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Attached is a note from PwC to its big clients telling them how to dodge the new tax laws shortly before they were passed in Parliament in 2015. PwC was advising the Government on the design of these laws while advising its clients how to avoid them. Michael West reports.
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Declassified Australia reveals the feast for lobbyists, US defence contractors and hangers-on which is the AUKUS $370bn submarines deal, Kelly Tranter reports.
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More than 170 anti-junta paramilitary groups from Myanmar’s northern, embattled Sagaing region have held talks to deepen cooperation in their fight against the military and share strategies for administering areas under their control.
The “Sagaing Forum,” hosted online on May 30-31, provides a rare glimpse into the myriad of so-called People’s Defense Force, or PDF, groups that are fighting the junta but have not pledged allegiance to the shadow National Unity Government seeking to reestablish a civilian administration in the aftermath of the military’s Feb. 1, 2021, coup d’etat.
Speaking to RFA Burmese on Friday, Sagaing Forum spokesperson Chaw Su San called the gathering part of efforts to “strengthen the revolutionary forces” of the region, despite the absence of NUG-aligned PDFs.
“More than two years into the resistance against the military junta, we held the forum as we saw the need to unite all revolutionary groups, in order to keep up the momentum of the revolution,” he said.
“The purpose of the forum is to make the anti-junta revolutionary groups in Sagaing more connected so that they will be able to continue fighting against the junta as part of a wider network,” he said.
Chaw Su San said that topics at the forum focused on regional issues related to politics, the military and regional administration. A statement issued by forum organizers on June 1 said other themes included ending military rule, self-governance, self-administration and the organization of regional anti-junta forces.
While NUG-aligned PDF groups were absent from the forum, the shadow government sent a message to the forum at its conclusion, expressing hope that the talks could foster progress on issues related to local needs, “without unwanted external pressures.”
The National Unity Consultative Council – an advisory body to the NUG made up of various ethnic armed organizations and majority Bamar groups – was present and delivered a speech to attendees.
Captain Htut Khaung, the leader of the Yinmarbin township 28th Battalion of the Dar Ma Saing Army under the NUG, told RFA that he did not receive an invitation to the forum, but was briefed on the topics covered.
“The forum attendees pledged to continue the revolution as a united front and they discussed their goals, including what they want and how they will carry it out,” he said.
A person who attended the forum as an observer confirmed to RFA on condition of anonymity that he did not see PDF groups under the NUG’s Ministry of Defense in attendance.
NUG rival?
Critics of the forum have suggested that the groups that attended intend to present an alternative to the NUG and gain political advantage.
However, forum spokespersons dismissed the allegations, calling it a “platform for all revolutionary groups to meet and confer.”
Thein Tun Oo, the executive director of the Thayninga Institute for Strategic Studies, which is made up of former military officers, said he viewed the gathering as a sign of disunity among anti-junta actors.
“It is natural that, after a time, groups with different directions and preferences part ways, leading to fragmentation,” he said. “We will have to wait and see if that is what’s happening, but it’s a possibility.”
Thein Tun Oo said it is “highly probable” that there will be further splits between the groups going forward, although he did not elaborate.
Salingyi PDF members, some with flags of National League for Democracy party gather in Salingyi during the first anniversary of the military coup on Feb. 1, 2022. Credit: MPA Kyaw Zaw, spokesman for the office of NUG President Duwa Lashi La, denied speculation that the shadow government’s absence was proof of a split within anti-junta forces and said the NUG supported the gathering.
“The people of Sagaing region and their revolutionary and political groups need to come together and discuss how to jointly implement a new federal democratic state in the Sagaing Forum,” he said, elaborating on the NUG statement sent last week.
Kyaw Zaw said that discussions at the forum pertaining to the right to self-determination and self-governance were “in line with the Federal Democratic Charter,” adding that the NUG was “satisfied” with the results of the meeting.
Local support
RFA spoke with residents of Sagaing who also welcomed the gathering, including a person from Pale township who said he hopes for additional meetings that promote unity between the region’s anti-junta groups.
“I welcome these forums as a citizen,” said the Pale resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing security concerns. “My only hope is that they collaborate with scholars and other experts to ensure that they don’t go astray.”
Sagaing Forum organizers told RFA that the next gathering will allow participants to drill down on topics raised in May and said they plan to invite additional groups to increase participation.
A date has yet to be decided for the second forum.
Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Burmese.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Than Myint, the elder brother of the shadow National Unity Government’s human rights advisor, has been stabbed to death in Myanmar’s commercial capital Yangon, according to his brother Aung Kyaw Moe.
He said a gang attacked his brother near the Nwe Aye Mosque on Wednesday and escaped before the police arrived.
“We are blood [relatives] and I am working on human rights,”Aung Kyaw Moe told RFA Friday.
