Trump's startling decline: Compare his 2015 vigor to today's enfeebled appearance

Three people jailed in NSW over $5.8 million NDIS, ATO fraud

During search warrants as part of the investigation, the AFP seized 8kg of gold bullion from a vault at a secure premises, worth about $600,000, about $600,000 in cash from multiple residential properties and $635,176 in cryptocurrency. They also seized three vehicles, including a BMW M3, Audi Q7 and Porsche Cayenne with a combined value of about $250,000, and a significant amount of jewellery.

Ankit Jayesh Mashru - Man denied bail, accused of six-figure fraud of Gold Coast Indian community

Andrew Brolese - Australian arrested in Milan facing US charges of fraud and money laundering

Gina Rinehart throws lifeline to MinRes as company awaits outcome of probe into tax evasion allegations

Rinehart splashes $1.1bn on gas bet as MinRes slashes jobs

The documents MinRes directors didn’t see - MinRes defends handling of Chris Ellison tax scandal claims

More than 1,200 large companies paid no tax, ATO reveals, as it vows to fight profit shifting

Trump's startling decline: Compare his 2015 vigor to today's enfeebled appearance

• The New York Times’ Neil Bedi, Lazaro Gamio, Ishaan Jhaveri, Devon Lum, Haley Willis and Karen Yourish with “Inside Trump’s Truth Social Conspiracy Theory Machine.”
• The Washington Post’s Drew Harwell and Jeremy B. Merrill with “On Elon Musk’s X, Republicans go viral as Democrats disappear.”
• The Wall Street Journal’s Jack Gillum, Alexa Corse and Adrienne Tong with “X Algorithm Feeds Users Political Content—Whether They Want It or Not.”

The Real Monsters of Street Level SurveillanceElectronic Frontier Foundation

 

Why We Ghost Nautilus

“The evils of ‘lesser evilism.’” The Floutist

Michelle Obama Scolds Michigan: It’s Not FunnyMatt Taibbi, Racket News

***

As Trump courts their vote, comedian at his rally makes racist jokes about Latinos and Puerto RicoNBC News

Literary Institutions Are Pressuring Authors to Remain Silent About Gaza Truthout

Demonize the Rich Hamilton Nolan

 A Second Trump Administration Would Be a Carnival of Corruption and Greed

By now, the story has made the rounds. Back in June, Oklahoma’s superintendent for public instruction, Ryan Walters, ordered every classroom in the state to teach the Bible between fifth grade and high school. Three months later, when he released the guidelines for companies bidding to supply the Bibles, they included some unusually specific terms.

The Bibles had to contain not just the King James Version of the Old and New Testaments, but founding documents like the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, as well as the Pledge of Allegiance. And they had to be bound in leather, or some reasonable facsimile.

The only Bibles that fit these parameters happen to be endorsed by Donald Trump or his son. The $59.99 “God Bless the USA” Bibles (which are, incidentally, printed in China) cost 20 times more than a mass market paperback version of the King James Bible. It’s not clear how much Mr. Trump earns per sale — The Times has reported that he receives royalties for use of his name — but his cut is likely significant. Mr. Walters’s spokesman has confirmed that the $3 million in the state budget earmarked for Bibles came directly from “payroll savings”; that could pay salaries for 75 entry-level teachers in Oklahoma.

Corroborating written history with ancient DNA: The case of the Well-man described in an Old Norse sagaiScience

Battle of the billionaires: How a small number of billionaires could swing the US election

Interview: Are We Misinformed About Misinformation?

The influence of iffy and inflammatory online content so often depicted as misinformation is overblown, says researcher David Rothschild

Chris Ellison-style tax deals in the public interest: ATO

More than 1,200 large companies paid no tax, ATO reveals, as it vows to fight profit shifting

ChrisEllison-style tax deals in the public interest: ATO

Tom McIlroy Political correspondent

Nov 1, 2024 

The Tax Office says secret legal settlements like its controversial deal with Mineral Resources founder Chris Ellison are in the public interest and subject to strict independent oversight, saying prosecuting every evasion scheme in the courts would be unworkable.

Releasing new figures showing the country’s largest corporations paid more than $100 billion in tax in 2022-23, ATO deputy commissioner Rebecca Saint said resolving disputes through legal settlements was a key tool for the regulators and part of good tax administration.

MinRes founder Chris Ellison entered into a confidential agreement with the ATO.  Michaela Pollock

The Australian Financial Review revealed last month Mr Ellison operated an offshore tax evasion scheme for a decade, through a company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands in 2003.

