Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: New South Wales Government 2

09 May 2025

Who does this notice affect?

Approved arrangements operators, customs brokers, importers, manned depots, and freight forwarders who are required to book and manage requests for inspections through the Biosecurity Portal using the ‘Sign in with your Digital ID’ (myID) pathway.

Information

Start time:

As of: 23:00 Friday 09 May 2025 (AEST).

Detail:

The Biosecurity Portal – ‘Sign in with your Digital ID’ (myID) pathway is currently…

Source: New South Wales Government 2

12 May 2025

Who does this notice affect?

This notice affects importers of plant products for human consumption (e.g. rice, beans, lentils, dried chilli, cumin and coriander seed), freight forwarders, biosecurity industry participants and accredited persons operating under the department’s approved arrangement class 19.

What is changing?

As advised in…

Source: New places to play in Gungahlin

Jeremy Hirschhorn, Second Commissioner, Client Engagement Group
Speech delivered at the Australian Shareholders’ Association Investor Conference
Sydney, 6 May 2025
(Check against delivery)

Large company investing – what the T(ax) says about the E(arnings)

Thank you for having me here today.

I will firstly give some background as to the health of the Australian tax system, in particular as it relates to large corporations, and the strategies of the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) in further improving that performance.

I am then hoping to highlight to you why you should be interested in the tax performance of your investee companies (and potential signals that further questions are required), as well as some other sources of information which, directly or indirectly, may help in your investment decisions and also when, as investors, you are seeking to influence the behaviours of the companies in which you invest.

Of course, I come here as a mere tax administrator, not as a tax policy maker or a financial adviser, let alone a sophisticated investor, so please take my comments in that context!

The performance of the Australian tax system is fundamentally healthy, but there is more to do

Firstly, the good news is that the Australian tax system is fundamentally healthy from an administrative perspective and compares very favourably globally. This is due in part to a competent and well-resourced administrator (I would say that!), but also due to the fact that most Australians are fundamentally honest, see the relationship between the taxes they pay and the services they seek from Government, and so willingly comply with their tax obligations (albeit not always exuberantly!).

This is not just anecdotal: the ATO dedicates significant resources to estimating the ‘tax gap’, which is the difference between the tax payable according to current law and the tax actually collected. Our most recent estimates (published in our annual report each year) are that the overall system is operating at 90% performance at lodgment and 92.5% after compliance activity.

This also means that the ATO doesn’t just focus on the non-compliant. The ATO puts significant effort into supporting the vast bulk of Australians (from individuals to the largest listed companies) who just want to meet their tax obligations (with as little time, cost and stress as possible) with initiatives like myTax (for individuals with simple affairs), to services for tax agents, to proactive guidance and transparency for the largest taxpayers.

In relation to large business, despite some commentary that suggests otherwise, overall performance actually exceeds the overall system, but this is after significant dedication of compliance resources. Our estimate of compliance at lodgment is circa 92% to 93%, increasing to 96% after compliance activity. By far the major driver of the large market income tax gap relates to international issues, in particular where intra-group transfers are mis-priced. Our medium to long term aspiration is to move this to 96% correct at lodgment and 98% after compliance activity.

Although in a good place, there is more to be done:

• The residual tax gap over the entire tax system is approximately $45 billion, which could pay for a lot of services.
• In relation to large companies, at least until tax performance at lodgment (92% to 93%) is higher than that of individuals at lodgment (circa 94%), ordinary Australians rightly ask the ATO to hold large companies to account (and indeed it is healthy for overall confidence that the ATO maintains vigilance with large companies regardless of performance level).

Social licence and the silent ‘T’ in ESG

Tax is inextricably linked to social licence. In one sense, the tax system is really the ‘sharing rules’ whereby citizens come together to pool resources to fund the things that they cannot achieve by themselves. An individual or company which aggressively avoids (or worse evades) their obligations is effectively repudiating the rules of engagement of that community and puts its social licence at risk.

