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Michael West

Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney

Michael West spent two decades working as a journalist, stockbroker, editor and finance commentator before striking out on his own. Having worked for eight years investigating financial markets and big business for Rupert Murdoch’s The Australian and another eight years for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald at Fairfax Media, West has well and truly tested the limits of the mainstream media.

michaelwest.com.au kicked off in July, 2016. Four months later, West was appointed Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Sydney’s School of Social and Political Sciences. The role is to work with the School’s Sydney Democracy Network, particularly addressing money in politics and the intersection between government and big business.

His investigations into multinational tax avoidance were instrumental in establishing the Senate Inquiry into Corporate Tax Avoidance in 2015 and subsequent corporate tax reforms by Parliament. His investigations into “gold-plating” in the electricity sector helped to establish the Senate Inquiry into Electricity Networks in 2014. Prior to the global financial crisis his work in exposing the “financial engineers” such as Macquarie Bank, Allco Finance and Babcock & Brown for aggressive business practices had a significant impact on corporate Australia.

Bottom of the canal: Pfizer's billion-dollar tax ploy

Aug 07, 2017 16:04 pm UTC| Insights & Views Law

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has engaged in a series of paper transactions to create a A$936 million loss in Australia. It is, for all intents and purposes, a billion-dollar exercise in tax avoidance. Pfizer and its...

Chevron: a game-changer for multinational tax avoiders

Apr 24, 2017 12:51 pm UTC| Insights & Views Law

The Australian Tax Office had a superb win against Chevron in the Federal Court last week, but there is something everyone is missing, something that will turn the art of tax avoidance on its head; a game-changer for...

Late payments: the policy no-brainer for business

Mar 27, 2017 14:39 pm UTC| Insights & Views Business

Hammurabi nailed it back in 1772 BC when he declared: The first duty of government is to protect the powerless from the powerful. When it came to common sense, the sixth king of Babylon was an early adopter, earlier...

Australia's march towards corporatocracy

Feb 22, 2017 04:30 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy

Confounding the familiar government narrative of reckless spending binges by Labor, the Coalition actually has the record of greater profligacy when it comes to showering billions of dollars of taxpayers money on external...

Economy

U.S. Sanctions Target Chinese Refinery Over Iranian Oil Purchases

The U.S. Treasury Department has imposed new sanctions on Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Refinery Co., a major Chinese independent refinery, over its large-scale purchases of Iranian crude oil and petroleum products. The...

US Dollar Weakens as Iran Talks Boost Risk Appetite in Forex Market

The U.S. dollar edged lower on Friday as global investors shifted toward riskier assets, encouraged by renewed diplomatic signals between the United States and Iran. This movement in the forex market reflects growing...

Gold Prices Edge Higher on Weak Dollar but Face Weekly Loss Amid Oil-Driven Inflation Fears

Gold prices saw a modest increase on Friday, supported by a weaker U.S. dollar and renewed geopolitical developments involving the United States and Iran. Despite this slight rebound, the precious metal remains on track...

Oil Prices Steady as U.S.-Iran Talks Ease Tensions Despite Strait of Hormuz Disruptions

Oil prices remained relatively stable on Friday as optimism over renewed U.S.-Iran negotiations helped calm market fears, even as supply disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz continued to support prices. Brent crude futures...

Wall Street Hits Record High as Tech Stocks Surge Amid U.S.-Iran Developments

Wall Street closed at record levels on Friday, driven by strong investor optimism surrounding potential U.S.-Iran peace talks and robust earnings from major technology companies. The stock market showed mixed results, with...

Politics

Federal Appeals Court Allows Texas SB4 Immigration Law Enforcement to Proceed

A U.S. federal appeals court has ruled that Texas can move forward with enforcing its controversial immigration law, SB4, marking a significant development in the ongoing legal battle over state-level immigration...

Pope Leo Calls for Abolition of Death Penalty Amid U.S. Execution Policy Debate

Pope Leo has once again spoken out against capital punishment, urging its complete abolition while criticizing recent efforts by the United States government to expand execution methods for federal inmates. His remarks...

Senate Moves Toward Vote on Cuba War Powers Resolution Amid Trump Military Threats

The U.S. Senate is expected to vote as early as next week on a Democratic-led measure aimed at preventing President Donald Trump from initiating military action against Cuba without congressional approval. Senate aides...

D.C. Flag Mix-Up Before King Charles Visit Quickly Fixed

Washington, D.C. officials briefly displayed Australian flags instead of British flags near the White House ahead of King Charles IIIs highly anticipated visit to the United States, according to the D.C. Department of...

US Freezes $344M in Crypto Linked to Iran Amid Escalating Sanctions

The U.S. Treasury Department has intensified its crackdown on illicit financial networks by sanctioning multiple cryptocurrency wallets tied to Iran, resulting in the freeze of approximately $344 million in digital assets....

Science

China vs. NASA: The New Moon Race and What's at Stake by 2030

The space race is back and this time, its a direct competition between the United States and China for dominance on the lunar surface. NASAs Artemis II mission recently made history when four astronauts flew farther into...

NASA Artemis II: First Crewed Moon Mission Since Apollo Takes Four Astronauts on 10-Day Lunar Journey

NASAs Artemis II mission launched Wednesday, marking humanitys return to crewed lunar exploration for the first time since the Apollo era. Carrying four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft, this historic 10-day mission...

NASA's Artemis II Mission: First Crewed Lunar Journey Since Apollo

NASA's Artemis II Crew Arrives in Florida for Historic Moon Mission

The four astronauts chosen for NASAs Artemis II mission have touched down at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, marking the beginning of final launch preparations for the first crewed lunar journey in over 50 years. NASA...

SpaceX Pivots Toward Moon City as Musk Reframes Long-Term Space Vision

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has revealed a significant shift in the companys near-term space exploration strategy, announcing that SpaceX is now prioritizing the development of a self-growing city on the Moon rather than focusing...

Technology

Judge Dismisses Elon Musk’s Fraud Claims Against OpenAI, Trial to Proceed on Remaining Allegations

A U.S. federal judge has dismissed key fraud claims brought by Elon Musk in his high-profile lawsuit against OpenAI and its co-founder Sam Altman, marking a significant development in the ongoing legal battle. The ruling,...

$16B Michigan Data Center Project Boosts U.S. AI Infrastructure Expansion

Related Digital, a major data center developer, announced on Friday that it has secured $16 billion in financing to support the construction of a large-scale data center campus in Michigan. This significant investment...

U.S. Raises Alarm Over Chinese AI Firms’ Alleged IP Theft Through Model Distillation

The U.S. State Department has launched a global diplomatic effort to highlight what it describes as large-scale intellectual property theft by Chinese artificial intelligence companies. According to a diplomatic cable...

DeepSeek Launches V4 AI Models with Enhanced Reasoning and 1M Token Context Window

DeepSeek has unveiled preview versions of its latest open-source artificial intelligence models, marking a significant step forward in AI performance and reasoning capabilities. The new releases, DeepSeek-V4-Pro and...

Amazon Stock Rises as Meta Expands AWS Partnership for AI Infrastructure

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) shares climbed around 2% শুক্রবার morning after Meta revealed a major expansion of its partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS), signaling strong momentum in the growing artificial intelligence...