The Great Australian Dream of owning a home is all but dead for millions of young people, unless they have an account with the Bank of Mum and Dad. But not so for federal politicians, with many building huge property portfolios with help from tax concessions and public subsidies.
While federal ministers are prevented from owning shares, it’s a free for all for people with connections and influence with ministers, raising questions about whether non-public information is being used in share trading.
Our new analysis, based on automatically updated data, shows which public companies and industries federal parliamentarians and their families have shares in, and identifies the big shareholders.
Federal MP Bob Katter's vague disclosures to parliament’s interests register read like the ramblings of a mad uncle after a night on the tiles. They also demonstrate his wilful disregard for the rules and the need for reform to compel MPs to declare their interests.
In the past seven months the CEO of Scale Facilitation David Collard has had his business raided by the AFP over alleged tax fraud and then wound up for insolvency, faced lawsuits for unpaid wages and debts, and defaulted on the purchase of battery start up Britishvolt. Now he’s up on assault charges in the United States.
Scale Facilitation was raided in June by the Australian Federal Police over an alleged $76m tax fraud and now tax experts in the UK are calling on authorities there to investigate the firm over its Value Added Tax (VAT) returns.
Scale Facilitation, a company raided by the AFP in June over the biggest alleged tax fraud in Australian history, established a subsidiary in Malta with the help of PwC to reduce its tax obligations, Open Politics can reveal.
Federal parliament needs to act against MPs who don’t declare their private interests and restrict gifts, free travel, and hospitality from influence peddlers. Check out our proposed reforms.
Scale Facilitation, the scandal plagued company promoted by the Deputy Prime Minister and Opposition Leader, is alleged to have breached New York State wage theft laws.
Australian entrepreneur and ex-PwC partner David A. Collard is being sued for rent on both his fancy apartment in Manhattan as well as Scale's 88th floor World Trade Center headquarters. That's on top of an ATO tax raid, unpaid staff and creditors, and defaulting on the purchase of Britishvolt in the UK.
Scale Facilitation is in default in its takeover of Britishvolt. After a financial crime taskforce raid in Australia and failures to pay staff both here and in the US, its chief executive David A. Collard remains defiant. Open Politics questions why PwC is getting paid when staff and creditors have been missing out.
An ex-PwC partner's lithium battery startup Scale Facilitation pulled a top flight crowd from both sides of Australian politics to its grand Manhattan HQ opening in December. Since then, Australian staff haven't been paid on time, the AFP has raided their Geelong offices over alleged tax fraud, and now we can reveal concerning and bizarre activities stateside.
In what is becoming an all to regular occurrence, another federal parliamentarian has failed to disclose their privately funded overseas trip - the ninth we've discovered in less than eight months. Open Politics looks at what's driving a culture of non-compliance and how to fix it.
Despite our emails, phone calls, and now an FOI request to his office, Richard Marles just won't divulge who provided him with a free round of golf at an exclusive US golf club on the eve of AUKUS talks last year.
Senator Hanson's statement to the Register of Senators’ Interests last week is one of the strangest we've seen: she declared no longer receiving rental income from a property she never declared to the register.
Nearly 30% of federal parliamentarians have accepted sponsored overseas travel and hospitality since the 2019 election, raising questions about undue influence peddling from foreign and commercial interests.
Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles has breached parliamentary rules and the Ministerial Code of Conduct by not disclosing who gave him a free round of golf at a top US club with an ugly past.
The other week our social media monitoring uncovered five politicians who didn't declare privately-sponsored junkets. Today we look at two more and ask why interest disclosure rules are not being enforced.
If you are a politician who appears in happy snaps while on privately funded junkets, it's probably a good idea to disclose who funded your trip to the parliament's interests registers.
In addition to donating millions to Labor and the Coalition parties, gaming companies and pokies venues are giving hundreds of expensive gifts to their federal MPs, our new analysis reveals. Open Politics shows who's giving and who’s getting, as well as those with shares in gambling companies.
