Australian Parliament Sports Club saga: what counts as lobbying?
What counts as ‘lobbying’? That’s the central question at the core of the Australian Parliament Sports Club saga, the company organising social sport at Parliament House — paid for by sponsors, who in turn get to play alongside politicians and political staffers, building vital relationships during sitting weeks. According to the government’s definition, the Club is not a lobbying organisation and has been removed from the lobbyists register. CEO of the Club Andy Turnbull provided Crikey with a lengthy statement defending his operation… after kicking out former Wallabies captain and Senator David Pocock for questioning the legitimacy of the Club at senate estimates. So does it pass the pub test? Crikey’s media reporter Daanyal Saeed joins the podcast to unpack the Parliament Sports Club lobbying saga, from beginning to end.Read more:Australian Parliament Sports Club de-registered as lobby group amid MP outrage (including Andy Turnbull’s full statement to Crikey)The gambling lobby has infiltrated social sports at Parliament HouseGambling not as serious as cigarettes, PM’s adviser tells reform advocatesOn gambling, Australia is a collection of banana republics — while our cowering government watches onGet the headlines they don’t want you to read in Crikey’s free newsletter: https://www.crikey.com.au/newslettersCrikey’s independent journalism is supported by readers — 98% of our revenue comes from our subscribers. We’re not accountable to billionaires; we’re accountable to you. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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24:29
This is officially* Australia’s worst company
It’s been a terrible year for corporate incompetence, misdeeds and thievery. But amongst all this bad business behaviour, is there a way to objectively determine which company is the worst of them all? Yes, according to politics editor Bernard Keane. So he devised a scoring system and applied it to 58 of Australia’s biggest corporations.This week we awarded the Alan Bond Award for Corporate Misconduct to [SPOILER!]Keane joins the podcast to explain the logic behind his scoring system, the rationale for Crikey’s final ranking, and why Australia’s economy is so vulnerable to these toxic oligopolies.With Qantas, News Corp, Woodside, Google, Crown, Optus, PWC, Hancock Prospecting and Lockheed Martin all jostling to be the best of the worst, listen to find out exactly how we split the hairs. *According to Crikey!Read more:And Australia’s worst company is…Read about our criteria for the award hereThese are Australia’s worst industriesWho’s responsible for our dud companies? Bad management, bad governments — and usGot a tip about bad business behaviour? Contact us securely.Get the headlines they don’t want you to read in Crikey’s free newsletter: https://www.crikey.com.au/newslettersCrikey’s independent journalism is supported by readers — 98% of our revenue comes from our subscribers. We’re not accountable to billionaires; we’re accountable to you. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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31:42
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31:42
Blair, Ellison, Zuckerberg, Trump… and Albo? Big tech owns politics now
Tony Blair wants to give Larry Ellison the full NHS data set, to “power AI”. Donald Trump is making trade and tariff threats on behalf of American tech billionaires. And when Mark Zuckerberg wanted changes made to Australian policies, he just called then treasurer Josh Frydenberg direct. Big tech is now inextricable from politics. How did it happen? Crikey's politics reporter Anton Nilsson joins the podcast to discuss his part in the global investigation uncovering exactly how big tech shapes legislation, litigates against governments, and deploys its influence to avoid regulation.Read more:Tony Blair is a tech evangelist with a lot of power. Insiders are worriedRead the draft of Tony Blair’s plan for Gaza, in full‘Australia’s example has spread’: Inside big tech’s global playbook to stop news media bargaining codesInside the US lobby group banking on the $6.7 trillion future of data centresHere’s 20 questions for Google that remain unansweredRead the full Big Tech’s Invisible Hand seriesGet the headlines they don’t want you to read in Crikey’s free newsletter: https://www.crikey.com.au/newslettersCrikey’s independent journalism is supported by readers — 98% of our revenue comes from our subscribers. We’re not accountable to billionaires; we’re accountable to you. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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21:59
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21:59
The 1950s “Red Scare” is back, baby!
Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert cancelled. Journalists fired by right-wing media oligarchs. A president — and the institutions that support him — silencing political dissent. The US has indeed returned to the 1950s, when McCarthyism became a nationwide witch hunt for communists and “subversive” ideology.And it’s catching: the Red Scare-esque hysteria over political speech is evident in Australia, with campaigns against critics of Israel, climate activists and progressive voices supported by government crackdowns. Crikey’s reporter-at-large Charlie Lewis joins the podcast to explain the striking parallels between McCarthyism and the fraught political discourse of 2025. Read more:Welcome to the New McCarthyismAlways partisan, the Supreme Court has contorted itself into the shape dictated by Donald TrumpHow the authoritarian playbook creates a far-right media for the Five Eyes worldPaul Robeson, the ‘Last Tour’ and Australia’s lost historyCharlie Kirk’s martyrdom in the US is to be expected. Here, it’s bafflingSegal’s antisemitism plan would be the deepest intervention in Australian universities since FederationGet the headlines they don’t want you to read in Crikey’s free newsletter: https://www.crikey.com.au/newslettersCrikey’s independent journalism is supported by readers — 98% of our revenue comes from our subscribers. We’re not accountable to billionaires; we’re accountable to you. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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31:53
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31:53
How politicians take a “trust me, bro” approach to transparency
What if we told you that US politics is more transparent than Australian politics? Case in point: we know that Gina Rinehart donated money to Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s legal defence fund. But how much? The Senator doesn’t have to say.Sean Johnson, founder of Open Politics and author of this week’s Rinehart donation scoop, joins the podcast to explain the many ways politicians can hide assets and keep potential conflicts off the register of interests. With so many loopholes, exemptions and no consequences for failing to disclose, the system is best summed up as, “trust me, bro” — but Johnson has ideas for how we can fix it. Read more:The company they keep: Where does your MP invest their money? Search our databaseGina Rinehart among slew of people bankrolling Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s defamation defenceLandlord List: See how many properties your local MP ownsNothing can force politicians to disclose their conflicts and benefits. That’s a problem.Get the headlines they don’t want you to read in Crikey’s free newsletter: https://www.crikey.com.au/newslettersCrikey’s independent journalism is supported by readers — 98% of our revenue comes from our subscribers. We’re not accountable to billionaires; we’re accountable to you. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Cut Through is Crikey’s spin-free analysis of Australian news, politics and power. Each week we break down the biggest news stories, stripping away the noise to bring you the information that really matters. Join us every Friday to get your talking points delivered the Crikey way. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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