30/10/2024
I've been outspoken in calling out Albanese for pursuing his free Qantas upgrades, but the pearl clutching from the Opposition and News Corp is so obviously disingenuous because they sat unperturbed through corruption scandal after corruption scandal from the Morrison Government.
There needs to be a uniformed reset of what behaviour we accept in Canberra... it's probably up to our Independents to set that standard, because clearly none or the major parties are going to do it.
The below is an excerpt from a post I made four years ago detailing just SOME of the Coalitions corruption scandals.
Bo 'Nick' Zhao, a Chinese born Australian goes to ASIO telling them he's been offered a $1million from the Chinese Government to run as a Liberal Party candidate and then infiltrate the Australian Parliament as a Chinese Spy.
He then turns up dead in a Melbourne hotel room in March.
Enter Gladys Liu, the Liberal Candidate with a host of concerning connections to the Chinese Government who earns Liberal pre-selection thanks to miraculously raising a million dollars in donations.
Fairfax then discovered a photo of Liu at her home with Nick Zhao in the back ground.
Gladys is now the Liberal Member for Chisolm.
https://amp.smh.com.au/national/alleged-chinese-spy-target-pictured-sitting-next-to-liberal-mp-gladys-liu-at-her-home-20191129-p53fj4.html?__twitter_impression=true
Liberal Candidates Gladys Liu and Josh Frydenberg both have Mandarin signs at polling booths in the colours of the Australian Electoral Commission branding telling Chinese citizens how to vote (by putting 1 next to the Liberal Candidate). There is no Liberal Party branding on the sign
Liberal officials admit in court that the signs were designed to convey the appearance of official electoral commission material.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-06/josh-frydenberg-gladys-liu-high-court-challenges-election-result/11675738
Angus Taylor writes a public letter, published in the Daily Telegraph, to Sydney Mayor Clover Moore criticising her for her millions of dollars of domestic travel. The document he quotes is a forgery.
Taylor refuses to disclose where he got the fake document from and refuses all Freedom of Information requests from the media that might give an insight.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/nov/26/government-blocks-access-to-emails-about-angus-taylors-attack-on-clover-moore
Fake 'How To Vote' cards were handed out in Peter Dutton's seat of Dickson designed to trick Greens Voters in voting for Dutton.
https://7news.com.au/politics/federal-politics/federal-election-2019-fraudulent-how-to-vote-cards-told-greens-voters-to-preference-peter-dutton-c-119724
George Christensen charges tax payers for domestic flights and ComCar trips that were part of his trips to known red light districts of the Philippines. When he is caught he simply pays back $2,100 with no consequences.
https://www.theguardian.com/global/2020/jan/20/george-christensen-pays-back-2100-after-audit-finds-he-misused-travel-expenses
Barnaby runs up a bill of $675,000 in 9 months in his role as Special Drought Envoy. When asked what he did in the role, Joyce explained that he sent his "report" in the form of multiple text messages to Morrison. When The Guardian submitted a Freedom Of Information request for these texts it was rejected on the grounds that Morrison was too busy to retrieve them.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/dec/27/pms-office-refuses-to-release-drought-reports-barnaby-joyce-says-he-sent-via-text
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/sep/25/barnaby-joyce-spent-less-than-three-weeks-on-the-ground-while-drought-envoy
The Coalition granted $444million to a little known organisation called the Great Barrier Reef Foundation. The process involved no public tender, no transparency, and the organisation was later found to have business partnerships with BHP and Rio Tinto.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-16/great-barrier-reef-funding-grant-scrutinised-auditor-general/10720928
The Coalition awarded a $423million contract to run Manus Island detention facilities to a tiny and almost unknown company called Paladin as part of a "limited tender" process only meant to be used under special circumstances. The company's head office was a small shack on Kangaroo Island and family members of the PNG Parliament were found to be directly profiting from the contract.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/feb/27/the-paladin-scandal-is-only-a-drop-in-the-ocean-of-corruption-on-manus-and-nauru
Helloworld travel agency paid for Finance Minister Mathias Cormann's family holiday to Singapore within two weeks of the Coalition awarding Helloworld a Government contract worth over $1billion.
Cormann claims he didn't notice his holiday had been free.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/suspicious-minds-are-circling-helloworld-boss-20190222-p50zj7.html
On two seperate occasions, Peter Dutton personally intervened to have European au pairs allowed into the country after being initially refused by Border Force.
The first was on behalf of an old Police colleague, the second on behalf of the AFL Chief Executive and son of a Liberal Party donor.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/sep/04/peter-duttons-au-pair-decisions-anything-but-routine-labor-says
Barnaby Joyce's mistress, Vikki Campion was forced to leave her role as his staffer when rumours of their affair started causing tension with colleagues. As a result she was given a plum $190,000 a year job with good friend Senator Matt Canavan despite Parliamentary rules prohibiting jobs for 'partners'.
There were a number of allegations suggesting she never attended work whilst in this role.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/pm-s-office-says-vikki-campion-jobs-did-not-breach-rules-because-she-was-not-barnaby-joyce-s-partner-20180212-p4yzzp.html
The Coalition granted $30million to Foxtel, ostensibly to assist with "sports coverage" (whilst simultaneously slashing ABC funding). There was no public release of any conditions or oversight regarding the funding. News Corp, the largest newspaper owner in Australia and the owners of Foxtel, vigorously and unapologetically proceeds to support the Coalition whilst attacking Labor in the next election.
https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/foxtel-yet-to-reveal-spend-details-over-governments-30-million-handout-20180212-h0vyh3.html
The Coalition granted $200,000 to Foxtel station Sky News to fund a new show featuring future Liberal Candidate Warren Mundine. The funding was taken from money budgeted for "Indigenous Advancement".