Open Politics' analysis shows which public companies and industries are popular investments with federal MPs, who the big shareholders and traders are, and highlights potential conflicts of interest.
While the Albanese government seeks to toughen tobacco controls, the Assistant Health Minister Ged Kearney is investing in index funds with shareholdings in the tobacco industry. Update: Kearney divested three days after this story was published.
Much is made of the corrupting impact of political donations but little attention is paid to the non-monetary kind: gifts, free travel and hospitality that many federal parliamentarians eagerly accept from vested interests. Open Politics looks at the risk these benefits pose and the need for reform.
Liberal senator and shadow minister Hollie Hughes has breached Senate rules by not declaring her sponsored travel to Israel. Open Politics looks at a repeat offender and the need for reform. Update: Hughes disclosed the trip three days after this story was published.
While owning a home has become out of reach for millions of Australians, many parliamentarians are building large real estate portfolios with the help of tax concessions and taxpayer-funded travel allowances.
Following Open Politics' revelations about the shareholdings of Bill Shorten, Tim Ayres and Kristy McBain on 27 August, we've found Assistant Health and Ageing Minister Ged Kearney has breached the ministerial code of conduct by having indirect shareholdings in the Australian healthcare sector.
Open Politics has exposed that lobbyist and notorious ex-Labor senator Graham Richardson is not on the federal lobbyist register. This prohibits him from talking to anyone in the federal government on behalf of his clients.
Liberal Senator Hollie Hughes has not declared to the Register of Senators' Interests a helicopter flight she took as a guest of the Port of Newcastle Corporation in 2020, Open Politics can reveal.
Many federal politicians don't declare their private interests, fail to fully disclose them, or don't do so in the required time, and the officials who manage the interest registers say it's not their job to enforce the rules. Open Politics looks at a disclosure regime that only serves politicians.
Federal politicians from NSW and Queensland never miss an opportunity to promote their love of the people's game in the belief it makes them more relatable to voters - think the PM with the Sharks and the Opposition Leader with his Rabbitohs. But, unlike the average spectator, they rarely pay to attend games, with the NRL and others providing free tickets. Does the public end up paying the bill?
Open Politics is launching a campaign to stop federal MPs and senators accepting gifts, free travel and hospitality from private groups and foreign governments. Join us by asking your local MP to make an election commitment to decline benefits in the next term of parliament.
The (un)successful campaign to cut the beer tax was funded by the Australian Hotels Association, the Australian Brewers Association, and Clubs Australia. Open Politics details the booze and hospitality these organisations and their members have dished out to MPs and senators since the last election.(Despite Newscorp media confidently predicting a budget cut, the night turned into a fizzer for the industry. All that lobbying and largesse wasted.)
One in four parliamentarians or their immediate family have declared shareholdings in or gifts and travel or hospitality from companies that are among the nation's 100 largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters, an examination of the interest registers reveals.
Qantas and Virgin provide MPs and senators with access to luxury airport lounges and flight upgrades. But at what cost. Open Politics tallies up the freebies being dished out by Australia’s domestic carriers and foreign airlines.
Cross referencing the Australian Electoral Commission's donations register with the Parliament's interests registers reveals industrial scale influence peddling, with some of Australia's largest donors providing federal politicians with food, alcohol, and sports and concert tickets. And a Coalition MP suspects this is not the full extent of the largesse.
Unlike MPs, senators are not required to publicly disclose the interests of their partners and children. As a result, almost nothing is known about the family interests of 11 ministers and 10 shadow ministers. Open Politics discusses why this matters.
If you want a free overseas holiday it pays to be an elected official. But it may not be costless. Here's our analysis on the foreign governments, think tanks, and lobby groups giving junkets to our MPs and senators.
Politicians are the big winners from Australia's gambling companies. See our analysis of who's receiving hospitality and gifts from an industry that ignores its anti-money laundering obligations.
