The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has called for the winding back of negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount as the government prepares to hold its economic reform roundtable this month. 

The union’s call adds to mounting pressure from politicians, economists, think tanks, housing advocates and other organisations and experts demanding housing tax reform.

Everybody’s Home spokesperson Maiy Azize said ending property investor tax concessions would be good for housing affordability, wealth equality and productivity. 

“The union movement is showing real leadership by calling for property tax breaks to be wound back. Workers across Australia are being priced out by investor breaks, so the union’s push for reform makes perfect sense,” Ms Azize said.

“These tax breaks most benefit those who don’t need it, while the majority of hardworking Australians pay the price. Billions of taxpayer dollars are lost every year to these tax breaks that are making housing more expensive for everyone - and making inequality worse

“Everyday workers are being pushed to the brink because of Australia’s housing crisis, forced to live further away from their jobs and forgoing the basics just to afford a roof over their heads. Regional employers are also struggling to attract workers because there are not enough affordable homes.

“A productive workforce needs safe, stable, affordable housing. You can’t improve productivity without addressing the housing crisis. Ending these tax breaks is a crucial part of the solution. Ending unfair investor tax breaks will take heat out of the housing market and improve the budget bottom line meaning more funds can be spent on productive investments, like building more social housing.

“Poll after poll shows more Australians are open to winding back investor tax breaks because they know it’s unfair and unproductive. We’re seeing more politicians, economists, think tanks, unions and other organisations calling for reform.

“This month’s economic reform roundtable offers the federal government a critical opportunity to take decisive action on housing and end unfair investor tax breaks for good - it can not afford to let this chance slip away.”

www.everybodyshome.com.au

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TODAY, officers from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Services Australia executed search warrants at four properties across Western Sydney associated with individuals allegedly involved in an identity, tax and welfare fraud syndicate targeting innocent Australians.

The ATO-led operation, which commenced in October 2024, has identified four individuals who are alleged to have engaged in an array of offences, including tax fraud, identity fraud, welfare fraud and money laundering. 

The alleged fraud involved the distribution of scam emails to unsuspecting Australians which contained links to websites that, when clicked on, enabled the fraudsters to gather their personal information and take over their identity. 

When the ATO’s systems identified the fraud pattern, the syndicate is alleged to have then turned to recruiting its victims to become complicit money mules, so that it could continue the fraud.

During the searches, officers found multiple devices containing personal identifiable information and documentation that did not belong to the offenders that could allow them to fraudulently access taxpayers accounts.

The syndicate didn’t confine its wrongdoing to Australians. The individuals are alleged to be part of a sophisticated offshore criminal syndicate that specialises in identity takeovers, romance scams and money laundering, through international money transfers and cryptocurrency transactions. 

ATO Deputy Commissioner and Serious Financial Crime Taskforce (SFCT) chief John Ford said this early intervention would protect many more Australians from having their personal information stolen and used by this syndicate to commit fraud in their names.

"Through the warrant activity today, we are sending a clear message to the community: our approach to fraud is unwavering and we will hold these individuals to account. Engaging in offences such as these carries a penalty of up to 20 years imprisonment," Mr Ford said.

"The information and capability sharing between our partner agencies means we are able to track down syndicates like this at the source, disrupt the activity and ensure they face the full force of the law.

"We have also bolstered the strength of our security systems and ATO online services to stop fraud before it happens."

AUSTRAC gets involved

AUSTRAC acting national manager for law enforcement, Markus Erikson, said AUSTRAC was able to provide crucial financial intelligence to the ATO so it could investigate fraudulent activity.

"AUSTRAC works with Commonwealth partners and law enforcement agencies providing financial intelligence to help identify and track down entities that are directly controlling money mule networks," Mr Erikson said. 

"In this instance AUSTRAC also shared, with the ATO, additional mule account data observed in other crime types to assist with understanding the extent of fraudulent activity."

ATO said people should be aware of what information they shared and to never click on a link from a text or email asking for personal information. Once the scammers have personal information, they can access bank accounts, sign in to myGov accounts, steal money and commit fraud in the victim's name.

The new protective features on the ATO app, such as real-time messages and quick account locking, are now an extra safeguard that people can add in keeping personal information safe. It can be downloaded from the app stores.

The SFCT brings together the knowledge, resources and experience of relevant law enforcement and regulatory agencies to identify and address the most serious and complex forms of financial crime. SFCT's message is clear to those who evade or cheat the tax system: there is no place to hide.

For more information about the SFCT, visit www.ato.gov.au/sfct.

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THE Department of the House of Representatives is pleased to announce that following a competitive open tender process, Y Australia has been selected as the delivery partner for the National Youth Parliament to be held in Canberra in August 2026.

The National Youth Parliament will bring together 150 senior school students, each representing one of Australia’s federal electorates, for an immersive five-day (four-night) experience in Canberra.

The program will provide Youth Members with a unique opportunity to explore aspects of the role of a Member of Parliament and to learn about parliamentary processes, including how bills are drafted, debated, and passed into law.

Y Australia is a nationally recognised leader in youth civic engagement, with more than 40 years of experience delivering Youth Parliament programs across the country.

Y Australia CEO Alexandra Ash said, "This partnership is based on a strong foundation of delivery and experience – the Y has been running Youth Parliaments across the country for decades. We are very pleased to be working with the Department on a National Youth Parliament in Canberra."

This civics education program will engage young people in democratic processes. A department spokesperson said it looked  forward to working with Y Australia in its delivery.

www.aph.gov.au

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DATADOG INC, the monitoring and security platform for cloud applications, has announced its recent inclusion on the S&P 500 Index.

Datadog’s addition comes as it continues to innovate across its product portfolio in AI, observability, security, log management and more. The S&P 500 is widely regarded as the best single gauge of large-cap US equities, tracking the stock performance of 500 leading US companies.

“Joining the S&P 500 Index is a significant milestone for Datadog and is a testament to the work of our employees, collaboration with partners, and above all, our relentless focus on meeting the complex needs of our 30,000+ global customers,” co-founder and CEO of Datadog, Olivier Pomel said.

“That said, we’re only getting started and it is still early days for cloud adoption and AI transformation. We’re all hard at work to solve the hardest problems our customers face and help them succeed in this new world.”

Datadog joins the S&P 500 during a period of strong financial performance. For the trailing 12 months ending March 31, 2025, Datadog reported US$2.8 billion in revenue, growing 26% year-over-year.

To support its 30,500 customers worldwide as of March 31, 2025, Datadog continues to rapidly add to its product portfolio.

At its annual DASH conference in June, the company unveiled more than 400 products, capabilities and features, including launches in LLM Observability, agentic AI, security, log management and the announcement of its Internal Developer Portal.

Datadog is the observability and security platform for cloud applications. Its SaaS platform integrates and automates infrastructure monitoring, application performance monitoring, log management, user experience monitoring, cloud security and many other capabilities to provide unified, real-time observability and security for our customers' entire technology stack.

Datadog is used by organisations of all sizes and across a wide range of industries to enable digital transformation and cloud migration, drive collaboration among development, operations, security and business teams, accelerate time to market for applications, reduce time to problem resolution, secure applications and infrastructure, understand user behavior and track key business metrics.

www.datadoghq.com

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