrew, personal assistant to the Chief of MI6 Stewart Menzies, who late in life declared 'I was Miss Moneypenny, but with more power', to Jane Archer, the very first female MI5 officer who raised suspicions about the Soviet spy Kim Philby long before he was officially unmasked and Winifred Spink, the first female officer ever sent to Russia in 1916. In Her Secret Service, Hubbard-Hall rescues these silenced voices and those of many other fascinating women from obscurity to provide a definitive account of women's contributions to the history of the intelligence services.

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Migration, Pathway to Nation Building report released by the Migration Committee     Parliament of Australia     The Joint Standing Committee on Migration today released the Migration, Pathway to Nation Building report, signifying the end of an almost two-year long inquiry on Australia’s migration system by the Committee. Committee Chair, Maria Vamvakinou MP, said ‘the Committee has conducted a comprehensive inquiry that has looked at virtually every aspect of the migration system with a view to complement the Government’s ongoing reform agenda to improve migration outcomes’. ‘Of central concern’, Ms Vamvakinou continued, ‘the Committee believes that migration policy must once again become a key lever for Australia’s nation building efforts, as it has been in the past’. The report makes 73 recommendations. ‘Of priority’, Ms Vamvakinou said, ‘the Committee has recommended that a Department of Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs be re-established as a stand-alone department solely focused on delivering a migration system of world-class standard and ensuring that Australia remains a preferred destination for the world’s most talented migrants’. ‘The Committee has also recommended that an independent national research institute for migration policy studies be established to provide migration policy a basis in impartial and scholarly evidence going forward. Such research capacity within government has been sorely missed in recent years and will provide migration policy a solid foundation as we move into the decades to come’. ‘To ensure that new arrivals are fully integrated into Australian society and are empowered to maximise their and their families’ contributions to the nation, the Committee has recommended that settlement services be provided to all classes of migrant, irrespective of visa category, on the basis of need’. ‘As a matter of the utmost importance, the Committee gave detailed consideration to the issues surrounding regional migration. Ensuring that our regional, rural and remote areas share in the benefits that migration affords is vital for the ongoing prosperity of those areas. While the Committee has made 16 recommendations on improving the migration outcomes for Australia’s regions, it also concluded that a further dedicated inquiry on a specific regional migration priority topic was needed’. The report provides recommendations on a wide array of matter, including, improving the visa application system; attracting and retaining skilled migration; better accounting for the skills and experience of secondary applicants; more effective recognition of migrants’ qualifications; improving outcomes for refugees and their families; and regional migration. The read the full Migration, Pathway to Nation Building report, visit the Committee’s website. Media inquiries Committee Chair 02 6277 4249 Maria.Vamvakinou.MP@aph.gov.au For background information Committee Secretariat 02 6277 4560 migration@aph.gov.au For more information about this committee, you can visit its website. On the website you can track the committee and receive email updates by clicking on the blue ‘Track Committee’ button in the bottom right hand corner of the page.