I refer to a speech by a colleague of mine, Faith Harako, entitled ‘Tax: the silent T in ESG’. In that paper, Faith noted:

• at a societal level, tax pays for a lot of the ‘S’ and ‘E’ in ESG (being environment, social and governance): a company may really focus on its own S and E, but if it is not contributing fairly to the overall society’s initiatives, is it really pulling its weight?
• tax transparency gives confidence to a company’s commitment to the ‘S’
• corporate tax governance is a very important part of any company’s ‘G’.

So, to the extent that you, as investors, consider a company’s ESG contribution as relevant to the long-term healthiness, social licence and investability of that company, it is important not to overlook the ‘silent T’.

Not so relevant today, but Faith also made the point that tax has already addressed many of the challenges of the ‘E’ in ESG and ESG reporting, particularly relating to differences between regimes in different countries.

Warning signs in financial statements

If you are interested in the ESG performance of your investee companies, or merely the maintainability of after-tax earnings (accounting or cash), here are a few things (not exhaustive or prescriptive!) that you may wish to consider:

Low accounting effective tax rate

A low accounting effective tax rate is not necessarily problematic of itself, but it is important to understand what is driving this, for example:

• significant operations in low (headline) tax rate jurisdictions (but even then, can that country maintain low effective tax rates?)
• significant operations in jurisdictions where tax ‘holidays’ are provided (are these maintainable in the longer term?)
• artificial allocation of profits to low tax rate jurisdictions (‘transfer mis-pricing’) (how long before one or more tax jurisdictions challenges this?) (A big clue to this one is where the company mostly operates in high tax jurisdictions but in its tax note has a substantial reduction in effective tax rate ‘due to overseas operations’.)
• significant concessions under incentive schemes (e.g. patent box, research and development (R&D)) (are these schemes stable in the longer term in all jurisdictions?)
• tax arbitrage transactions generating ‘free’ deductions (e.g. intellectual property (IP) migration schemes allowing extra deductions in another jurisdiction for internally generated IP).

Normal accounting effective tax rate, but low cash tax rate

Where a profitable company discloses a relatively normal effective tax rate, but is paying minimal cash tax, it is again important to understand the drivers, some examples being:

• a ‘deferred tax liability’ or ‘DTL’ in relation to income recognised for accounting purposes (but not yet for tax) (if the earnings are not high quality enough for the tax system to tax them, are they high quality enough for your valuation models?)
• a DTL in relation to assets for accounting purposes which have been deducted for tax (unless there is an explicit accelerated deduction regime) (if the tax system thinks the benefit of the asset has been used enough to allow a deduction, what is the quality of the accounting asset?)
• a DTL in relation to profit repatriation from a low tax jurisdiction to a high tax jurisdiction (have profits been artificially allocated to (and retained in) low tax jurisdictions, and is this structuring sustainable?)
• use of deferred tax assets (DTAs) for tax losses (in the best case, the DTAs exist and can be used, but even then the cash flow benefit will be lost when they are exhausted. But how/why did the company generate the tax losses in the first place?).

Disclosure and accounting for tax disputes

We have found that disclosure and accounting for tax disputes is often opaque to investors, with different companies taking different approaches to both disclosure and quantification.

Some things to look out for and perhaps ask for more information from the company:

• a note under contingent liabilities that there is a dispute but that it is not possible to quantify it at this stage
• a part payment of an amended assessment has been paid (usually a ‘50%/50%’), but this is accounted for as a current receivable (effectively assuming that the matter will be fully won by the taxpayer) (the history of the ATO’s disputes with large corporates is that matters, even if settled, usually result in at least the 50/50 payment being retained by the ATO)
• a note that the company has strong legal advice as to their position, and as such has made no provision for the dispute as it is more likely that the company’s position will prevail (again, the ATO’s track record demonstrates that these assertions are often ‘optimistic’)
• whether there are any ‘buffer’, ‘hollow log’ or ‘tax contingency’ provisions embedded in the current tax provision.