Mr Ellison’s advisers approached the ATO in December 2019, at a time when executives feared the offshore deals were about to be exposed.

They offered to voluntarily disclose the arrangement in return for an 80 per cent cut in penalties and an ATO assurance that it would not refer the matter to the Australian Federal Police, the corporate regulator or the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The revelations – including a cost to shareholders of $7 million – are being investigated by the company. The board of Mineral Resources expects to hand down findings of a review of Mr Ellison’s tax affairs by Monday.

The Perth-headquartered diversified miner admitted this week it has been investigating the tax evasion scheme for more than two years, but denied it needed to tell its investors because the board did not think it would affect the miner’s share price.

The Tax Office is barred from speaking about individual cases, but Ms Saint said resolving disputes as quickly as possible was in the public interest.

“As part of good administration, we regard settlement as an important mechanism for resolving disputes,” she said. “We have significant controls around how we conduct settlements.

“We cannot litigate every case. It would be impossible for us to run a comprehensive audit program if we needed to take every case to court.”

Among the controls are oversight by a panel of former Federal Court judges, to whom proposed settlements must be referred if they meet certain criteria.

Settlements selected for review include those involving large multi-nationals and those uncovered by the cross-government Tax Avoidance Taskforce.

Any case with a pre-settlement position greater than $50 million, or with a settlement amount above $20 million is automatically referred for independent review. Any case with a variance greater than $20 million must also be referred.

Ms Saint said other significant cases, including those with potential reputational significance, can be voluntarily referred by the relevant deputy ATO commissioner.

In 2021-22, the assurers reviewed 15 settlements agreed by the ATO, finding all represented a fair and reasonable outcome for taxpayers.

“If anything, we refer more, not less, than the eligibility criteria require,” she said.

The latest Corporate Tax Transparency Report shows the ATO banked $97.9 billion in income tax from large corporates in 2022-23, up 16.7 per cent from the previous year.

The oil and gas sector paid a combined $11.6 billion. Strong commodity prices, project production cycles and $4.3 billion realised through ATO audits, anti-avoidance programs and compliance checks in that sector drove the result.

At nearly $55 billion, miners paid more tax than all other sectors combined in the year, a total up more than fivefold since 2014-15.

About 31 per cent of the 3985 companies included in the report paid no corporate income tax. That was because 14 per cent incurred accounting losses, while 7 per cent had a tax loss, 2 per cent utilised offsets and 8 per cent utilised tax losses from previous years.

Revenue from the petroleum resource rent tax fell by 6.5 per cent.

Since 2016, the Tax Avoidance Taskforce has secured an extra $33 billion in revenue for the ATO from multinationals, large businesses and public companies.

Tom McIlroy is the Financial Review's political correspondent, reporting from the federal press gallery at Parliament House. Connect with Tom on Twitter. Email Tom at thomas.mcilroy@afr.com

More than 1,200 large companies paid no tax, ATO reveals, as it vows to fight profit shifting

Rinehart splashes $1.1bn on gas bet as MinRes slashes jobs

More than 1,200 large companies paid no tax, ATO reveals, as it vows to fight profit shifting

Big business tax take hits $100bn, as corporate Australia forced to hand over 

The ATO says it is watching Australia’s mining and resources companies after defeating earlier attempts to run sales through offshore entities.

 DAVID ROSS

The Australian Taxation Office said it was reaping the spoils of several years of tough fights with overseas-owned corporations, in particular those operating in the resources and mining space. 

The ATO said it had booked $97.9bn in tax from willing taxpayers in the 2022-23 period, up 16.7 per cent from the year prior, driven by an explosion in Australia’s minerals ­exports. But this was bolstered by a further $2bn in tax taken as a result of actions of the Tax Avoidance Taskforce in the period, according to ATO deputy commissioner Rebecca Saint.

Ms Saint, who leads the ATO’s compliance programs for public and multinational groups, said she couldn’t disclose which companies were forced to hand over the extra $2bn in the period, but noted it related to major corporates that faced tax assessments in the period. ATO data shows large corporations paid 96 per cent of the income tax “they should have” for 2021-22. 

Almost 31 per cent of companies did not pay tax in the 2022-2023 period, down from almost 36 per cent in 2013-2014. Ms Saint said Australia was benefiting from years of hard work in combating resources companies running offshore sales and marketing hubs aimed at circumventing the country’s tax rules. “We estimate we’ve got coverage on around 90 per cent of commodities sold in marketing hub arrangements,” she said.

