THE WALKLEY Foundation today announced the shortlist for the Walkley Book Award, part of Australia’s most prestigious journalism accolades, the Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism.

The Walkley Foundation has thanked Media Super for its support on the Walkley Book Award. 

The Walkley Book Award celebrates Australian writers who take enduring subjects from news, eyewitness accounts, investigations and history. Their books bring readers immersive detail, clear analysis and new revelations.

More than 50 books were entered this year. Their subject matter ranged from true crime, politics, and war, to memoir and biography.

The 2017 Walkley Book Award shortlisted finalists announced today in Sydney are (in alphabetical order):

• Julia Baird, Victoria: The Queen, HarperCollins Publishers
• Steve Cannane, Fair Game: The Incredible Untold Story of Scientology in Australia, ABC Books/HarperCollins Publishers
• Louise Milligan, Cardinal: The Rise and Fall of George Pell, Melbourne University Press

The judges for the 2017 book awards were:

• Paul Bailey, editor, Australian Financial Review
• Michael Bodey, media journalist and film editor
• Kirstie Clements, journalist & author
• Catriona Menzies-Pike, editor, Sydney Review of Books
• Colleen Ryan, journalist & author
• Susan Skelly, publisher, Excess All Areas
• John van Tiggelen, journalist
• Chris Warren, journalist
• Pam Williams, journalist & author

The winner of the 2017 Walkley Book Award will be announced at the 62nd Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism on Wednesday November 29, at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, thanks to the support of Tourism and Events Queensland. The ceremony will be broadcast live on the Sky News A-PAC channel and streamed on the Walkley website.

The awards will be broadcast live on the Sky News Public Affairs Channel, A-PAC (channel 648), from 8pm AEDT and live-streamed on walkleys.com and a-pac.tv. 

The full list of 2017 Walkley Awards finalists is here.

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FRIDAY, November 10 is International Accountants Day and the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA) is spreading the word to celebrate the immense contribution that accountants around the globe make to society.

“We are very pleased to support the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) initiative to celebrate the role of professional accountants,” said IPA chief executive officer, Andrew Conway.

“There are three million professional accountants around the world who make a significant and positive contribution to their respective local economies.

“The role of accountants as trusted advisers to clients is diverse and the societal impact they have must be respected. Together, they tackle corruption, expand economic growth and positively impact the quality of life for billions of people.

“Our current research is indicating that accountants play a vital role in the life of the small business owner; often in a position to help alleviate day-to-day stressors and improve their mental health status,” Mr Conway said.

 publicaccountants.org.au

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SCANDALS involving the super-rich robbing the world’s poorest of much-needed tax revenues, like those revealed in the Paradise Papers leak, can be avoided if the Australian Government and others take five immediate steps towards tax reform, Oxfam Australia said today.

International tax reforms have clearly failed, with new estimates suggesting that multinational companies artificially shift almost half of their total global profits – 45 percent – to tax havens.

Oxfam Australia Chief Executive Dr Helen Szoke said tax dodging by multinationals in Australia was costing Australia and developing countries billions of dollars, fuelling a global inequality crisis where just eight men have the same wealth as half the world.

“Australian-based multinationals are part of the problem, contributing to keeping the world’s poorest out of pocket as governments balance the budget by raising taxes on people and cutting vital public services,” Dr Szoke said.

Oxfam estimates billions of dollars’ worth of tax revenue is lost in Australia each year because of Australian-based multinationals using tax havens, and the Paradise Papers scandal comes just weeks after the Australian Taxation Office released data estimating multinationals avoided $2.5 billion in taxes in 2014-15.

Dr Szoke said the Paradise Papers – involving the leak of more than 13 million files – revealed the extent to which the super-rich were getting away with rorting the system to hide their wealth and avoid paying taxes in places like Australia.

The onus was now on the Australian Government, and other governments around the world, to do something about it, Dr Szoke said.

“Stopping the tax scandals is not impossible, if the political will is there. Oxfam’s five-point plan spells out exactly how governments can stop them,” Dr Szoke said.

Oxfam’s five-point plan to stop the scandals calls on the Australian Government to:

1. Agree a global blacklist of tax havens based on comprehensive, objective criteria and implement strong counter-measures including sanctions to limit their use.

2. End corporate tax secrecy by ensuring all multinational companies make financial reports publicly available for every country where they operate; and make extractives companies also report on a project by project basis.

3. End tax secrecy for the super-rich by establishing a centralized public register of the individuals who own and benefit from shell companies, trusts and foundations.

4. Rebalance tax deals by making sure tax treaties do not exploit developing countries tax bases.

5. Create a global tax body where all countries can work together on an equal footing to agree the fundamental tax reforms that are needed to ensure the tax system works for everyone.

“The Australian public deserves to have this information made available to them, and the government must put the interests of the public over the demands of the super-rich and big business. It is now time to act,” Dr Szoke said.

www.oxfam.org.au

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THE House Select Committee on Regional Development and Decentralisation will hold a public hearing in Darwin, Northern Territory.

The Chair of the Committee, Dr John McVeigh MP, said, “The Committee is keen to learn more about the issues of importance to the Northern Territory.  We’re particularly looking forward to hearing about infrastructure and the development of northern Australia.”

“The Northern Territory is home to many businesses and its largest industries are construction, mining, public administration and safety, health care and social assistance as well as transport. Darwin also has a significant Australian Defence Force presence, which also employs a large number of residents and the Committee will be very interested to hear how the regions are faring and what can be done to strengthen them”, said Dr McVeigh.

Dr McVeigh indicated that witnesses will include business and community leaders, indigenous representatives, representatives from the arts, local government representatives, and regional development experts.

Public hearing details:

9.00 am to 4.15 pm, Thursday 9 November 2017
Litchfield Room, Double Tree by Hilton, 116 Esplanade Darwin City

The proceedings will be broadcast live at aph.gov.au/live.

For the full program of this public hearing, see the Committee’s website.

Interested members of the public may wish to track the committee via the website. 

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