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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 […]

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Is Australia’s election software hackable? Questioning the AEC at Senate Estimates

Confidence in our elections is a cornerstone of our democracy and many questions have been raised by events in the United States Presidential election about our own software, which was originally sourced from the same supplier – Scytl. Last night I asked questions of the AEC regarding the serious issues found in other audits by […]

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Industrial Relations Omnibus Explainer

The Government’s IR omnibus was gutted last week before it passed the Senate. I was disappointed to see that the wage theft and enforcement measures were not passed. The insertion of a detailed definition of casual worker is good for certainty. The inclusion of a right to get conversion from a casual position to a […]

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Does Australia Post care about Mum and Dad LPOs?

Licensed Post Offices (LPOs) provide important services especially in regional towns. Unfortunately, they’ve been overlooked in a number of the changes to the way Australia Post operates. Transcript [Malcolm Roberts] Thank you chair. And thank you all for attending today. Is Australia Post considering selling off its profitable parcel post business? And please advise what […]