Does it take a thief to catch a thief?
It takes a thief to catch a thief, and so Outsider reckons the Minister for Revenue and Financial Services, Kelly O’Dwyer should be a little more discerning than usual in appointing the Advisory Board to clamp down on the so-called black economy.
O’Dwyer announced the intended establishment of the Advisory Board in late June including the fact that it would be chaired by Michael Andrew, the man who chaired the Government’s Black Economy Taskforce.
Andrew, of course, is a former chairman and chief executive of KPMG and his taskforce made some definitive findings about the way the black economy works in Australia, not least around cash payments – which probably gave rise to the Government’s move to put a $10,000 limit on cash transactions and new rules around Government procurement.
Outsider is comfortable about Andrew chairing the Government’s Advisory Board because he was also the chair of the Australian B20 Working Group on Anti-Corruption and Transparency.
As well, as a Barrister and Solicitor and the former head of a major consultancy such as KPMG, Andrew would know more than most that there are many ways to skin a remunerative cat that do not always equate to 20-minute intervals.
Outsider reckons that given that the Government’s Advisory Board already boasts a lawyer who ran a consultancy, it only remains to find a cash-in-hand tradie and someone who understands “ring-fencing” and “grandfathering”.
In investment as it is in life, for Outsider cash will always be king.
AUTHOR
The Outsider
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