“I sent facts about this to relevant colleagues and the international community. When the relatives of those involved in the revolution are targeted and killed we must bring justice to those cases.”
Pro-junta activists took to social media to claim responsibility but it is still not clear which group was behind the killing.
Than Myint was from a Rohingya family that used to live in Rakhine state. He and his family members fled Rakhine separately after the Muslim group suffered persecution in 2012 and 2017.
Of the 1 million Rohingya who lived in Rakhine state, three quarters have fled to Bangladesh, while many of the rest live in Internally Displaced Persons camps with inadequate food and shelter.
The National Unity Government’s human rights ministry released a message of condolence for Than Myint’s killing on Friday.
On Thursday, pro-junta Telegram channels called on supporters to release the names of people opposed to the February 2021 military coup and the names of family members of those who have gone into exile.
The killing of Than Myint follows the murder of the mother and sister of one of the men accused of killing pro-junta singer and actor Lily Naing Kyaw in Yangon.
Furious pro-junta groups called for revenge, identifying the alleged killer and giving his address on social media.
Kaung Zarni Hein’s family were shot dead in their home the same night.
More than 3,600 civilians, including pro-democracy activists, have been killed since the coup according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Burmese.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Cemetery industry experts warn that the new Minister for Cemeteries, Steve Kamper, risks breaching the NSW Government’s direct dealings guidelines, and a referral to the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) over promises made to the Catholic archdiocese prior to the March State election.
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Hong Kong authorities sought a court injunction prohibiting the dissemination and performance of the banned protest anthem, “Glory to Hong Kong,” prompting downloads of the song to surge.
The anthem was regularly sung by crowds of unarmed protesters during the 2019 protest movement, which that ranged from peaceful demonstrations for full democracy to intermittent, pitched battles between “front-line” protesters and armed riot police.
It was banned in 2020 as Beijing imposed a draconian national security law on the city.
The song calls for freedom and democracy rather than independence, but was nonetheless deemed in breach of the law due to its “separatist” intent, officials and police officers said at the start of an ongoing citywide crackdown on public dissent and peaceful political activism.
“It is very unreasonable to ban the broadcast of ‘Glory to Hong Kong’,” said a Hong Kong resident who gave only the nickname May for fear of reprisals. She said had downloaded the song in the past 24 hours. “As a citizen, I feel very uneasy about this.”
“I want to listen to it more, now — I want to hear it again before it is taken off the shelves, or there is no way to listen to it any more — to commemorate the social events of that time,” May said.
Played at sports events
The lyrics of the song contain speech ruled by the court as constituting “secession,” a government statement said, referring to recent broadcasts of the song in error at overseas sports events featuring Hong Kong athletes.
“This has not only insulted the national anthem but also caused serious damage to the country and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region,” it said.
Radio Free Asia’s translation of the banned 2019 protest anthem, with music. Translated by Luisetta Mudie. “The Department of Justice of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) applied to the Court … to prohibit four items of unlawful acts relating to the song “Glory to Hong Kong,’” the statement said.
In November, Hong Kong police announced a criminal investigation into the playing of “Glory to Hong Kong” at a rugby match in South Korea.
If the court injunction is granted, it will outlaw the broadcasting, performing, publishing or other dissemination of the song on any platform, especially with “seditious” or “pro-independence” intent, the government said.
It will also become harder to track down the song online, as global platforms could seek to conform with the ruling simply by taking it down.
The news prompted a spike in digital downloads of the song from iTunes, with different versions of the song featuring in nine of the top 10 download spots for the Hong Kong market.
Meanwhile, keyword searches for “Glory to Hong Kong” in Chinese surged following the government statement, remaining at a new high on the Google Trends tracking app at 7.00 a.m. local time on Wednesday.
‘Attack on freedom of speech’
Former pro-democracy District Council member Carmen Lau, now in exile in the United Kingdom, said the move is part of an ongoing crackdown on public expression in Hong Kong since the national security law took effect that has seen hundreds of titles removed from public libraries and bookshops, as well as bans on the screening of some movies in the city.
“As far as I know, this is the first time that the government has used a court procedure to apply specifically to the release or broadcast of this song in Hong Kong,” Lau said. “This is a precedent, and is a serious attack on the freedom of speech, and on artistic freedom.”
“Now this precedent has been set, many other freedoms of the press, and cultural freedoms, will be suppressed too,” she said.
Demonstrators sing “Glory to Hong Kong” at the Times Square shopping mall in Hong Kong, Sept. 12, 2019. Credit: Associated Press Benson Wong, former assistant politics professor at Hong Kong Baptist University who is now in Britain, said the ban, if issued, will send a strong message to the international community.
“If the court really does issue an injunction banning the playing of ‘Glory to Hong Kong,’ this will be the first song ban in Hong Kong,” he said.
