Husband, father, journalist
@ABCnews
‘The Business', author. These are my views, not those of work. ziffer.daniel
@abc
.net.au or in my DMs.
#TheBrunx
#Gippsland
Can’t place what you’re feeling? Feeling everything at once, or nothing at all?
That’s okay.
I wrote something about why. I hope it helps. Let me know.
Earlier today I was in a ballroom with the RBA Governor, super fund bosses, financial titans and more, about 400 people all up.
But only the waitstaff, me and one other person I could see were wearing a mask.
Its totally their choice… but it seems like a weird one to make.
It’s been almost a decade since my mate Stella died. I didn’t expect to be so moved when I got to visit her statue in Stawell but it’s just wonderful. If you didn’t know Stella you really missed out! Fierce, funny, glorious. You can learn more about her at
Today, I’ll be voting NO to the ABC’s proposed pay deal. Over-worked staff are increasingly stretched, a smaller group of dedicated people doing more across a greater number of services.
We’re taking this action BECAUSE we love the ABC and working on behalf of Australians
#Qantas
CEO Alan Joyce has told a foreign news service the airline received "very little government support" during COVID, perhaps briefly forgetting the billions of dollars that taxpayers have poured into the airline in recent years.
#auspol
Aiyee!
@AcholArok
and I won an
#MPCQuill
for reporting on Multicultural Affairs (the Victorian journalism awards). It’s only her SECOND TV REPORT. Think about that! Incredible. Thanks to the other nominees, the Gandel Foundation and the
@MelbPressClub
.
#Woohoo
BREAKING: PWC referred to AFP.
Treasury Secretary: “In light of these recent revelations and the seriousness of this misconduct, the Treasury has referred the matter to the Australian Federal Police to consider commencement of a criminal investigation.”
On holiday in Germany.
In the suburbs, next to our friend’s house, is a…. sausage vending machine! For real: a sausage vending machine.
Lift your game Australia!
You couldn't make it up.
Board meetings of the Tax Practitioners Board were held... inside the offices of PwC, EY, Deloitte and KPMG.
If you ever needed an example of the enmeshment of big firms... check this out from
@Anthony_Klan
I… I think my house earns more money than I do, and that's a big problem.
I’m grateful to have somewhere to live, but I think our housing market has some serious issues.
So I made a list.
I’ve been on leave but if I’ve got this right…. Crown has been found unsuitable to run a casino at inquiries in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth, The Star unsuitable to run one in Sydney.
And they all still run all of these casinos in all of these locations.
Super-awkward that our biggest bank is fighting it's own staff about this issue on the same day the CEO is appearing at a parliamentary hearing via videolink... because he is recovering from COVID, a highly-infectious communicable disease.
Not sure how acting PwC CEO Kristin Stubbins can make this assertion about their clients not avoiding tax, given the vigour of gloating in the emails about what had been achieved.
Sen. Nick McKim teeing off on PwC being the internal auditor of Treasury... "A company that’s stolen confidential government information, monetised it to avoid paying tax in Australia, that’s been exposed as having somewhere between a shambolic governance arrangement....
#auspol
A key 2023 political-economic-media-policy barney has been: 'What is driving inflation?'.
The OECD has made the call. It's profits.
(blue is tax, green is profits, red is wages)
#auspol
Secret reports - 2x KPMG, 2 x PWC and 1 x Commonwealth Ombudsman - expose concerns with the $2.3B HomeBuilder program.
Took a long time to get these FOI documents, here’s my summary of the problems. (Docs published in full on Treasury’s website).
#auspol
* A stroke-of-a-pen ministerial decision.
* No industry consultation.
* A $2.5+ billion dollar windfall for private companies.
* A future taxpayer headache.
Don't be scared this story has the word 'carbon' in it. Be amazed by the scale.
#auspol
#ausbiz
1/2 Humbled by the support I received from colleagues in the vote for the ABC's staff-elected director. It's wonderful the position exists and more orgs should have one to get better insight from their workers. Congratulations to
@latingle
who will do a great job on the board.
Great reminder from
@LaTrioli
about the slow, seemingly inevitable decline of the Melbourne Cup as a public celebration. Not even 10-years ago ABC Melbourne would do a full day's outside broadcast (OB) from the track. All day!
