starkebn posted:

nothing wrong with prostitution imo, just another thing people want to punch down on

quote:

Pauline Hanson’s right-hand man James Ashby suggested apparent plan to make money off One Nation candidates at state election


PAULINE Hanson’s right-hand man James Ashby suggested an apparent plan to turn the looming Queensland election into a cash cow for the party by duping candidates and the state’s Electoral Commission, an explosive recording reveals.

The recording, obtained exclusively by The Courier-Mail, reveals a conversation understood to have taken place late last year during a meeting at which Senator Hanson was also present.

During that conversation Mr Ashby — Senator Hanson’s chief-of-staff — tells the meeting how he thinks they could make money out of the state election including by selling items purchased for the campaign to candidates at inflated prices.

“There is an opportunity for us to make some money on this if we play this smart,” Mr Ashby can be heard telling the meeting.

“I will deny I ever said this but what stops us from getting a middle man or gracing … I am happy to grace in cash, double the price of whatever it is.

“We say to the candidates we will fund 50 per cent of this package. So the package might be $5000. You’re going to pay $2500 and we’ll pay the other $2500 of the $5000.

“The other $2500 is the profit. It’s the fat. And I’ll write it off. I don’t want the cash for it. I will make it as a tax deduction or …”

Mr Ashby is then asked: “where are we making money”.

He responds: “Because when you lodge the receipt at the full price with the Electoral Commission of Queensland you get back the full amount that’s been issued to you as an invoice.”

Mr Ashby yesterday denied any suggestion he was putting forward such a plan when contacted by The Courier-Mail for comment.

“That’s not what the party does and prices are reflective in the invoices paid by the party and candidates. To suggest otherwise is false,” he said.

Senator Hanson can be heard in the tapes asking how much candidates would be expected to outlay.

“They (candidates) are going to get this back. They will get it back anyway,” Senator Hanson says.

“They have got to put something forward. They have got to take a hit for this as well.”

Mr Ashby then chimes in again.

“We should be selling them (the candidates) these packs … because you make money and they make money. “Well, they don’t make any money but you make the money.”

Senator Hanson later says: “Just look at it (sic) what is the best financial outlook for us, all right, at the end of the day.”

Mr Ashby says: “Well, we don’t need a middle man. We can make money out of this. We buy the corflutes for $5. We sell them to them for $11.”

When challenged on whether the party should profit in such a way, Mr Ashby responds.

“Yes we can. That’s what the Liberal Party do.”

At no point during the meeting does anyone agree to enact the plan and The Courier-Mail is not suggesting anyone in the room engaged in wrongdoing.

Knowingly providing misleading or false invoices to the ECQ could constitute an offence under both the state’s Criminal Code and the Electoral Act with the penalties ranging from fines to jail time.

Several weeks after the recorded conversation, obtained by The Courier-Mail, took place, One Nation asked its Queensland candidates to part with $3500 for a printing pack, including corflutes and other items.

The Australian Electoral Commission is currently probing the party’s returns, including its use of a Jabiru plane amid allegations its use was not declared.

Guardian AU posted:

Budget analysis shows some women hit with effective marginal tax rates of 100%

A new analysis of the combined impact of the Turnbull government’s budget measures suggests women earning below-average wages could be hit with effective marginal tax rates of 100%.

A study of budget initiatives by the National Foundation for Australian Women, to be released on Monday, says a combination of an increase in the Medicare levy, the freezing of family tax benefit rates and earlier repayment requirements for student loans “are particularly harsh for women”.

The study notes the proposed increase in the Medicare levy will affect women on incomes greater than $21,644 and, for women who are eligible to receive family tax benefit part A, the rates are frozen for two years.

“Those who pay childcare fees will continue to face high effective marginal tax rates,” the report says. “University graduates will start repaying loans when they reach income levels of $42,000 per year.

“These changes hit those on earning well below the average wage and are particularly harsh for women.

“Combined, these changes could lead to effective marginal tax rates of possibly 100% or higher for some women, particularly as family tax benefit part A begins to decrease at $51,903.

“Graduates caught between these policies will experience considerable financial stress; graduates earning $51,000, most of whom are likely to be women, will have less disposable income than someone earning $32,000.”

Effective marginal tax rates are the proportion of an additional dollar of earnings that is lost to both income tax and the reduction of mean-tested government payments.

The report, Gender Lens on the Budget – the second annual assessment of the impact of the budget on Australian women – points out that women are overrepresented at lower-income levels and changes to government benefits and increases in taxes have a disproportionate effect on women.

The report says that, according to statistics from the Australian Taxation Office, the median income for women was $47,125 in 2014-15, while for men the amount was $61,711.

The report notes the budget papers supply no modelling outlining the EMTRs for different groups of women.

The foundation welcomes “some significant improvements in infrastructure, disability support, health and housing” in the 2017 budget.

The report says the latest budget contains policies that alleviate some of the proposed cuts of previous budgets, which is a welcome development, but it says the latest economic statement “doesn’t radically turn things around for women”.

In her foreword to the report, feminist, social activist and retired public servant Marie Coleman, who heads the foundation’s social policy committee, notes that treasury has a micro-simulation tool to assess distributional impacts of budget measures.

“We are at a loss to understand how measures could have been introduced in different portfolios which come together to produce EMTRs of up to 100% or more when the government continues to emphasise the need for greater productivity and to encourage female workforce attachment,” Coleman says.

“It is quite clear to us that, notwithstanding the elevation of the office for women to full divisional status and its relocation in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, that there has not been any effective gender aware analysis in the formation of this budget.”

