It was as if the glue of everything had come unstuck.
Global defence contractors are among the largest beneficiaries of Australian government spending. All the big names of military hardware operate here: from Boeing and Raytheon to Lockheed Martin and BAE. Do they donate to political parties? Do they pay much tax in return for billions in taxpayer contracts, contracts which are rarely subject to public scrutiny? Eliot Barham and Michael West crunch the major numbers and take a look at the biggest of them all, BAE Systems.
British multinational defence contractor, BAE Systems, has just won an eye-watering $35 billion contract to build a fleet of nine frigates for the Royal Australian Navy. The money in defence is huge but analysis of where that money goes shows foreign taxpayers are often the beneficiaries.
We discovered a host of contracts struck by the Australian government directly with foreign companies, meaning hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes are being lost offshore because the government has failed to insist that defence contracts be struck with the local subsidiaries of multinational weapons manufacturers.
Further, we found Australian taxpayer money being used to finance BAE’s operations in the UK.
The money in defence is huge. Since 2016, BAE has won more than $5 billion dollars in government work. According to the Tax Office transparency data, the British contractor recorded total income of $4 billion over the three years to 2016 but paid zero tax.
Data analysed by michaelwest.com.au found that in 2015 BAE won $563 million in government work. This increased to $960 million in the following year and, in 2017, BAE was rewarded with more than $1.5 billion in government contracts.
Our analysis of the top players in the defence sector showed a number of patterns:
- All the major beneficiaries are foreign multinationals
- They won more than $22 billion in contracts over the three years analysed since 2016
- Disclosed donations to political parties (AEC data) were remarkably small.
- Income tax paid, at $335 million (ATO data) was also remarkably small.
- A host of contracts are struck directly offshore.
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/housing-crisis-confirms-australias-economy-tanking-alone-in-the-developed-world/
The latest figures on new homes reinforce other data showing Australia currently making close to the worst economic progress in the Western world. It doesn’t help that the Coalition has virtually abandoned public housing, reports Alan Austin.
Permits for new dwellings in the financial year ended in June came to a total of 188,250. That sounds quite a lot. But it was 44,726 fewer than the year before, and a thumping 50,406 fewer than three years ago. It was also fewer than in 1988-89 during Paul Keating’s reconstruction of Australia’s economy.
The percentage decline in the last year over the year before was 19.2%, the worst annual decline since 2000-01 at the depths of the early 2000s global recession.
Private sector houses declined 9.7% in the year ended in June from the previous year. The number – just 110,015 – was the lowest since 2012-13, towards the end of the global financial crisis (GFC). Private sector dwellings other than houses dropped a staggering 29.9% last year from the year before. That is the worst decline in 23 years.
Public sector dwellings, including both types, declined 17.9% year on year. The number – a puny 2,416 – was the lowest on record by far. The second lowest was 2,722 in 2011-13, and the third lowest 2,779 in 2016-17, when Scott Morrison was Treasurer.
This confirms the Coalition has virtually abandoned public housing, a high priority – and a strategic economic stimulus measure – of most previous governments.
The average number of public housing dwellings built annually by the Keating Government was 8,514. Through the Howard years, this dropped to 4,346. The Rudd and Gillard period, most of which was impacted by the GFC, averaged 6,402.
In stark contrast to these, the average under the Coalition – during an unprecedented global building boom – is just 3,060.
Here comes the scary part. We now have ABS housing permit numbers for July and August, which indicate how things are travelling in the new financial year.
Total dwellings approved in those two months are just 25,782, a dramatic drop of 25.1% on the number for the same two months last year. That’s the lowest for July and August in seven years. It is the lowest relative to population on record. So there is no sign of any turnaround, despite the benign conditions.
CRIKEY:
No comments:
Post a Comment