“It will also become clear that there is nothing left of the rule of law or judicial independence in Hong Kong,” Wong said.
He said the move was likely prompted by massive official embarrassment over the playing of the wrong anthem at recent sporting events, adding that Hong Kongers would likely have to turn to circumvention software to access the song in future.
The spirit of Hong Kong
U.K.-based former pro-democracy councilor Daniel Kwok said the song remains hugely popular among Hong Kongers.
“Everyone likes this song very much, protesters and the international community alike,” Kwok said. “Hearing this song is like hearing the spirit of Hong Kong.”
“It represents Hong Kongers as an ethnic group far better than [the Chinese national anthem],” he said. “This is a song that belongs to and represents the people of Hong Kong.”
Executive Council member Ronny Tong said anyone found downloading the tune could face up to seven years’ imprisonment for “contempt of court,” if the injunction is granted.
He called on residents of Hong Kong to delete the tune if they have downloaded it already, just to be on the safe side.
Lau said she still expects to hear the song at overseas protests by Hong Kongers, however.
Current affairs commentator Sang Pu said the Hong Kong authorities are unlikely to be able to enforce the ban outside the city.
“Injunctions granted by a Hong Kong court are only applicable to Hong Kong,” Sang said. “Many overseas versions have been posted overseas, to accounts on YouTube and Instagram, so how will they implement it there?”
Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Cheryl Tung for RFA Cantonese, Amelia Loi for RFA Mandarin.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Former submariner Rex Patrick looks under the hood of the second-hand Virginia-class nuclear submarines to see what Australia has bought. Even AUKUS fans might not like what they see.
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Most governments around the world have welfare programs that attempt to provide for the basic needs of its citizens who are old, ill, poor, unemployed, disabled etc. Those programs are far from ideal and are as narrowly targeted as is possible. A huge amount of paperwork is needed to apply for welfare and if you …
Continue reading OUT WITH CENTRELINK. IN WITH UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME.
The post OUT WITH CENTRELINK. IN WITH UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME. appeared first on Everald Compton.
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New documents show Julian Assange got little more than a mention at Mark Dreyfus’s media talkfest this year. Amid much talk about reform and transparency, the Government wants to draw our big media outlets into cozy secret relationships with Australia’s spies.
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A bill introducing harsh penalties and extending the scope of a law applying to those who obstruct public places was passed after an all-night sitting by the South Australian Legislative Council this week. Wendy Bacon reports on the rise of draconian anti-protest laws
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You could say the blues have followed me wherever I’ve gone. My mom came from a family of 18, picking cotton and peanuts in Georgia. My dad, who played the blues, couldn’t read. He learned numbers selling produce. I was born in Massachusetts, where my mom worked in the factories and raised me alone after More
The post Prayer Helped Me Survive Poverty, But I Needed Government Support, Too appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Trish Brown.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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You could say the blues have followed me wherever I’ve gone. My mom came from a family of 18, picking cotton and peanuts in Georgia. My dad, who played the blues, couldn’t read. He learned numbers selling produce. I was born in Massachusetts, where my mom worked in the factories and raised me alone after More
The post Prayer Helped Me Survive Poverty, But I Needed Government Support, Too appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Trish Brown.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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We look at the impact of the reelection of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Sunday in a tight runoff vote, extending his 20-year rule for a further five years. Erdoğan received just over 52% of the vote, beating challenger Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, an economist and former civil servant who unified a broad coalition but failed to unseat Erdoğan despite growing dissatisfaction with his governance and deep economic pain within the country. We speak with Cihan Tuğal, UC Berkeley sociologist and author of The Fall of the Turkish Model: How the Arab Uprisings Brought Down Islamic Liberalism.
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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The United States has 4% of the world’s population but 16% of COVID-19 deaths. This series investigates the failures by federal agencies that led to over 1 million Americans dying from COVID-19 and what that tells us about the nation’s ability to fight the next pandemic. Epidemiologist Jessica Malaty Rivera is the host for this three-part series.
The first episode takes us back to February 2020, when reporters Rob Meyer and Alexis Madrigal from The Atlantic were trying to find solid data about the rising pandemic. They published a story that revealed a scary truth: The U.S. didn’t know where COVID-19 was spreading because few tests were available. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also didn’t have public data to tell citizens or federal agencies how many people were infected or where the outbreaks were happening.
Their reporting led to a massive volunteer effort by hundreds of people across the country who gathered the data themselves. The COVID Tracking Project became a de facto source of data amid the chaos of COVID-19. With case counts rising quickly, volunteers scrambled to document tests, hospitalizations and deaths in an effort to show where the virus was and who was dying.
Support Reveal’s journalism at Revealnews.org/donatenow
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get the scoop on new episodes at Revealnews.org/newsletter
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Can a Prime Minister use a Cabinet reshuffle to sweep government dirt under the carpet? That’s a question now before the Federal Court in a case which will draw out whether Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus KC is a leader who supports transparency, or just another politician interested, first and foremost, in protecting his patch. Rex Patrick explains.