Mining giant Rio Tinto reached a $1bn settlement with Australia in July 2022 over its Singapore marketing hub operations, after BHP also settled a similar case in 2018. 

But Ms Saint said the ATO was continuing to investigate related party sales from Australia’s biggest companies, warning the tax office was also monitoring companies to “make sure there’s no changes”. 

The ATO is also riding high on the back of court wins against gas giant Chevron, with Ms Saint noting the decision dealt with related party arrangements and intercompany loans to decrease profits. She said the ATO had taken more than $45bn of interest expenses off the table for corporate Australia on the back of the Chevron decision. 

“Clearly oil and gas projects require a lot of capital … you’d expect we’d look at that very closely,” she said. 

The ATO revealed it reaped more than $11.6bn from the oil and gas sector in 2022-23. 

The latest report from the tax office covers more than 3985 companies. This includes a further 1272 new companies captured in the reporting data after rules changed to include businesses with a turnover of $100m or more. Previously reporting was limited to taxpayers of $200m turnover or more. 

But Ms Saint said the ATO expected the coming tax reports to show a lower take, with record resource prices unlikely to be repeated. 

“This is the peak of that record period, off the back of strong commodity prices,” she said. 

The ATO’s Justified Trust program polices some of Australia’s biggest companies, with the tax office noting it remained concerned about certain behaviours of big business.

Ms Saint said the ATO was investigating dealings and pricing, noting investigators were increasingly seeing “mischaracterisation of business dealings” as an issue in tax matters.

Sam Dastyari hit with ban by ATO over super fund management

The tax office has banned former NSW Labor senator Sam Dastyari from running a super fund after being found to have breached the Superannuation Act.

In a notice posted by the Australian Taxation Office, Mr Dastyari was served notice he would be disqualified as trustee from one or more superannuation entities after they contravened the Superannuation Industry Act. 

The ATO notice warned the funds overseen by Mr Dastyari had breached subsection 2 of the Act, which orders a trustee be banned when funds they operate are found to have breached the Act. 

In a public notice ATO deputy commissioner Emma Rosenzweig told Mr Dastyari she was “satisfied that the corporate trustee of one or more superannuation entities has contravened the SISA on one or more occasions”. 

Ms Rosenzweig told Mr Dastyari “at the time of the contraventions you were a responsible officer of the corporate trustee and the seriousness of the contraventions provides grounds for disqualifying you”. 

The ATO warned Mr Dastyari he risked jail time if he continued to act as trustee or investment manager or custodian of a superannuation fund after his banning. If found to be running the fund or acting as a responsible officer after the ban he risks two years in jail. 

However, the ATO’s notice allows Mr Dastyari 21 days to appeal, ordering he “give the reasons you think the decision is wrong”.

Corporate records show Mr Dastyari, who served as general secretary of the NSW Labor branch alongside a key role at the party’s national executive from 2010 to 2013, registered Dastyari Super in January 2021. Records show he continues to be registered as its sole director and shareholder.

ASIC records show registrations for the Dastyari Managed Super Fund, which was active from July 2023, along with a registration for the Dastyari Superannuation Fund, which was registered in January 2021. 

The Iranian-born politician was a NSW Labor senator from 2016-18 but dramatically quit after his links with Chinese communist businessman Huang Xiangmo were revealed. 

Former immigration minister, now Liberal leader, Peter Dutton called Mr Dastyari a “double agent”. 

The move by the ATO to ban Mr Dastyari comes almost two months after accounting firm Presido Partners told ASIC it was immediately withdrawing “consent to act as the registered office” for Mr Dastyari’s superannuation fund. 

Since leaving politics Mr Dastyari has appeared in the media, but he has also pursued a business career, joining the board of the National Home Doctors Service as well as stepping up as director of private financier Lending Capital Ventures. 

Mr Dastyari serves as director of the lending business alongside businessman James Ravens, with $181,052 in paid up capital.

Mr Ravens, who also runs a drinks company and held a senior position on the Tasmanian Bridestowe Levendar Estate, notes on his LinkedIn profile that Lending Capital Ventures is a privately held lending company offering loans to “under-serviced categories in the financial services space”.

This included funding fertility lending provider Ovessa, which offers loans of up to 10 years to fund IVF. 

Contacted by The Australian, Mr Dastyari asked “what’s up, mate?” but failed to respond when questioned on the reason for his banning.