Given this front page story on rampant cocaine use at the
#Melbourne
Spring Racing Carnival, I eagerly await the deployment of drug-detection dogs at The Birdcage entrance, similar to what happens at music festivals.
A former staff member at PwC used secret government info. The firm made cash from it.
An incredible story, with huge impact for the consulting firms that have grown to power our public service and the taxpayers that are funding them.
#auspol
#ausbiz
After almost five decades saving lives + helping to keep Gipplanders healthier (more than 750,000 interactions!)… Dad is retiring. This lovely cover story from
@GippslandTimes
in Sale is a great read: all it leaves out is how proud we are of him and Mum.
Many ABC colleagues, and those elsewhere in the media, are subject to gross, unfair and appalling abuse just for doing their jobs.
It's never been okay. I'm glad we're going to be doing more to say more loudly that we won't stand by - we'll push back.
My grandparents survived the Holocaust and built wonderful, Australian lives. If they were still here they’d be shocked and terrified that Nazi supporters are appearing on Australian news shows. I know I am.
It was wrong to have Blair Cottrell on Sky News Australia. His views do not reflect ours. The interview has been removed from repeat timeslots and online platforms.
- Greg Byrnes, News Director
I’ve been to three supermarkets and two pharmacies in the past few days, unsuccessfully looking for hair gel.
If this is a nationwide problem let me tell you for some people this is going to be a substantial problem.
(I'll save you clicking on it - it's not a story but people do get excited by things) Also, please don't tell Baby Liam what he's getting when we see him.
#GoCats
Lisa is beloved in our office for so, so many reasons. Her kindness. The genuine joy she communicates through her work. How she shares her experiences: an inspiration to young journos. And her stand against awful online abuse she shouldn’t have to face. More strength to her. ✊
Lisa Millar's statement on ABC News Breakfast this morning. "Please, make a conscious decision today to be part of the solution."
#InternationalWomensDay
The PwC scandal will keep going.
There's much more to know AND it's come at a time when questions were already being asked about the enmeshment of consulting firms into the public service and onto the public purse.
New revelations in my report today.
* PwC by far the AFP's preferred consulting firm, with 39% of contracts in past two years
* Greens call for PwC to be banned from tax advice
And from tomorrow ATO, Treasury and TPB in front of the Senate.
#auspol
Billions in taxpayer funds. A shadow public service. The firms most people have never heard of that took over government... an amazing
@4corners
from my colleagues, now on iView or you can Read Right Here!
The inevitable - PwC CEO stands down over tax leak scandal.
Statement: "After discussion with the PwC Australia Board of Partners, Tom Seymour is stepping down as CEO, effective immediately. We have appointed our Assurance Leader, Kristin Stubbins, to serve as acting CEO....
THREAD: “What’s Jon Faine *like*?”
It’s the common question I get about the man, who I worked for as senior producer over 7-years. As he leaves in a glorious
#FaineFarewell
I guess it’s time to tell you.
In the
#PWC
scandal, the Tax Practitioners Board disqualified Peter-John Collins for 2-years.
(The maximum penalty is 5). Why?
Peter de Cure, TPB chair tells a Senate committee there was "written acceptance of the inappropriateness of the conduct... and his remorse"
#auspol
@AmyRemeikis
Watch for the "non discretionary" inflation figure. You can stop going out to restaurants and buying new clothes, but you can't change (much) what you spend on housing, food and essentials.
For those asking about the pin I’ve been wearing on my suit lapel during Finance, it’s from the amazing Annemieke Mein retrospective in my hometown of Sale. Worth a visit to Gippsland - both it and the region are amazing!
MELBOURNE: Anonymous city of more than 5-million people, hundreds of communities, spread out 100km from side to side
ALSO MELBOURNE: Hello family friend who I grew up with 200km away from here stepping off a tram right in front of me. Second time this has happened this year!
"..to absolute corruption of the highest order, and they’re providing you as Treasury, and you Dr Kennedy personally as Secretary, advice on governance. It’s absurd, it’s an absurd situation, isn’t it?"
BREAKING: Crown Sydney retains its licence.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but has any casino in Australia lost even a minute of trading due to being found unsuitable to hold a licence, as Crown has in three separate states?