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The recent bust of a Sydney money laundering syndicate and the story of a charming Chinese criminal brought down by New Zealand authorities highlight the need for Australia to catch up on global anti-money laundering regulations
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The new Labor government will soon have to deal with the mess of Sydney’s cemetery sector bequeathed by its predecessors. Cemeteries operator OneCrown is in disarray, with a damning report looming over the heads of its executives
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The South Australian District Court has dealt a fatal blow to public sector whistleblowing, basically making it impossible for anyone to safely blow the whistle. Rex Patrick explains the public interest travesty.
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Independent MP Rebekha Sharkie has just dropped a bombshell in Federal Parliament. The Labor Government has been caught out in a blatant pork barrelling scandal: Solar Rorts.
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Stretched to breaking point by Covid, NSW’s public healthcare system is struggling to return to acceptable levels of staffing and efficiency. Labor is promising to remove the Coalition’s public services wages cap, while the Coalition promises to pour billions into attracting new healthcare workers.
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News yesterday that our Collins Class submarines will get fitted with Tomahawks reveals a serious lack of understanding about the tactical use of land attack missiles on submarines.
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Education is one key to the NSW election this Saturday. Student outcomes have been declining in NSW for years, while the gap between rich and poor students is growing. Callum Foote investigates the Liberal and Labor party policy platforms as part of our MWM series on election issues.
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As the NSW election looms, both major parties have buried a big problem, burials. Both Labor’s Chris Minns and Premier Dominic Perrottet have no answer to Sydney’s burial crisis. The city’s public cemeteries expect to run out of space in the next five years. The former boss of the government’s new cemetery manager speaks out in a scathing critique of the lack of accountability and leadership in Sydney’s $5 billion cemetery sector. Callum Foote reports.
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In a David and Goliath battle in the Federal Court today, Rex Patrick takes on Information Commissioner, Angelene Falk to challenge to the lengthy delays that plague freedom of information (FOI) requests being reviewed
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Who will control the Tomahawk Missiles? News that Australia will purchase up to 220 Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles might seem like just another Defence purchase, but there’s a hidden sovereignty issue that needs to be examined.
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The current system frequently leaves people feeling confused, anxious and angry, a charity claims.
People with mental health problems are being made even more unwell by the Government’s system of benefits assessments, a report reveals. Almost seven in 10 (66 percent) of claimants living with conditions such as bipolar disorder, depression and anxiety told mental health charity Mind that going through the assessment process made their mental health worse.
The current system frequently leaves applicants feeling confused, anxious and angry, and assessors reach “incorrect decisions far too often”, Mind told the Express.
The charity’s CEO, Sarah Hughes, said the Government urgently needs to shift from “gatekeeping benefits” to “prioritising support for disabled people”.
She said: “Benefit assessments should be providing the Department for Work and Pensions with an accurate picture of a person’s needs, so that person can get the support they need to get by.
“Instead, our findings show that not only are far too many assessments inaccurate but that they are also leaving the majority of people more unwell.”
Mind’s report – Reassessing Assessments: How People With Mental Health Problems Can Help Fix The Broken Benefits System – highlights the urgent need for the Government to better invest in training for assessors on understanding mental health issues.
Almost half (46 percent) of those assessed for Personal Independence Payment (PIP), and over a third (36 percent) of people assessed for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) or Universal Credit (UC) feel their benefits assessor did not understand mental health problems.
Mind says this “must be addressed” as roughly one in three people receiving PIP and half of all claimants receiving ESA, have a mental health problem, cognitive impairment or learning difficulty as their main disability.
There has been a shift in focus from the Government towards getting people who are off work long-term back into the workforce.
But Mind warns this approach is likely to fail when the DWP’s own processes are making people struggle more.
The charity wants the Government to create a new commission, led by disabled people, tasked with proposing reforms to the structure and criteria of benefit assessments.
It also wants to see it establish an independent regulator for the benefits system to help hold the Government to account, protect the rights of disabled people and enforce improved assessments.
A DWP spokesman said: “Our assessors are all qualified health professionals and decisions are made using all the information available to us. If someone disagrees they have the right to ask for a review.”
They said the Government was increasing investment in mental health services in England “by at least £2.3billion a year by 2024”.
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Australia has just committed to spending $368 billion on second hand US Virginia Class submarines, and eight next generation British AUKUS nuclear submarines. It’s a strategic blunder, and it’s not even going to happen the way PM Albanese has suggested.
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There will be no better opportunity than now for Anthony Albanese to ask US President Joe Biden for the release of Julian Assange. Michael West reports on the Belmarsh Tribunal and calls for the release of Australia’s number one political prisoner.
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