[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":144},["ShallowReactive",2],{"active-categories":3,"blowouts":28,"start-here":83,"start-here-stories":103},[4,6,8,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27],{"category":5},"follow-the-money",{"category":7},"cost-of-living",{"category":9},"government-waste",{"category":9},{"category":9},{"category":7},{"category":7},{"category":9},{"category":9},{"category":5},{"category":9},{"category":9},{"category":7},{"category":9},{"category":9},{"category":9},{"category":7},{"category":5},{"category":7},{"category":9},{"category":9},[29,39,49,58,66,75],{"path":30,"title":31,"category":9,"date":32,"blowout":33},"\u002Fstories\u002Fbom-website-96-million-one-year-on","One year on: the BOM website that cost $96.5 million, not $4 million","2026-10-24",{"project":34,"originalCost":35,"currentCost":36,"announced":37,"note":38},"BOM website",4100000,96500000,"2025","$4.1m was the figure first given to the public.",{"path":40,"title":41,"category":9,"date":42,"blowout":43},"\u002Fstories\u002Fcross-river-rail-cost-blowout-19-billion","Cross River Rail was sold as a $5.4 billion project. The government now says it costs $19 billion","2026-10-25",{"project":44,"originalCost":45,"currentCost":46,"announced":47,"note":48},"Cross River Rail",5400000000,19041000000,"2017","Queensland Government figure (Oct 2025). It includes 25 years of tunnel maintenance and network works; Labor disputes counting them.",{"path":50,"title":51,"category":9,"date":42,"blowout":52},"\u002Fstories\u002Fhunter-class-frigates-27-billion-three-ships","Hunter-class frigates: sold as nine warships for $35 billion. We're now paying $27 billion for three",{"project":53,"originalCost":54,"currentCost":55,"announced":56,"note":57},"Hunter-class frigates",35000000000,45600000000,"2018","2020 Force Structure Plan estimate for nine ships. The program is now six ships; close to $27bn is allocated for the first three, including the Osborne shipyard.",{"path":59,"title":60,"category":9,"date":42,"blowout":61},"\u002Fstories\u002Finland-rail-cost-blowout-45-billion-parkes","Inland Rail was sold as a $10.7 billion project. It now costs $45.6 billion, and stops at Parkes",{"project":62,"originalCost":63,"currentCost":55,"announced":64,"note":65},"Inland Rail",10660000000,"2015","Both P90 estimates for the full Melbourne to Brisbane line. Only Beveridge to Parkes is now being built.",{"path":67,"title":68,"category":9,"date":42,"blowout":69},"\u002Fstories\u002Fnorth-east-link-cost-blowout-26-billion","North East Link was sold as a $10 billion road. It now costs $26 billion",{"project":70,"originalCost":71,"currentCost":72,"announced":73,"note":74},"North East Link",10000000000,26100000000,"2016","Victoria's December 2023 estimate. Includes the Eastern Freeway and M80 upgrades added since.",{"path":76,"title":77,"category":9,"date":42,"blowout":78},"\u002Fstories\u002Fsnowy-2-0-cost-blowout-25-billion","Snowy 2.0 was sold as a $2 billion project. It could now cost $25 billion",{"project":79,"originalCost":80,"currentCost":81,"announced":47,"note":82},"Snowy 2.0",2000000000,22200000000,"Target cost. Up to $25bn with contingency; transmission not included.",{"id":84,"extension":85,"meta":86,"stem":87,"stories":88,"__hash__":102},"startHere\u002Fhome\u002Fstart-here.yml","yml",{},"home\u002Fstart-here",[89,91,93,96,99],{"path":76,"why":90},"How a $2 billion announcement in 2017 became one of Australia's most expensive blowouts.",{"path":30,"why":92},"A weather website that cost 23 times what Australians were first told.",{"path":94,"why":95},"\u002Fstories\u002Fato-tax-transparency-2024-25-companies-paid-no-tax","More than one in four of the biggest companies paid no income tax. What the ATO's own data shows.",{"path":97,"why":98},"\u002Fstories\u002Fprofit-shifting-money-trail-chevron-rio-tinto","Two real cases that show, step by step, how a profit moves offshore.",{"path":100,"why":101},"\u002Fstories\u002Fpower-bills-rebates-ended-prices-falling","Why your power bill went up in a year prices were said to fall.","W7QSwWHd2Oz8LJ96v1To35BH28m5dd_bZKpN2NMk_04",[104,114,122,130,138],{"path":94,"title":105,"description":106,"date":42,"category":5,"author":107,"image":108,"imageAlt":109,"bigNumber":110,"bigNumberLabel":111,"readingTime":112,"featured":113},"1,149 of Australia's biggest companies paid no income tax last year","The ATO's latest tax transparency report covers every company earning more than $100 million. More than one in four paid nothing. Here's what the numbers show, and why the tax office says it's not always a scandal.","Aussie Outrage","\u002Fimages\u002Fato-building-canberra.jpg","A multi-storey Australian Taxation Office building in Canberra's city centre, with a car park in front","1 in 4","Large companies that paid no income tax in 2024-25",7,false,{"path":100,"title":115,"description":116,"date":42,"category":7,"author":107,"image":117,"imageAlt":118,"bigNumber":119,"bigNumberLabel":120,"readingTime":121,"featured":113},"Power prices 'fell' this year. So why is your bill bigger?","The regulator cut its benchmark price by a few per cent in July. But the government rebates have ended, and the rises of 2022 to 2024 haven't gone anywhere. