Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney
Michael West spent two decades working as a journalist, stockbroker, editor and finance commentator before striking out on his own. Having worked for eight years investigating financial markets and big business for Rupert Murdoch’s The Australian and another eight years for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald at Fairfax Media, West has well and truly tested the limits of the mainstream media.
michaelwest.com.au kicked off in July, 2016. Four months later, West was appointed Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Sydney’s School of Social and Political Sciences. The role is to work with the School’s Sydney Democracy Network, particularly addressing money in politics and the intersection between government and big business.
His investigations into multinational tax avoidance were instrumental in establishing the Senate Inquiry into Corporate Tax Avoidance in 2015 and subsequent corporate tax reforms by Parliament. His investigations into “gold-plating” in the electricity sector helped to establish the Senate Inquiry into Electricity Networks in 2014. Prior to the global financial crisis his work in exposing the “financial engineers” such as Macquarie Bank, Allco Finance and Babcock & Brown for aggressive business practices had a significant impact on corporate Australia.
Bottom of the canal: Pfizer's billion-dollar tax ploy
Aug 07, 2017 16:04 pm UTC| Insights & Views Law
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has engaged in a series of paper transactions to create a A$936 million loss in Australia. It is, for all intents and purposes, a billion-dollar exercise in tax avoidance. Pfizer and its...
Chevron: a game-changer for multinational tax avoiders
Apr 24, 2017 12:51 pm UTC| Insights & Views Law
The Australian Tax Office had a superb win against Chevron in the Federal Court last week, but there is something everyone is missing, something that will turn the art of tax avoidance on its head; a game-changer for...
Late payments: the policy no-brainer for business
Mar 27, 2017 14:39 pm UTC| Insights & Views Business
Hammurabi nailed it back in 1772 BC when he declared: The first duty of government is to protect the powerless from the powerful. When it came to common sense, the sixth king of Babylon was an early adopter, earlier...
Australia's march towards corporatocracy
Feb 22, 2017 04:30 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy
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...
Labour can afford to be far more ambitious with its economic policies – voters are on board
Elon Musk vs Australia: global content take-down orders can harm the internet if adopted widely