Huang Xiangmo pulls nearly $50m out of Australia as tax office chases $140m
"Australia accused of putting coal before Pacific 'family' as region calls for climate change action"
ATO tells court the amount of money transferred offshore by the Chinese billionaire has risen dramatically since an audit began
Ben Butler and Ben Doherty Wed 18 Sep 2019 05.54 EDT
The Australian Taxation Office is chasing Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo through the federal court over a $140m tax bill. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP
The controversial political donor Huang Xiangmo has pulled nearly $50m out of Australia since his permanent residency was cancelled in December, as the Australian tax office chases him over a $140m tax bill.
[...]
Icac has heard allegations that Huang gave the New South Wales branch of the ALP $100,000 – personally delivered in cash in an Aldi shopping bag – in breach of electoral regulations which prohibit property developers donating.
From Hong Kong, Huang has denied being the source of the money but has refused to give evidence to Icac.
Scott Morrison won't attend UN climate summit despite being in the US
"Australia accused of putting coal before Pacific 'family' as region calls for climate change action "Australian dollar decline holds best hope for economy to escape trade war fallout Australia May Well Be the World’s Most Secretive Democracy""
What do Trump and Morrison have in common? Both missing the UN climate summer for a grandiose state function. Quite a state.
Exclusive: PM has signalled Australia isn’t making any new emissions reduction targets, at least at this point
Katharine Murphy Political editor @murpharoo
Thu 12 Sep 2019 04.00 AEST Last modified on Thu 12 Sep 2019 04.53 AEST
Scott Morrison won’t be at the UN climate action summit, sending foreign minister Marise Payne and environment ambassador Patrick Suckling instead. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
Scott Morrison .. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/scott-morrison .. will not attend the UN climate action summit despite him being in America to visit the Trump administration at the time – deploying the foreign minister, Marise Payne, and the Australian ambassador for the environment, Patrick Suckling, instead.
Guardian Australia understands speaking slots at the event in New York on 23 September were reserved for countries announcing new emissions reduction targets or financial commitments to the UN Green Climate Fund – and Morrison has been signalling Australia won’t be going further, at least at this point, than commitments previously announced.
A draft program for the summit, and a list of member states intending to present at the event, seen by Guardian Australia, did not include any reference to Australian participation. Morrison was asked by the Greens in question time on Wednesday whether he would attend the UN summit, and he said Australia would be represented at the event.
Asked by Guardian Australia to confirm whether the prime minister would be the Australian representative, and whether the government would offer any new commitments, a spokesman for Morrison said: “Australia has already outlined our policies to tackle climate change including cutting our emissions by 26-28% and investing directly into climate resilience projects through our regional partners”.
The spokesman confirmed Payne would attend the summit, not Morrison. “The foreign minister, accompanied by the ambassador for the environment, will be highlighting [the Coalition’s previously announced policies] when she represents Australia at the UN Climate Action Summit.”
Morrison will go to New York later in the week as part of his US visit to address the UN General Assembly.
Morrison at the time dead batted what Australia might do at the UN event, but signalled Australia was only engaging on the process to 2030, not on the next round of commitments to 2050 flagged by the secretary general.
Earlier this year, Australian government officials also restated a commitment to “review and refine” domestic policies aligned with the five-yearly review process under the Paris agreement. The Morrison government was challenged by the European Union and by China .. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/18/australia-quizzed-by-eu-and-china-on-whether-it-can-meet-2030-paris-climate-target .. in June about whether Australia could meet its Paris commitments given the trend of rising emissions evident since the repeal of the carbon price, including increased pollution from vehicles.
Australia needs to submit a new pollution reduction goal for post-2030 as part of the “review, refine and ratchet” mechanism under the Paris agreement. In response to questions ahead of a climate meeting in Bonn in June, Australian officials said of refine and review: “This approach will provide for integrated consideration of domestic policy and international targets, and provide guidance for industry about future policy review processes.”
While Australia has made a commitment at PIF to develop a 2050 strategy next year, Morrison has made it clear the Coalition .. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/coalition .. won’t be investing more in the UN climate fund, and will instead pursue investments in climate resilience directly with Australia’s regional partners.
Morrison’s spokesman said Australia was pursuing direct investments because countries in the region had faced “frustrations with the UN’s Green Climate Fund”. Morrison at PIF offered $500m over five years from 2020 from existing aid funds for climate projects.
While the criticism of the government’s current policy offering on climate change is persistent from a range of stakeholders, Morrison declared in parliament on Wednesday Australia had no case to answer. “We are doing our heavy lifting. We are setting our targets. We are meeting our targets. We have the programs in place.”
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