Sometimes tax disputes are a one-off but more often they are on an on-going issue (e.g. on-going pricing or mis-pricing of intra-group transfers). In these cases, the ATO will usually only settle the ‘back years’ if the ‘forward years’ are also resolved. This will usually result in increased taxation and a higher effective tax rate going forward.

Sources of insight in addition to financial statements

In addition to financial statements, over recent times we have seen an increase in tax transparency frameworks and reporting standards globally and in Australia. These frameworks provide further information to the public about the tax contribution and compliance of large business.

• Known as the corporate tax transparency data, annually the ATO publishes certain limited details (total income, taxable income and tax payable) of all corporate entities with a turnover of more than $100 million. The ATO publishes contextual analysis to explain the data at a population and industry level. We also update Tax and Corporate Australia, which is a guide about the tax landscape for large business operating in Australia.
• In a similar vein, last year we also published the first annual R&D tax incentive (R&DTI) transparency report providing transparency on the claims made by entities claiming R&D in the 2021–22 income year. Publishing this data encourages voluntary compliance with the requirements of the R&DTI program and increases public awareness of which companies have claimed the tax incentive.
• From mid-2026, we will see a meaningful increase in the level of tax data published in Australia with the first publication of public country-by-country reports. Introduced by the Government as part of its election 2022 election platform, this is a new reporting regime that will see large multinational enterprises publish selected tax information on a country-by-country basis through an ATO facilitated website. This will allow greater visibility of the global activities of multinationals as well as key tax characteristics such as where they book revenues.
• Many organisations supplement public information by voluntarily releasing a Tax Transparency Report. Developed by the Board of Taxation (a separate organisation from the ATO), the tax transparency codeExternal Link is designed to encourage greater transparency by the corporate sector and to enhance the community’s understanding of the corporate sector’s compliance with Australia’s tax laws. A number of organisations can be said to have achieved global best practice with their publications and set the standard for their peers, however take-up has been limited – perhaps an opportunity for an ‘if not, why not?’ question at the next AGM!
• The ATO also voluntarily publishes a raft of information about our programs covering large business. Annually we publish aggregate findings reports for our assurance (justified trust) programs, reportable tax position schedule, advice and disputes. These reports show the level of compliance, prevalence of key tax risks, where we have been able to provide tax certainty for the large market population and insights as to our disputes and how we resolve these. These reports provide deep insights into the state of large business tax compliance and the extent of ATO intervention.

I also take this opportunity to flag one particular piece of information that could be very useful to companies (and potentially their investors) in understanding where they stand on their tax affairs. Under our ‘justified trust’ program, we provide tax assurance ratings to the largest Australian companies, with both detailed findings and overall ratings. Under taxpayer secrecy rules, the ATO cannot separately publish these ratings, but the companies can. As a result, some leading companies are now publicly disclosing their high assurance ratings, providing confidence to stakeholders such as investors, shareholders, customers and employees. Some high-profile examples include Telstra, BHP, Woolworths, Origin and BUPA. Again, as investors (or potential investors) interested in the sustainability of an investee company’s tax settings, you may wish to ask for further information about a company’s tax assurance rating.

Conclusion

In summing up, it is important to understand the starting point, which is that most Australians (including most large Australian companies) are doing the right thing in relation to their tax affairs.

As investors or potential investors, whether a company is meeting its tax obligations goes to its social licence – I would argue that if a company is not contributing fairly to the community in which it operates, its social licence is at risk, perhaps in unpredictable ways.

There are a range of information sources from which an investor can glean information as to a company’s tax performance and I have today suggested a few things that you might be interested in looking at and indeed asking of your investee companies.

Thank you again for the opportunity to present at today’s conference and I welcome your observations or questions.

Source:

Recently women of CFA from all over the state gathered at their respective regional Women’s Challenge Camps to break down barriers and push themselves out of their comfort zones.

