● Watson Foundation rams Norwegian krill trawler in Antarctic waters   ♦ Murdoch empire holds 70% of print circulation   ♦ Australia gave away $300B in gas — Norway built a sovereign wealth fund   ♦ Kerry Stokes: mining magnate, media owner, political donor   ♦ Negative gearing costs taxpayers $6B per year   ♦ How they killed the mining tax   ♦ The revolving door between politics and media

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THE RORT · THE DRAIN

Corporate

The wealth leaving through the corporate beat.

Gas revenue foregone · since 2022/07/01
A$68,017,708,800
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THE RORT · LIVING MODEL OF POWER · THE DESKDESK LIVE — TRACKING
BEAT / CORPORATEMONOPOLIES, MARKETS, POWER31 INVESTIGATIONS · 5 CASES

Corporate

The companies that shape Australian life. How monopolies form, how markets fail, and who pays when corporations write the rules.

02 / The evidence

The Airline Rort · 8
01The fareAustralia's domestic aviation market is one of the most concentrated in the developed world. Two airline groups control 94–99 per cent of all domestic flights. Load fa…02The duopolyAustralia's aviation market has been a duopoly for most of the past 35 years. The same structure that existed before deregulation returned within a decade of deregulat…03The Qatar blockOn 10 July 2023, Transport Minister Catherine King rejected Qatar Airways' application to almost double its flights to Australia. Qatar found out via media. The letter…04Who owns the airportsAustralia's major airports are private monopolies. They face no competition. They are monitored by the ACCC but not price-regulated. They earn EBITDA margins that reac…05Alan Joyce and the politiciansThe Chairman's Lounge has approximately 5,000 members. Around 90 per cent of federal parliamentarians are among them. Membership is free, by invitation of the Qantas C…06The frequent flyer financial machineQantas Frequent Flyer has 15 million members, about half the Australian adult population. In the financial year to June 2024, the Loyalty division generated A$2.6 bill…07What the media coveredQantas has content partnerships with three of Australia's four major media groups: Nine (AFR, SMH, Age), News Corp (The Australian, Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun), and A…08What would fix itThe reforms that would lower Australian airfares are known. The ACCC has identified them. Independent economists have modelled them. The Senate has recommended them. T…
The Inflation Rort · 8
01The two inflationsIn 2022, Australian inflation peaked at 7.8 per cent. The primary causes were supply-side: COVID supply chains, the Ukraine war, global energy price spikes. The Reserv…02GreedflationGrocery prices rose 24 per cent in five years. The ACCC’s Supermarkets Inquiry found Coles and Woolworths expanded their profit margins during the worst inflation in a…03Why the RBA did all the workThirteen rate rises. Fastest tightening cycle in Australian history. Budget in surplus. Corporate margins expanding. The RBA raised rates because it had to — its manda…04Who rate rises hurtMore than 1.5 million Australian households were at mortgage stress by October 2023. Monthly repayments on a A$500,000 loan increased by approximately A$1,210. Hundred…05Who rate rises helpedWhile 1.5 million Australian mortgage holders were at risk of stress, Australia’s four major banks reported a combined record profit of approximately A$32.5 billion — …06The fiscal tools they didn’t useThe UK introduced a windfall tax on oil and gas companies the same month the RBA began raising rates. The EU deployed a solidarity contribution levy on fossil fuel sec…07The political connectionsThe four major banks donated to both major parties. The fossil fuel companies whose export prices were driving energy inflation donated to both major parties. Woolwort…08The reckoningThe inflation came down. The RBA’s rate rises worked, in the sense that inflation returned to target. This is not contested. What is contested is how the reduction was…
The Roads Rort · 7
01The tollThe WestConnex M4 cost $4.56 in 2017. It costs $10.38 today. Australian consumer prices rose about 28 per cent over the same period. The toll rose 128 per cent. Drivin…02The modelThe toll road concession model works like this: a government needs a road built. It does not want to borrow to build it. It offers a private company the right to build…03Transurban: the monopolyTransurban was founded in 1996 with one road. It now holds full or partial ownership of every major toll road in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Its FY25 EBITDA was A$…04The fuel price cycleEvery week, petrol prices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide follow the same pattern: they fall during the week, then spike on Thursday or Friday, then fall a…05The political connectionsTransurban is a documented political donor to both major parties. The NSW Premier who sold WestConnex was described by academic analysis as selling to ‘one of his part…06Who owns the roadsTransurban’s largest shareholders include AustralianSuper and IFM Investors — the investment arm of the industry superannuation movement. AustralianSuper’s head of inf…08What would fix itThe toll road concession model, as implemented in Australia, produces 75 per cent EBITDA margins, tolls rising faster than wages, and 40-year guarantees on rising retu…
Australia's Gas Heist · 5
01We gave away the gasAustralia is one of the largest LNG exporters on earth. Australians pay more for their own gas than buyers in Tokyo. The companies that take it pay almost no royalties…04Who profitsAustralia’s gas is mostly extracted by foreign multinationals. Their profits flow offshore. The executives running those companies earn millions annually. In one case,…06The east coast gas cartelAustralia exports gas to Japan, where it is resold for profit. It exports gas to South Korea. It exports gas everywhere, and in doing so has created a domestic energy …07The decommissioning rortWhen Australia’s offshore gas platforms are eventually shut down, someone has to pay to remove hundreds of kilometres of pipelines, thousands of wells, and millions of…08How they killed the mining taxIn 2010, a Prime Minister tried to make the mining industry pay a fair price for public resources. The industry spent A$22 million in six weeks. The Prime Minister was…
Media Ownership · 3
01Who owns the news you think you’re readingAustralia has some of the most concentrated media ownership in the world. Three billionaires and a US conglomerate control almost everything you read, watch, and hear.…02The mining company that owns your newsKerry Stokes controls a A$10.74 billion industrial empire selling Caterpillar equipment to mines and holding the largest stake in an oil and gas company. He also owns …03The property platform that owned your property reporterAustralia is in the middle of its worst housing affordability crisis on record. The companies whose media outlets shape the housing policy debate are also the ones mak…

Nobody curates this desk. It is assembled from every investigation that touches corporate — the moment The Rort publishes another, it appears here, and the names that keep surfacing rise on their own.

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