The Minerals Council of Australia is advertising that mining companies pay “at least 30 cents of every dollar to government”, rising to as much as 54 cents “once royalties are included”. Except, this is not correct.
As a long-term critic of the Productivity Commission, and someone who has called for their abolition, even I think the Prime Minister’s recent attack on the government-funded think tank was unfair and inaccurate.
On Monday, Australian Energy Producers (AEP) - the lobby group representing the foreign owned gas giants that export 80% of Australia’s gas - welcomed the Coalition’s announcement to help them export even more of Australia’s finite gas resources by cutting environmental protections and increasing subsidies.
After years of scandals, it’s time to break up Australia’s ‘big four’ consultancy firms.
On this episode of Follow the Money, Josh Bornstein and Skye Predavec join Ebony Bennett to discuss Australia’s scandal-plagued big consultancies, the impact of governments’ “orgy of outsourcing” to these firms, and why breaking up the ‘big four’ is the best way to prevent future misconduct.
This episode was recorded on Wednesday 2 September.
More Fool Me: How the gas industry tricked Australia by Richard Denniss, the latest edition in the Vantage Point series, is available now.
Use the code ‘FOOLME’ on a four-edition Vantage Point subscription to receive a free copy of Richard’s book, Econobabble.
Guest: Josh Bornstein, Director, Corporate Regulation, the Australia Institute // @joshbornstein
Guest: Skye Predavec, Researcher, the Australia Institute // @skyelark
Quality research, analysis, explainers and factchecks from experts you can trust.
Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director, the Australia Institute // @ebonybennett
Show notes:
Break up the Big Four by Josh Bornstein, Skye Predavec and Anara Watson, the Australia Institute (August 2026)
The KPMG scandal: We have seen this show before by Josh Bornstein, The Point (July 2026)
Theme music: Pulse and Thrum; additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
We’d love to hear your feedback on this series, so send in your questions, comments or suggestions for future episodes to podcasts@australiainstitute.org.au. Subscribe to Follow the Money on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you get your favourite podcasts.