Inquiries later found that the funding had been officially approved before Mundine had even formally applied for it.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jun/28/warren-mundine-approved-for-sky-news-government-grant-before-applying
Assistant Treasurer Stuart Robert charged tax payers $2,000 a month for home internet, blaming "connectivity issues". He was later forced to repay $38,000 in inappropriately claimed expenses but was not further investigated.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/oct/12/stuart-robert-repays-nearly-38000-for-home-internet-bills
The Coalition award a Chinese company a 99 year lease on Darwin Port. A year later, Andrew Robb, the Trade Minister at the time of the deal, leaves the Government to assume an $880,000 a year job as a "Consultant" with the same Chinese company.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/liberal-andrew-robb-took-880k-china-job-as-soon-as-he-left-parliament-20170602-gwje3e.html
Barnaby Joyce approved a dodgy $80million water buy back from a property owned by a Cayman Island's based company that Energy Minister Angus Taylor used to be the Director of and his college mate now ran.
When Twitter users began to discuss it his lawyers sent letters to them threatening legal action for defamation if they didn't delete the tweets.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/may/17/angus-taylors-oxford-rowing-mate-one-of-main-beneficiaries-of-80m-water-deal
A property owned by Energy Minister Angus Taylor's brother was alleged to have illegally burned 30 hectares of native grassland classified as endangered under existing environment laws.
After Angus Taylor personally intervened and met with then Environment Minsiter Josh Frydenberg about the investigation into his brother, the Government suddenly announced a review into the part of Commonwealth environment laws that specifically deals with endangered native grasses.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jun/19/angus-taylor-met-environment-department-even-as-it-investigated-company-part-owns-alleged-illegal-land-clearing
Over $100million in grants to sporting clubs were handed out according to a colour coded spreadsheet showing if the clubs were in marginal or potentially winnable electorates.
The Government overruled the recommendations of the Sports Commission 300 times, instead giving photo ops to LNP candidates just before the election.
The PM denied any involvement despite extensive email evidence showing his office was calling the shots.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/remember-sports-rorts-here-s-why-we-mustn-t-forget-that-shameful-episode-20200925-p55z8x.html
In 2016, the Government set up an automated debt recovery mechanism to recover welfare overpayments.
However the calculations used by the system were deeply flawed and demanded repayments from thousands who hadn't been overpaid a cent.
To make matters worse, the new process reversed the onus of proof on the recipient to prove they hadn't been overpaid.
Over 2000 Australians died after receiving Robodebt notices. A large (although unknown) number have been attributed to self harm.
In 2020, the Government finally admitted the system was flawed and paid back or forgave $1.2billion in debts.
https://theconversation.com/robodebt-was-a-policy-fiasco-with-a-human-cost-we-have-yet-to-fully-appreciate-150169
Morrison hand picks a Gas Company Chairman to run a "Covid Commission" to plan Australia's post-Covid economy.
He was paid $500k for 6 months work. He eventually recommends tax payers underwrite a "gas led" recovery. The shares for the company he works for rises 8%.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/may/23/covid-commission-boss-nev-power-steps-back-at-gas-company-amid-conflict-of-interest-concerns
When Foxtel missed out a $100million pandemic rescue package, News Corp execs wrote directly to Coalition Ministers to complain and immediately received $17.5 in tax payer grants.
When the ABC requested copies of the communication under FOI, the Government refused stating that it would damage the relationship between the Sports Minister and the PM.
https://amp.abc.net.au/article/12690954?__twitter_impression=true
As the Government was deciding whether or not to bail out Virgin Airlines, MP Dave Sharma purchased shares in Virgin's biggest competitor, Qantas.
Months later, just before Morrison announced an agreement with CSL to make millions of doses of a Covid vaccine, Sharma just happened to have bought CSL shares.
Mathias Cormann quits the Coalition with aspirations to become the OECD Secretary General.
Tax payers fund his $4,300 per hour Private Jet to fly him to and around Europe as well as 8 full time Government employees to assist him.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/mathias-cormanns-eight-fulltime-to-score-383000-oecd-role/news-story/0f3e7abf2ddef7d8a9b761da7b743b20
For the 2nd year in a row, Scott Morrison, Josh Frydenberg, and Peter Dutton fly by private jet from Canberra to Sydney (and back) purely to attend Lachlan Murdoch's Christmas Party.
Tax payers fund the trip.
https://amp.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/dec/04/pm-and-treasurer-bill-taxpayers-for-private-jet-to-lachlan-murdochs-christmas-party?__twitter_impression=true
While he was Defence Minister, Pyne awarded over $98million in contracts to a defence contractor named Elbit Systems.
In December 2020, Elbit Systems suddenly announced it has hired Pyne's lobbying firm "Pyne and Partners" in a contract of unknown value.
https://amp.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jan/28/christopher-pynes-firm-hired-by-defence-contractor-awarded-98m-in-government-work-while-he-was-minister?__twitter_impression=true
