
Michael West
Michael West is the founder of michaelwest.com.au, focusing on journalism of high public interest. He spent eight years as a commentator with The Australian and another eight years with the Sydney Morning Herald as a journalist and editor,
Michael is a Walkley-award winner and Adjunct Professor at the University of Sydney’s School of Social and Political Sciences.
Michael's recent articles

The Australian's non-exclusive 'exclusive' first published by P&I
When is an exclusive not an exclusive? When it runs inThe Australian. Pearls and Irritations had the real Paul Keating exclusive over the weekend.
Gladys leadership rumours rise as rival Perrottet embroiled in scandal
Is it coincidence that Gladys Berejiklians rival Dominic Perrottet is suddenly embroiled in the Wolf of Wall Street scandal? Michael West investigates NSW leadership tensions and the New Generations Fund.
Rise of independent media
'Rise of independent media' is a panel discussion between investigative journalist Michael West, Crikey editor-in-chief Peter Fray and author and media analyst Margaret Simons and is chaired by the editor for InDaily David Washington. The panel took place at the Adelaide Writer's Week festival on 2 March 2021.
Laughing Stock: Australias new media code rivals our climate policy for absurdity
Google good, Facebook bad. That sums up mainstream media coverage of the Coalition governments bizarre new media code. Thats because Google paid up, Facebook decided it was extortion and called Josh Frydenbergs bluff, banning Australian news. The mainstream media has been corrupted.
Tamed Estate: News and Nines PR and the plight of the (Liberals?) media
Old media caps offannus horribilis2020 with its traditional horrible week.Michael West, standing in forMichael Tanner, looks at the fall of Fairfax, PR masquerading as journalism, who guards the Guardian, Seven News calls for war with China and how Scott Morrisons media team has the game sown up.
The Usual Suspects: oil and gas majors star in Australian tax heist (MWM Dec 17, 2020)
Angus Taylors rescue package for the oil industry is a testament to the ability of large corporations to game governments. The latest Tax Office transparency data shows that oil and gas juggernauts are, again, Australias biggest tax cheats, yet are demanding and getting more public subsidies to prop up their oil refineries.Michael Westreports on the good and the bad in multinational tax dodging land.
Is Rupert Murdoch going bust?
https://youtu.be/es_ERsWB4zQ This video has been reposted fromMichael West Media25 November 2020
Feeding the Chooks: Scott Morrison's marketing triumph over mainstream media complete
Scott Morrison has perfected the art of media manipulation by briefing a select club of Canberra correspondents together, rather than leaking to individual media outlets. Callum Foote and Michael West report on the marketing genius of the Prime Minister and the increasingly meek mainstream media.
Gas Gush: the toadies of mainstream media trot out governments fossil fuel fracking campaign (MWM SEP 15, 2020)
Gas fracking and a new fossil fuel power plant got a big leg-up today as News Corp, Nine Entertainment, ABC News and Guardian Australia faithfully splashed with the latest government gas plan on their front pages today.
Friendlyjordies' interview with Michael West
Earlier this month John and Michael sat down with Friendlyjordies for a long-form interview. Please watch Michael and Jordan discuss Australia's media landscape, lobbying and independent journalism.
Silver Bullet: an elegant cure for Government spending excess (Michael West Media August 5, 2020)
If its good enough for tennis stars and entertainers, its good enough for multinational tax avoiders and consultants.Michael Westaddresses the Senate Inquiry into Finance and Public Administration today.
AI Unveiled: another propaganda service for Defence, big business and the Coalition (Michael West 22.7.20)
Is AI Group just a front for big business and foreign weapons manufacturers?Michael Westreports on the rise of government and business propaganda outfits who are suddenly mute when the subject turns to the delicate matter of who funds them.
Do the grandchildren really pay the debt? The problem with Scott Morrisons plan for recovery, and MMT
Michael West investigates Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) and the false assumption that the national Budget is like the household budget, or a business. They are already creating new money while denying the proposition that creating new money will expand the economy; preferring to punish casual workers and Arts students, and pursue austerity instead.