Coleman says the foundation does not doubt the prime minister’s personal commitment to enhancing equity for women and girls but she says the government needs to produce a women’s budget statement to carefully assess the distributional impacts of various policy measures.

starkebn posted:

Canberra Times posted:

Andrew Forrest to make Australian philanthropic history with huge donation
Mining and business billionaire Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest will give away a huge chunk of his personal wealth in the largest philanthropic donation by a living person in Australian history.

The WA-based Fortescue Metals Group chairman and his wife, Nicola, will announce the colossal suite of donations alongside Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten at an event on Monday. It is expected to dwarf any past pledges by high-net-worth Australians and corporations.

The money will be dedicated to a variety of social and scientific causes including Indigenous disadvantage, cultural and arts facilities in regional Australia, and an ambitious plan to gain the upper hand over cancer with a major injection of research funding aiming to make most cancers treatable as chronic diseases rather than terminal.

There will be a particular focus on early childhood education, with the Forrests impressed by recent research developments in the field.

While the precise quantum of the donation is being tightly held for the announcement itself, the final figure is tipped to extend into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Mr Forrest would not be drawn on that, confirming only that it constituted "a very significant proportion of our earnings".

Asked why the couple was making the donation now and of such size, he said, "Quite simply, we can".

"Nicola and I have been very fortunate to build up a couple of businesses from scratch ... we decided that if we ever got to the point where we could afford to, we would put that wealth to the highest social use."

Mr Forrest will be in Canberra for the announcement.

Mr Forrest believes the involvement of the nation's two political leaders "signals the commitment of the public and private sectors to work together in supporting initiatives to create healthier and more educated citizens, boost employment, and facilitate thriving, robust communities".

Hollywood star Russell Crowe and Australian screen legend Jack Thompson will be among a large contingent of national and international guests at the event, which will include leading international cancer specialists who have flown in from around the globe, in a sign of just how significant the medical research component will be.

The donation includes substantial new grants aiming to foster and then turbocharge international collaborative cancer research. The Forrests are convinced the new money can drive the research breakthroughs that will take cancer from the killer it often is, to "non-fatal" status.

It is envisaged that it could then be improved to the degree that it is "no longer a life-debilitating disease".

"We really want to encourage institutions to specialise in cancer research and to get them the capital they need in order to do so," he said.

Fairfax Media understands that in addition to funds for cancer research and treatment, there will be money to help rebuild regional communities ravaged by economic changes, along with funds to enrich country life through renewed arts and cultural programs.

Education is a significant element also with funds to "draw the research strings together".

Educational scholarships, already under way in Western Australia, will extend nationally and then internationally.

The Forrests had already donated $65 million to universities in Perth.

They believe the scale and distribution of this donation will act as the critical catalyst unlocking other private and public investments, opening up possibilities for greater international coordination.

Included in the event's guest list are early childhood experts Professor Donna Cross and Professor Jack Shonkoff, Indigenous leader Jacinta Price, University of WA vice-chancellor Professor Dawn Freshwater and international PhD scholars, cancer experts Professor Peter Leedman, Professor Grant McArthur and Dr Ron DePinho, singer Ms Marcia Hines, and survivors of modern slavery.

While there have been a number of significant donations in Australia, the biggest have tended to come from deceased estates, or from large corporations.

While private heath magnate, the late Paul Ramsay, bequeathed some $3 billion to the Ramsay Foundation to address health, education and disadvantage, Mr Forrest's generosity marks his donations out as the largest by a living person in Australia.

Among other donations in recent years are $200 million to the National Philanthropic Fund from Crown Resorts and the Packer family, and $100 million from Westpac to the Westpac Bicentennial Foundation.

Last year, the Australian National University received $100 million from a former student and his wife, Graham Tuckwell and his wife Louise Tuckwell for student accommodation.

Bogan King posted:

Dude McAwesome posted:

Oh cool, someone who has profited massively from mining giving away some of the money they could never hope to spend.

Why the gently caress is Twiggy Forrester so prominent outside of "has lots of money?"

What's the angle here? Looking to run next election? Gunning for a knighthood? (lol, gently caress off Tones)

ABC posted:

A new Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council (QSAC) study revealed 3,035 people were dealt with between 2006 and 2016 for such offences, including possessing child pornography, distributing the material or making the content.

Of those, 1,470 were aged between 10 and 16 and their offences mostly related to underage sexting — filming or distributing explicit material of people under 17.

WhiskeyWhiskers posted:

Victoria best state state still good.

WhiskeyWhiskers posted:

I think you'll find tomorrow is actually the day the patriot movement occupy the court and throw off the shaeckles of (((them))).

Solemn Sloth posted:

Grundle continues his pointless and inexplicable love affair with Julian

Divorced And Curious posted:

i really don't regret letting my crikey subscription expire

Dude McAwesome posted:

Oh cool, someone who has profited massively from mining giving away some of the money they could never hope to spend.

Why the gently caress is Twiggy Forrester so prominent outside of "has lots of money?"

What's the angle here? Looking to run next election? Gunning for a knighthood? (lol, gently caress off Tones)

Bogan King posted:

“It’s About Politics And Social Engineering”: Police Drug Tests Accused Of Targeting The Poor [Junkee]

quote:

Ratings agency S&P Global has downgraded almost all financial institutions in Australia because they face an "increased risk of a sharp correction in property prices".
....
The "big four" banks, however, managed to escape a downgrade because S&P believes they are likely to receive "timely financial support from the Australian Government" if there is a housing crash.