Submitted by	CFA Media

Source: New South Wales – News

The single car rollover occurred on Wilkins Highway, Caltowie, near the Caltowie-Hornsdale Road, just before 10.30am on Monday 12 May.

Road closures or diversions are expected to be in place.

Motorists are advised to avoid the area and take an alternate route if possible.

Source: New South Wales Community and Justice

National Road Safety Week 2025

Monday, 12 May 2025 – 10:34 am.

This National Road Safety Week, Tasmania Police is calling for all motorists to drive so everyone survives.
Assistant Commissioner Adrian Bodnar said road safety matters every week, but National Road Safety Week is a chance to highlight the real impact road trauma has on our community.
“Police are out and about on our roads every day and every night, working to keep people safe from harm,” he said.
“Disappointingly, we continue to catch people speeding, drink driving and making poor decisions on our roads.”
“It’s quite simple – these poor decisions are resulting in deaths and serious injuries, and we need the behaviour to change.”
“We know most people obey the rules most of the time, but that’s just not enough.”
“We need people to consistently make good decisions, no excuses.”
“Drive so everyone survives.”
“Anyone who witnesses dangerous driving behaviour should report it immediately to police on 131 444.”
“If it’s an emergency or life-threatening situation call Triple Zero (000).”
“If you can’t report it at the time but have footage, submit it to the police evidence portal online.”
The evidence portal can be found at https://www.police.tas.gov.au/report/

Source: AMP Limited

10 05 2025 – Media release

Joel Edgerton, Lucy McKendrick and Toni Collette of Fangs. 
Australian filmmaker Lucy McKendrick makes her directorial debut with Fangs, a thrilling dark comedy about privilege, power, and dangerous fantasies. Starring Golden Globe nominee Joel Edgerton (The Gift, Zero Dark Thirty) and Golden Globe winner Toni Collette (Knives Out, Mickey 17). The film follows Teddy (McKendrick), the daughter of a private prison mogul, who becomes obsessed with a charismatic inmate, Fangs (Edgerton). Consumed with desire for the self-proclaimed ‘psychopath,’ Teddy risks everything as her life spirals spectacularly out of control. The film is made with major production investment from Screen Australia.
Fangs is produced by Rebecca Yeldham (The Gift, The Motorcykle Diaries) through Ahimsa Films together with Aggregate Films’ Michael Costigan (Hitman, Brokeback Mountain), Charlie Polinger (The Plague), and Truant Pictures’ Toby Nalbandian (Turn Me On). The film will commence production in Sydney on August 4, 2025. Cornerstone is handling international sales and will co-rep the US rights with CAA Media Finance.
McKendrick is an Australian actor and filmmaker who wrote, produced, co-directed with Charlie Polinger, and starred in the short film F*ck Me, Richard, which debuted at SXSW. Lucy and Charlie recently wrapped Charlie’s highly anticipated directorial debut, The Plague, which will premiere in the Official Selection at Cannes this month, in Un Certain Regard.
Screen Australia Director of Narrative Content Louise Gough said, “Fangs has bite in all the right ways – a bold, distinctive feature debut from Lucy McKendrick that we’re proud to support at Screen Australia. The creative team has delivered a sharp, contemporary script, and the powerhouse casting of Toni Collette and Joel Edgerton positions this film for strong international and Australian appeal.”
Rebecca Yeldham and Michael Costigan said, “It’s rare to read a script as entertaining, original, and fearless as Lucy McKendrick’s Fangs. We’re thrilled to support Lucy in bringing this bold, hilarious and timely film to the screen and to launch her debut alongside two of Australia’s most iconic and beloved actors, Toni and Joel.”
Cornerstone’s Alison Thompson and Mark Gooder also commented, “We love the vision Lucy has for her debut feature, and the casting of Joel and Toni is testament to her sharply original and immensely entertaining script.”
Truant Pictures’ Toby Nalbandian said, “We’re incredibly excited to support the debut feature of Lucy McKendrick and to help bring Fangs to life, which promises to be a wild and undeniably entertaining ride for audiences around the world.”
Edgerton is represented by WME and Anonymous Content. Collette is represented by CAA, Finley Management, United Management and Kimberly Jaime at Jackoway Austen. McKendrick is represented by CAA and 42mp, Polinger is represented by UTA and Anonymous Content. Both are represented by Jackoway Austen. Aggregate is represented by CAA and Lighthouse Management.
Production credit: Fangs is an Ahimsa Films production. Major production investment from Screen Australia. International sales by Cornerstone.
FANGS MEDIA ENQUIRIES
Anna Bohlin | Cornerstone Films
[email protected]
Media enquiries
Maddie Walsh | Publicist
+ 61 2 8113 5915  | [email protected]
Jessica Parry | Senior Publicist (Mon, Tue, Thu)
+ 61 428 767 836  | [email protected]
All other general/non-media enquiries
Sydney + 61 2 8113 5800  |  Melbourne + 61 3 8682 1900 | [email protected]

