The Federal Resources Minister, Keith Pitt has today announced $50 million of government subsidies going to oil and gas companies in the Beetaloo basin, Northern Territory (NT).

Some oil and gas companies in the Beetaloo basin use offshore secrecy jurisdictions and shell companies to avoid scrutiny and allow their owners to hide in the shadows

Despite overwhelmingly support in the U.S. in favor of a strong anticorruption rule for oil, gas and mining companies, officials have voted to cut the law and weaken global efforts to stop corruption.

The original 2010 law compels companies in the extractive industries to disclose project-level payments they make to governments in countries where they do business. This led to a ray of sunshine over the notoriously secretive oil, gas, and mining sectors.

Over the weekend, U.S. Congress made history by passing the most significant reform in U.S. anti-money laundering law in decades showing how far behind Australia is in stopping corporate secrecy.

The Corporate Transparency Act will modernise U.S. anti-money laundering laws and shine a light on who owns anonymous shell companies in the United States. The United States is the second most secretive financial jurisdiction in the world.

In response to calls to reduce corporate tax rates and fast track approvals, fund managers Ethical Partners and NGO coalition Publish What You Pay have released new research showing Australian mining, gas and oil companies are falling behind in tax transparency in comparison to the UK, EU and Canada[1].

With the recent focus on mining transparency and industry calls for reductions in corporate tax and royalty rates, advocacy coalition Publish What You Pay has released new polling of 1042 Australians from July 6 conducting by Lonergan Research.

Swiss pass new transparency law for mining, gas and oil companies ‘joining EU, UK, Canada, Norway and US (which is awaiting implementing) to mandate companies to “publish what you pay” at the country and project level.