MICHAEL WEST. The Virgin Brides: fate of airline on a knife-edge as bids lob and cash runs dry (MWM 19.5.20)
The government has tossed $130 billion at business, the corporate largesse is dripping all over the big end of town. Even highly profitable $8 billionproperty developers such as Mirvacare rolling in the free money, yet when it comes to Virgin Australia they are being all punctilious about letting the market sort it out.Michael Westreports on the future of Virgin.
MICHAEL WEST. Virgin Australia: buy the business, dont bail out the shareholders (MWM 02.04.20)
Virgin Australia is pleading for a bail-out twice what its shares a worth. Its wealthy foreign shareholders can afford to pay. Theyve scampered. What is the answer?
MICHAEL WEST. Too Big To Fail: Qantas, the corporate elite and the coronavirus (michaelwest.com.au 17.03.2020)
Alan Joyce is a canny operator. As the ravages of the coronavirus began to hit the airline hard, the Qantas boss announced he would take no salary for the rest of the year; no salary for the rest of the financial year that is. Who will the Government bail out?Michael Westinvestigates Australias institutions that are Too Big To Fail.
MICHAEL WEST.-Ranking Australias billionaires as taxpayers (Michael West Media 28.2.2020)
Community attitudes have changed. But what has not changed, and what must change, is the secrecy around the corporate affairs of Australias wealthiest old family business empires.
MICHAEL WEST.-Who Pays: should ordinary taxpayers foot the bill for bushfires or the fossil fuel giants who pay no tax?
Five of Australia's top coal companies - Peabody, Yancoal Sumitomo, Citic and Whitehaven - racked up $54 billion in total income over the past five years and paid zero income tax in Australia, according to Tax Office corporate tax data. Fossil fuel companies should foot the bill for the fires, not ordinary taxpayers.
The Ultimate Gouge: why Australia, the worlds #1 exporter, now imports gas (Michael West)
What an outrage it is that the Northern Territory doesnt lift its grape production, instead of importing wine from South Australia! And what about those lazy Tasmanians; rather than growing their own mangoes and pineapples they import them from Queensland! Michael West reports on the bizarre claims of the gas lobby.
MICHAEL WEST. Big Four audit firm bust-up (Michael West, 18 May 2018)
Is it possible to amend the rules to stop giving (government) work to tax haven connections? MP Julian Hill posing a question to public service chiefs at a parliamentary hearing into the cost of government. This post by Michael West over twelve months ago is still very relevant.(John Menadue)
Zali Steggall takes on Tony Abbott over hospitals-to-tax-haven deal (Michael West)
Tony Abbott has come under pressure from Warringah independent, Zali Steggall, over the Governments decision to approve the sale of the new Northern Beaches Hospital, and 42 other Australian hospitals, to an obscure company in the Cayman Islands.
MICHAEL WEST, JEFFREY KNAPP. Conflicts of InterestRUs: KPMG pursues PwC back into insolvency (Michael West).
The Big Four, the relentless architects of global tax avoidance, have returned to the insolvency business, despite selling out of it 15 years ago because of overweening conflicts of interest. When it became known last year that the bosses of PwC, EY, Deloitte and KPMG had been getting together for cosy dinners, and given the billions they make from government consulting, Labor asked the competition regulator to investigate cartel behaviour. Nothing much happening there. The Big Four may have begun as auditors, but they are expanding into everything from advisory and consulting to mopping up lawyers and now liquidators too....
MICHAEL WEST Big Four: governments binge on consultants goes ballistic.
The Big Four global accounting firms have banked $3.1 billion in taxpayer income in the past six years for government consulting. Thats three thousand one hundred million dollars in government revenue to just four firms PwC, EY, KPMG and Deloitte for providing advice.
MICHAEL WEST-Dee Why RSL: pokies, prodigious profits and personal tragedy.