Source: Australian Ministers for Regional Development

The ACCC has been granted leave by the Federal Court to commence legal proceedings against two companies in liquidation, Beacon Products Pty Ltd (Beacon) and Zandox Group Pty Ltd (Zandox), for alleged unconscionable conduct and misleading or deceptive conduct.

The ACCC is also taking action against the director of Beacon, Mr Warren Skry, alleging he was knowingly concerned in the companies’ alleged unconscionable conduct.

The ACCC alleges the companies engaged in unconscionable conduct, including by deceiving customers and exerting undue influence and pressure to make unsolicited sales of printer cartridges and cleaning products to businesses across Australia, in breach of the Australian Consumer Law.

Beacon and Zandox allegedly misled business customers into ordering printer cartridges or cleaning products by falsely stating during unsolicited phone calls that they were confirming an order that had already been made by the business when, in fact, no order had been made.

The companies also allegedly misled some customers into thinking an initial order was an agreement for an ongoing supply of goods or that the customer did not have the right to terminate an agreement for ongoing supply, when this was not the case. The companies also allegedly falsely represented to some customers that they did not have a right to return or receive refunds for unwanted goods.

The breaches of the Australian Consumer Law alleged in this case relate to systems of conduct or patterns of behaviour that occurred over several years, first commencing in November 2016.

“The alleged conduct by Beacon and Zandox targeted many small and medium businesses, including a retirement village, residential care facility, a childcare centre, and farming businesses, misleading them into accepting orders of products they didn’t want or need, and then making it very difficult to return the unwanted goods,” ACCC Deputy Chair Catriona Lowe said.

“We took this action because we were concerned that this type of conduct has the potential to cause financial and emotional stress to business owners and staff.”

In one example of the conduct alleged to be in breach of the Australian Consumer Law, a small business in NSW was sent three deliveries of toner cartridges by Beacon, which the business accepted. A representative of Beacon then contacted the business and requested confirmation of a further delivery of toner cartridges. The business requested that this be the final delivery from Beacon. Beacon continued to contact the business to confirm subsequent orders. It is alleged there was no agreement in place for the order and payment of goods after the initial three deliveries.

The business further contacted Beacon requesting that any future orders be cancelled and, on several occasions, sought to return toner cartridges it did not order or want and sought refunds. Beacon allegedly asserted that the orders were confirmed and authorised by staff of the business, and that they would not take all of the unwanted cartridges back. The ACCC alleges that the business had the right to return and receive a refund for the unordered goods.

The ACCC previously took court action against Mr Skry and his previous company Globex Systems Pty Ltd in 2004 for asserting a right to payment for unsolicited goods and making false representations that businesses had agreed to buy products from Globex when that was not the case.

