This Month
Furious Stephen Conroy was dumped as Business Council lobbyist
When did the BCA exactly became a discredited rabble of a business lobby? And was it around the time Conroy’s TG Public Affairs ceased receiving a retainer?
- Myriam Robin
Stephen Conroy goes spluttering and unhinged against the BCA
The former Labor senator went troppo at the Business Council, whose members include his own lobby clients.
- Mark Di Stefano
October
No ‘secrets’ at RBA private briefings
Andrew Hauser dismissed concerns about the RBA holding private discussions with market participants, arguing it must understand what is happening in the economy.
- John Kehoe, Michael Read and Jonathan Shapiro
August
Gabby RBA spills its press flacks
If the intention is for Reserve Bank figures to keep giving interesting speeches, its figureheads are going to need serious PR support.
- Updated
- Myriam Robin
July
Hacked Optus gets award for cybersecurity nous
The irony of the award going to a company defending both a class action and an ACMA civil lawsuit for alleged security failures hung heavy in the room.
- Updated
- Myriam Robin
April
Labor’s $5m fundraising chief turns lobbyist
As director of the Federal Labor Business Forum, Kate Dykes spent 12 years as the all-important cog in the Labor fundraising machine.
- Updated
- Myriam Robin
February
Stephen Conroy becomes death, destroyer of CEOs
The former Labor powerbroker keeps showing up ringside to sudden resignations in the corporate world.
- Mark Di Stefano
November 2023
- Opinion
- Gaming & wagering
Gambling industry wins political game at democracy’s expense
The gaming industry adds little to the economy, but it is a big player when it comes to the political influence business.
- Elizabeth Baldwin and Kate Griffiths
June 2023
Third super giant joins boycott of PwC
HESTA is the latest super giant to boycott PwC; Labor has denied Brittany Higgins and her partner discussed strategising with Finance Minister Katy Gallagher when she was in opposition. How the day unfolded.
- Updated
- Gus McCubbing and Campbell Kwan
May 2023
Switkowski’s Telstra was major client of PwC
Decades before being appointed to investigate the accounting firm’s scandal, Ziggy Switkowski was a major client of then-PwC operative (and future CEO) Luke Sayers.
- Myriam Robin
December 2022
Inside the bloody political war that led to a $31b NBN blowout
The NBN has cost a lot more public money than Labor promised back in 2009 but the Coalition’s meddling was largely to blame for a decade of misguided spending.
- Paul Smith
Labor under water on $32b ‘commercial’ NBN investment
The federal government is unlikely to recoup the $31.9 billion injected into the NBN, even if the NBN Co is eventually privatised in the 2030s, a leading telco analyst says.
- John Kehoe
- Opinion
- Telecommunications
NBN loses $31b. Just don’t call it a write-down
The only surprising aspect of acknowledgement that NBN Co will never deliver a commercial return for taxpayers is how many years it took to admit the obvious.
- Jennifer Hewett
June 2022
Fury after Australia gave Pacific nations faulty boats
Major design flaws have been identified among a fleet of patrol boats gifted to Pacific nations, including poisonous carbon monoxide being pumped onboard.
- Andrew Tillett
April 2022
TG Public Affairs hires Michael Choueifate
Mark Brandon-Baker’s TG Public Affairs, which has nabbed Albo’s ex-chief of staff to join as one of the firm’s principals.
- Myriam Robin
May 2021
Court halts ALP preselections after union challenge
A push by Anthony Albanese and the ALP to fast-track preselections in Victoria ahead of the next federal election has been delayed by a court order.
- Patrick Durkin and Phillip Coorey
March 2021
MPs warned about careless tech use as hackers hit Parliament
Canberra is recovering from an unsophisticated attempted cyber intrusion as MPs are warned their use of technology leaves them open to being breached.
- Paul Smith
February 2021
Why the Fink spells bad news for Crown
The appointment of Ray Finkelstein to run Victoria’s royal commission into Crown spells bad news for the casino giant, legal eagles engaged for the inquiry say.
- Patrick Durkin
September 2020
- Opinion
- NBN
Conrovia here we come, time to look forward after NBN backflip
Imagine how the wasted $12.5 billion of the Coalition version of the NBN could have been invested, if the party had not been beholden to the hard right.
- Ed Husic
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Taxpayers are still exposed to NBN price and tech risk
That NBN was here to help during the crisis doesn't end the debate about establishing a government-owned monopoly locked into one fixed broadband technology.
- The AFR View