I don't believe so.
So proud of my mate
@AcholArok
getting a
#Quills
nomination (Vic journalism awards) with just her SECOND TV REPORT! That’s incredible! 🙌 Congrats to all the nominees.
I am not a lawyer but I've been reading way too many legal texts for work. This morning my son asked for a glass of water and I said it was "not unreasonable".
EPIC THREAD: Remember the eviction ban that would 'fix'
#COVID19
rental problems? It prevented a surge of tenants being booted, but started a debt-bomb set to explode in September. "The world is going to collapse," a housing expert told me. Here's WHY.
#auspol
#ausbiz
ABC staff don’t enjoy public action - we’re dedicated to our work: informing and entertaining Australians.
This deal would make that harder.
You’ll be seeing a lot of ‘NO’ this week. This is why.
#DontDiscountABC
The laugh/cry insanity of 100s of staff at KPMG cheating on an internal test about integrity, independence and conflicts of interest never fails to floor me. Senate grilling CEO about old scandal right now…
My boss has flown into town for the weekend and Melbourne goes:
- Piss down all day? ✅
- Earthquake ✅
Really looking forward to tomorrow’s locust swarm.
I know the Things Working As Intended is the opposite of news, but my wife just renewed her passport and the fresh one arrived five working days after she put in the form. (She hadn’t paid the extra fee to speed it up). Thanks public service!
As debate rages as to whether a 5.75% pay rise for workers on award wages will be inflationary, a new report for the Governance Institute finds the nation's big business leaders received an average 15% base pay rise, bonuses on top. Via
@mikejanda
#ausbiz
The offer would see our real wages go backwards by thousand of dollars and doesn’t address major issues we want fixed: with pay equality, transparency and progression. Nearly everything staff put to the ABC in negotiations was rejected.
@withMEAA
My take on 2023: the Great Tightening as things got harder at home for most. Includes me living the fantasy of many and yelling at the RBA… and the disappointing reality. Thanks for reading/listening all year and saying hi in person sometimes too!
Just another Melbourne day: having to intervene as officers harass an 80-year-old couple, infrequent travellers, who’ve twice put money on
#Myki
via their PC and made two follow-up calls to enquire as to how to wake it from ‘dormant’. Chasing the big fish, I see
@ptv_official
Been sent this lovely pic from the
#MPCQuills
of me and former boss Andrew Jaspan. No idea what concept I’m trying to get across here, but my colleagues know that… this is my facial expression quite a lot of the time 🤣
📸 Melbourne Press Club
Woohoo!
Another successful FOI application brings forth important information I can share with the public.
It's taken me months, can't wait to open it up... 🤞
Oh....
An absolute champion of and for Australia, we’ll miss
@MaryGearin
in the Melbourne newsroom and at the ABC. Here’s to more big adventures for Mare, who spent hours of her own time supporting and boosting her colleagues. 👊
Some personal news: This Saturday night's ABC News bulletin will be my last. After 30 years on and off at the ABC, I'm calling time.
Like many people, I've been looking at life in a new way since the pandemic 🧵
Off on a summer break, thanks for putting up with me on Finance!
Always a joy to do.
If you need any help with the season, G Flip has DRUMMER, full of wall to wall bangers - incredible. Put it up loud!
One powerful quote from Lakes Entrance CFA. When asked if certain towns are going to be impacted by fires...”from Bairnsdale to Queensland, the whole Eastern seaboard, has either gone or is going to go”.
#vicfires
#ausfires
My
@NBCNews
colleagues and I spent the last month finding the root of America's hottest, dumbest urban legend:
Schools are leaving out litterboxes for kids who identify as furries.
Despite what Joe Rogan says, it's not true.
But its origins are grimmer than you'd ever imagine.
It’s here! My book ‘A Wunch of Bankers: a year in the Hayne Royal Commission’ exposes the madness, lies and corporate savagery from
#BankingRC
. It’s like GIFs... but written down.
Out July 2. Pre-orders: .
I get to meet a lot of great people in my job, but I don’t think my children have ever been so excited as that I know colleague
@AmalM_Wehbe
(ex of our daily must-watch
#BTN
and now smashing TikTok) at the ABC. She’s the best!
