Fighting Fake News with REAL, 26/12/19; We are turning Chinese and denying it; LNP's Politics of Fire, Silence of the Tax Giveaways,

Police 'quietly' using facial recognition cameras at Victoria's busiest stations

What China does we openly criticize and do the same secretly while telling Australians "there's nothing to see here" only benefit. It's not just a matter of scale.

 The Chinese have been increasingly liberated and are free to tour and study around the world boosting Western tourism and their Education Economy. That's bad according to us but we'll sure take that money but won't celebrate that freedom. Instead, we condemn it. "They're spies. They cheat. They're lowering standards" Yet in the past 6 years, we've seen the rapid and secret acceleration of our surveillance. The increased reduction in Australians able to travel overseas and greater suspicion of those studying in China. Want to go to America come to Australia give us your Social Media ID first.

 Something odd is going on when Sam Dastyari is forced to resign for his association with the Chinese and Gladys Liu isn't. She's almost forced to stay in Politics. Liu and Frydenberg were caught cheating the last election but found "not guilty" because their cheat was judged not to have had any effect on the election outcome. Could the same be said of a bank fraudster who managed to get a $1000 from the CBA? I thought and was lead to believe an attempt or even a conspiracy to commit a crime was a crime whether successful or not in this country.  (ODT)Josh Frydenberg and Gladys Liu's election win cleared

Secrecy surrounds the network, its use and how many times people have been mistakenly flagged as potential criminals, with facial recognition technology having proved significantly inaccurate in overseas jurisdictions.

 

'Political stunt': Bushfire inquiry launched to probe controlled burns

One minute our LNP Government are saying "Bushfires are a State responsibility" next Scott Morrison is launching an inquiry into "controlled burns" Australia your being conned (ODT)

The federal government has called a second inquiry in two years into land-clearing and prescribed burning practices, despite such policies falling outside Commonwealth jurisdiction.

Secrets and Lies: how franking credits stole the tax bonanza

Thanks to franking credits, the $52 billion in tax paid by Australia’s largest corporations is not actually received by the Tax Office.Upon releasing its report, the ATO’s Deputy Commissioner Rebecca Saint did note the “significant increase of $6.6 billion in tax payable” by large corporations to $52.3 billion. There was SILENCE all round.

Perhaps it was because a slew of the world’s largest corporations were still paying zero income tax in Australia. There was nothing from US oil giant Exxon, despite its $9 billion in revenue, nothing from Chevron either, or Rupert Murdoch’s News Australia Holdings again this year; nothing from a bunch of coal giants, still relentlessly chewing through tax losses from Australia’s overly generous tax regime.
Credit is also due the Government. Although, under former PM Tony Abbott, it originally claimed there was no need for a Senate inquiry; multinational tax avoidance was not a problem, it soon changed tack and reformed. But there is a long way to go to achieve tax fairness.