Gary van Duinen took his own life after a thirteen-hour binge on the pokies two months ago. His body was found by a walking trail near Narrabeen lagoon. The tragic death of the 45-year old husband and father has cranked up the spotlight once again on Australias predatory poker machine industry and the shameful connivance of governments, pubs and clubs in sharing the billions in loot.
MICHAEL WEST. Exempt: how Defence dodges the taxman (Michael West blog 15.08.18)
Foreign military contractors have been awarded a staggering $73 billion in contracts, apparently tax-free, because successive governments have struck contracts directly with offshore companies, even as far afield as the Atlantic tax haven of Bermuda.
MICHAEL WEST. Good timing: Australia Post in talks to become a bank
The banks will fight it tooth and nail. Australia Post is considering becoming a bank, a move which could deliver significant competition to the countrys banking oligopoly through lower fees and lower-cost mortgages.
MICHAEL WEST. Treasury hides corporate welfare data.
There it was right on cue, at the cusp of the New Year weekend, a government press release about the cost of welfare bludgers trumpeted loudly across the press and the TV news bulletins.
MICHAEL WEST. ATO data dump: naming and shaming the nations biggest tax cheats
The usual culprits are at play. Zero tax on $2.9 billion in revenue from Rupert Murdochs News Australia Holdings, not a zack from Wall Streets cuff-linked freebooters Goldman Sachs for the third year on the trot, same deal for brewing giant SAB Miller and a slew of other foreign multinationals.They are the really powerful foreign agents of influence.
MICHAEL WEST. The Minerals Council, coal and the half a billion spent by the resources lobby
There is no peak body or rent seeker in the country which conducts its business as belligerently, and its proponents would say as successfully, as the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA). In 2010 it ousted a Prime Minister.
MICHAEL WEST. BCA investigation: power of the business lobby in Australia
This is part in a series of investigations by Michael West into Australias most powerful business lobby groups and rent seekers. To begin, we have selected the Business Council of Australia, the most elite and influential peak body of them all. Among the findings, the nations premier corporate lobby group has broken the law at least 11 times in 20 years.
MICHAEL WEST. Why are we still pursuing the Adani Carmichael mine?
Why, if Adanis gigantic Carmichael coal project is so on-the-nose for the banks and so environmentally destructive, are the federal and Queensland governments so avid in their support of it? Adani employs the lobbying firm Next Level Strategic Services.. The director of this lobbying firm is Cameron Milner,who was Bill Shorten's Chief of Staff, former ALP State Secretary in Queensland and who helped run the last election campaign of the Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszcuk. The co-director of the same lobbying firm is David Moore who ran Campbell Newman's successful 2012 election campaign
MICHAEL WEST. Tax base eroded by backdoor deregulation of Australias labour market and jump in foreign contract workers
The biggest failure of public administration since the formation of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1900. Australian Tax Office insider The result of having the wrong system where taxes are too high and a labour market which is over-regulated. Liberal Party insider We are talking about the broad, state-sanctioned, backdoor deregulation of Australias labour market, which has gathered pace as employers increasingly sign up foreign workers, not as employees, but as contractors.
MICHAEL WEST. Goldman Sachs & News Corp tax tricks as Canberra claims battle won
Peering at the local accounts of Rupert Murdochs News Corp and Goldman Sachs is the governments claim to have sorted multinational tax avoidance correct? As they gaze down from their glass eyries, partners of the Big Four accounting firms must be chuckling.
MICHAEL WEST. Gas crisis? Or glut? Why Japan pays less for Australian LNG than Australians do.
It is bizarre that gas customers in Japan buy Australian gas more cheaply than Australians. Some of this gas is drilled in the Bass Strait, piped to Queensland, turned into liquid and shipped 6,700 kilometres to Japan but the Japanese still pay less than Victorians.
MICHAEL WEST. Australia's march to corporatocracy.
Confounding the familiar government narrative of reckless spending binges by Labor, the Coalition actually has the record of greater profligacy when it comes to showering billions of dollars of taxpayers money on external consultants.