Just when you thought the consulting firm scandals couldn't get weirder... this.
Academics testing out AI used it to help write a parliamentary submission about the Big Four and it just made up links and got facts wrong.
A big day for anti-corruption bodies. Laws that stem money laundering will be extended to cover real estate agents, lawyers and accountants.
Our own regulator says more than $1B in dirty money is washed a year: now laws and cash to enforce it.
#auspol
Deeply saddened the Nationals deputy leader would imply city people lack empathy for country issues. Particularly since Ms McKenzie’s primary residence was until recently.... Elwood in inner-Melbourne.
My report inside the pre-election carbon credits deal gifting potentially billions to private firms. FOI documents reveal the Morrison government was warned of “sovereign risk” concerns and that carbon-reducing investment would “effectively cease”.
#auspol
Woodside Energy CEO Meg O'Neill is standing up at the
@PressClubAust
. Confirms the company backs the
#Yes
campaign for a Voice.
"Australia is preparing for a vote this year… Woodside supports the Yes campaign. In my view this would be important step forward in reconciliation."
Remember PwC? Despite multiple on-going inquiries (AFP, Tax Practitioners Board, the Senate) a company they 49% own just landed a $700K contract.
PIC isn't run by PWC Aust and has a clean bill of health from the Finance Dept. The rest? A Xmas deadline...
‘Good Weekend’ is home to some of the best writing in Australia. In its 24-pages this week there is just ONE page of paid advertising.
Please, please, please
#buythepaper
. Journalism needs your support.
TONIGHT! 6.30pm on
@abcnews
channel, my documentary ‘Banking Royal Commission’. I sat here for a year, you only have to do 30-minutes - and you can do it ON YOUR COUCH!
WOW. Stealing is not a crime.
#BankingRC
Commissioner Hayne – "Did you think yourself that taking money to which
there was no entitlement.. raised a question for criminal law?"
Nicole Smith, chair, NULIS: "I didn’t"
The Fin has done some great reporting on what's been a growing scandal for PwC and has raised *substantial questions* about the activities of the Big Four. Columnist
@mrjoeaston
will be coming off a long run-up tomorrow. And with a Senate inquiry underway? Potentially huge.
PwC boss Tom Seymour has stepped down three days after confirming he was linked to a tax leaks scandal that had threatened the firm’s ability to win work from its largest client, the federal government.
Forever New, Lorna Jane, Lovisa, City Chic… brands that talk about empowering women and sell almost exclusively to them.
But they have some of the widest gender pay gaps in the nation. Why?
Roxanne Kelly, Treasury: "We seek assurance about the personnel. We have sought and received assurance from PwC that no member of our internal audit team were involved in the TPB matter"
BIG NEWS: our reports on renting and social media examples have had impact. Watchdog ASIC warns real estate agents - telling tenants to access super - they're giving illegal 'financial advice'... up to 5-years in jail for individuals, $1.2M for companies.
SUNDAY NIGHT TV: SORTED! My 30-minute
#BankingRC
doco 'Banking Royal Commission' is on
@abcnews
channel at 6.30PM. (Then repeated Monday 5.30AM and 9.30PM and on iView).
#appointmentTV
A long life, well-lived, but I'm saddened by the death of Tony Bennett. One of the absolute highlights of my career was sitting in his Central Park-facing painting studio, talking to him for a generous amount of time about his Christmas album... except we didn't just do that...
My
#BankingRC
book 'A Wunch of Bankers' is finally here. (And
@scribepub
MADE ME A GIF!) You can pre-order today like a prudent banker and deduct it this year... or visit your favourite bookstore from Tuesday. I think it's fun, hope you do too.
AU$370 billion - what Australians hold in known tax havens.
AU$11 billion - the amount of tax Treasury lost to multinational profit-shifting in 2020.
The EU Tax Observatory's report shows the gaps. Importantly, it shows what's working and what's next...
Nothing new in this, but if you want to know how the PwC scandal has been making me feel - and the sound it elicits - you might like this from the weekend.
#ausbiz
📢 BIG NEWS ‼️ I’m writing a
#BankingRC
book for
@scribepub
called “Wunch of Bankers”, out next year, about the galling, astonishing, wrenching, impactful stories from the Hayne Banking Royal Commission. More to come...