The ACCC is seeking declarations and penalties against Beacon and Zandox, as well as pecuniary penalties, declarations, disqualification orders, costs and an injunction against Mr Skry.

Background

Because Beacon and Zandox are in liquidation, the ACCC was required to obtain leave of the court before commencing proceedings against the companies.

Beacon and Zandox had liquidators appointed on 20 April 2023 following a creditors’ voluntary winding up decision.

Beacon was incorporated in 2016, initially selling cleaning products and from January 2020 also selling printer consumables. It predominantly sold these products to businesses through telemarketing calls.

Mr Skry has been a director of Beacon from 6 January 2020.

Zandox was incorporated in late 2022. It is alleged that Zandox was essentially as a rebranding of Beacon, selling the same products.

Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services

A 16-year-old male and a 15-year-old female have been arrested in relation to the alleged aggravated robbery and assault of a worker in Nightcliff on Friday morning.

Around 10:40am, the Joint Emergency Services Communication Centre received reports of a disturbance involving multiple people at a service station on Progress Drive.

A number of youths allegedly attempted to steal items from the store with one of the youths throwing cans and bottles at an employee and another youth punching an employee. Both youths ran from the area prior to police arrival.

A short time later, the youths were involved in a violent disturbance at a nearby residence on Progress Drive. Both male youths allegedly unlawfully entered a residence within the area and threatened the occupants before being removed. Later the youths returned and assaulted the same people by punching, kicking and threatening them with a metal bar. Included in the victims of the assault was a government worker.

Territory Safety Division, Darwin general duties and Dog Operations officers responded to the location resulting in the arrest of both youths and a further female who was alleged to be armed with a knife and involved in the incident at the residential premises.

The 16-year-old male has since been charged with:

• Aggravated Robbery

• Assault worker – victim suffers harm

• Armed with an offensive weapon

• Aggravated Assault

• Aggravated Burglary – Dwelling

The 15-year-old female has since been charged with:

• Aggravated Robbery

• Assault worker

• Assault worker – victim suffers harm

• Escape from lawful custody

The 21-year-old female has since been charged with:

• Damage property

• Possess/Carry/Use controlled weapon

The two youths were remanded to appear in court today and the 21-year-old female was bailed to appear in Darwin Local Court on 27 May 2025.

Anyone with information in relation to this incident is urged to contact police on 131 444. Please quote reference NTP2500047909. You can also report anonymously through Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Source: New South Wales Ministerial News

The 2025 Central Victorian Indigenous Film Festival which takes place from May 27 to June 3, during National Reconciliation Week, will celebrate its ninth year with a feast of films, videos and activities at venues in Bendigo, Castlemaine, Heathcote and Yandoit.

This year’s festival showcases an exciting range of activities, discussions and First Nations films, documentaries and videos starring and telling stories about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People from Central Victoria and across Australia

The festival officially kicks off at 4.30pm Tuesday May 27 at Bendigo Library with a Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony.  There will be an official opening, the announcement of the 2025 Koori Youth Flick Fest winners and screenings of entries by all current and past winners.

This year’s festival screenings include documentaries Blak Douglas vs the Commonwealth and The Earth Above: A deep time view of Australia’s epic history, along with films High Ground, Winhanganha, Sweet As, The Moogai and more.

Other activities include the Bridging Now to Next Anti Racism Forum at Bendigo Library, and a Dumuwal Ulumbarra CBD Walking Tour of Bendigo with Djaara Traditional Owners.

City of Greater Bendigo Mayor Cr Andrea Metcalf said National Reconciliation Week has helped shape Australia’s journey towards a more just, equitable and reconciled nation.

“The City is committed to reconciliation and we are again delighted that people can come together to celebrate at the 2025 Central Victoria Indigenous Film Festival,” Cr Metcalf said.

“National Reconciliation Week is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia.”

The theme for National Reconciliation Week 2025 is Bridging Now to Next. The theme reflects the ongoing connection between past, present and future, and encourages all Australians to step forward together.