The Albanese government is considering banning KPMG from public sector contracts as data reveals the embattled firm holds $27.4m in government audit deals.
DAVID ROSS and TANSY HARCOURT
June 5, 2026
Demoted KPMG Australia chief operating officer Eileen Hoggett in Sydney on Thursday.
Albanese government is considering a freeze on KPMG after data showed the embattled firm collected millions in public sector audit contracts and as partners continue to depart.
Aussie media calls for new ATO powers in big tech news war
A coalition of Australian media companies has called for robust powers to be granted to the nation’s tax chief, who could demand tech giants like Meta, Google and TikTok reveal the full extent of their local revenue amid concerns they are shifting billions overseas to minimise tax.
Google, which owns YouTube, Gmail and its dominant search engine, and Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, transferred at least $11 billion out of the country to related entities last year as part of internal transfer pricing deals buying advertising space, which they then on-sell to Australians.
The Albanese government’s proposed News Bargaining Incentive includes a 2.25 per cent charge on TikTok, Meta and Google’s group revenue. Michaela Pollock
But a new law the Albanese government is seeking to pass in coming weeks will impose a levy on the three tech giants’ “consolidated revenue” – unless they negotiate commercial deals to pay Australian media companies for their news content.
The proposed News Bargaining Incentive includes a 2.25 per cent charge on TikTok, Meta and Google’s group revenue that can be fully offset if they strike deals worth 1.5 per cent of that broad revenue figure. It adds to the News Media Bargaining Code, a 2021 law that prompted Google and Meta to strike deals worth roughly $200 million a year – until Meta pulled out.
The problem is that it is unclear exactly how much money the tech giants make from Australia. The government has estimated the policy will raise between $200 and $250 million, suggesting it thinks those companies make between $13 and $16 billion from Australians – figures not reflected in the accounts they lodge locally.
The competition regulator has previously estimated Meta makes more than $5 billion from Australians – it reported $1.8 billion last year. The rest is believed to come from Australians buying ads on Facebook and Instagram companies based in low-tax places overseas, like Ireland. Irish media reported Meta wrote revenue of €85 billion ($138 billion) in 2024 in the country, which has a population roughly one-quarter of Australia.
“The tax office needs to have express powers to interrogate what revenue is generated in this territory for the purposes of this scheme”: Free TV chief executive Bridget Fair. Louie Douvis
Now a lobby group representing Nine Entertainment, Southern Cross Media and Network Ten has called for new “robust” powers to be added to the law to allow the taxation commissioner to probe major tech platforms.
While the incentive calls for a levy on those three companies’ “consolidated revenue attributable to Australia”, Free TV told the government it was concerned transfer pricing and other practices made it difficult to find the true figure to tax.
“This whole scheme is trying to recognise the value these companies generate in Australia based off, to some extent, the news content of broadcasters and other news providers, and that needs to be recognised in total – not after complicated accounting treatments to minimise what that looks like,” said Free TV chief executive Bridget Fair.
“The tax office needs to have express powers to interrogate what revenue is generated in this territory for the purposes of this scheme. Since we’re doing this, why not design it in a way to get to the bottom of how much they make?”
Free TV has also called for the scheme’s levy rate to be far higher than 2.25 per cent. Similar rules introduced by the government, forcing streaming companies to spend money making Australian content, set the percentage at 7.5 per cent of revenue. There are “no policy reasons”, Free TV wrote in its submission, that the rate is so much lower.
“It’s only going to end up generating about the same as we were getting five years ago,” she said, “despite massive growth in the advertising market that these people have enjoyed. It’s more companies, but the same number.”
While the incentive has been welcomed by Australian news publishers, it has been savaged by the tech companies. On Wednesday morning, Meta published a scathing blog post describing the policy as “a discriminatory, retroactive tax targeting a handful of foreign companies”.
It echoed aggressive comments from powerful US business lobby groups that warned it formed part of a “deteriorating tax environment” for investment in Australia. The White House criticised it as “foreign extortion”.
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