  

Rinehart splashes $1.1bn on gas bet as MinRes slashes jobs

The documents MinRes directors didn’t see - MinRes defends handling of Chris Ellison tax scandal claims

Chris Ellison-style tax deals in the public interest: ATO

Gina Rinehart throws lifeline to MinRes as company awaits outcome of probe into tax evasion allegations

MinRes cuts 570 jobs in four months amid rout in the lithium sector

 Gina Rinehart paid tribute to her friend, MinRes boss Chris Ellison, after pulling off a huge WA gas buyout, as MinRes revealed it had cut over 570 jobs in the last four months. 

BRAD THOMPSON

Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting plans to supply gas to the market as soon as possible after striking a $1.13bn deal to buy assets in the Perth Basin from embattled rival Mineral Resources. 

The deal takes some of the financial heat off MinRes and its managing director Chris Ellison amid a tax evasion scandal and question marks over the strength of the company’s balance sheet. 

The buyout was announced as MinRes revealed it had cut 570 jobs across over the past four months as it tries to manage the rout in the lithium sector and transition its iron ore operations.

Mrs Rinehart said she welcomed the opportunity to work alongside “my friend Chris Ellison and his MinRes team”. 

“Gas is critical to underpin base load power requirements and support local industry with the provision of reliable energy,” she said.

It comes after The Australian’s DataRoom column first revealed the sales of Mineral Resources energy business, in a move later confirmed by the company and that Mrs Rinehart was among the frontrunners to buy the operations.

Hancock Prospecting will pay $803m up front for the Lockyer/ North Erregulla project that is the most prized of the MinRes oil and gas assets in the Perth Basin, and another $327m if certain performance targets are hit. 

The deal sees Hancock Prospecting take a 50 per cent share in MinRes’ remaining Perth Basin and Carnarvon Basin permits and part ownership of a drilling rig. 

MinRes had been facing the prospect of an equity raising amid a board-ordered investigation into Mr Ellison’s involvement in a tax evasion scheme as well as scrutiny from the ASX and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. 

Mrs Rinehart and Mr Ellison first flexed their muscle in the Perth Basin in late 2022, launching separate takeover bids for Warrego Energy and Norwest Energy. 

MinRes was involved in the bidding war for Warrego that also involved Kerry Stokes-backed Beach Energy before selling its stake to Hancock Prospecting. MinRes went on to secure Norwest. 

Mrs Rinehart and Mr Ellison also crossed paths in 2023 as they embarked on a spending spree on lithium assets in WA. 

It is understood Hancock Prospecting pulled together the acquisition of Lockyer and the other MinRes assets over the past six weeks, encouraged by the WA government moving to relax its ban on exports from onshore oil and gas projects. 

In September, WA said it would allow onshore producers a six-year window to sell 20 per cent of their gas to more lucrative LNG export markets.

Hancock said Lockyer was one of the largest onshore discoveries in WA, with high quality gas reservoirs. 

“As Australia’s most successful private resource company, with proven project development and operational expertise, Hancock intends to make use of its strong financial position to progress this exceptional project,” it said. 

“Hancock will evaluate opportunities to accelerate development at Lockyer, and enable production to be brought to market as soon as possible.” 

Hancock’s takeover of Warrego, completed in 2023, gave it a 50 per cent share of the adjacent West Erregulla gas field alongside Strike Energy. 

Hancock intends to review its interests across the Perth Basin to identify opportunities and synergies, including for the location and scale of gas processing infrastructure. 

MinRes previously flagged building a 250 terajoule-a-day plant at a cost of up to investing $1bn. 

Mrs Rinehart said gas was essential for Australia to function given the ineffectiveness solar and wind generation in providing reliable and steady baseload power. 

“Hancock is delighted to have made this investment to acquire 100% of this standout WA gas project at Lockyer, the development of which can have meaningful future benefits for local customers providing access to reliable energy, as well as providing new employment opportunities,” she said. 

“To enable these projects to come timely online, without needing to raise costs to the consumer, less government tape will be required.” 

Mrs Rinehart acknowledged WA premier Roger Cook for a policy change to allow gas exports from onshore project, saying it would enable investment and ultimately boost supply to local customers. 

“Enabling more sales to higher-priced customers overseas enables marginal or uneconomic gas fields to supply locally, that otherwise would not be economic to develop,” she said. 

MinRes chief executive of energy Darren Hardy said MinRes and Hancock had a long history built on a strong relationship. 

“This transaction maximises the value of our exploration success for shareholders and again showcases our ability to unlock significant capital from MinRes’ portfolio of assets,” he said. 

Mr Hardy said the new exploration joint ventures with Hancock in the Perth and Carnarvon basins would immediately decrease risk and accelerate its work in the highly prospective onshore petroleum acreage.