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Should we let bad banks keeps abusing virtual AGMs? Australian Securities and Investments Commission at Senate Estimates

Annual General Meetings of large companies have almost always been held physically. This changed with COVID when the use of Virtual AGMs was authorised. Virtual AGMs were necessary when the country was plagued by lockdowns, but now as restrictions ease big companies such as banks are desperately trying to hold on to them. Virtual AGMs […]

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Australian Signals Directorate

Transcript [Senator Roberts] Thank you Chair and thank you all for being here. I have a few short question mostly about elections. My questions are about the Australian Cyber Security Centre, in Senate estimates on the 19th of February 2019, Tom Rogers, the Deputy Director of the Australian Electoral Commission said, “We work very closely […]

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Is the Government considering mandatory vaccination? Questioning the Department of Health Senate Estimates

Even though the government says they don’t want to mandate vaccination, they haven’t ruled out attaching it to everyday activities. That means they won’t rule out that you might have to be vaccinated to go to the pub which sounds as good as mandating it to me. I believe in the vaccine being available to […]

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Why do we send data to the IRS without telling the individual? Australian Tax Office at Senate Estimates

Australian banks hand over a large amount of sensitive banking and financial data to the United States IRS. This happens through the FATCA Act. Despite the huge intrusion to privacy and information of Australian citizens, no privacy impact statement was ever prepared for the Act. The government has also failed to negotiate mutual recognition of […]

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How many foreign deals have we actually rejected? Questioning the Foreign Investment Review Board

Despite the tough talk about foreign ownership, the government continues to allow foreign entities to buy up too much Australian land and critical infrastructure. While there is a lot of spotlight on larger deals, the government isn’t that concerned about the amount of small residential properties that are being lost to foreign ownership. This pushes […]

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Can we afford $220 billion Submarines right now? Department of Defence at Senate Estimates

CANCEL THE $220 BILLION SUBS CONTRACT It is currently estimated that the Future Attack Submarines the government wants to buy will cost $220 billion including construction and ongoing service. We aren’t expecting to see the first one in the water until 2032 and the final one sometime in the 2040s. They are outrageously expensive, will […]

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Why didn’t Fair Work raise the alarm on casuals? Fair Work Ombudsman at Senate Estimates

In Senate Estimates today, I continued to pursue the case to support casual coal production workers. I showed the FWO that the hunter valley CFMEU bosses sold out casual mine workers and left them significantly underpaid and unsupported. This union ignored casuals and trapped them in the “permanent casual trap” The FWO made us all […]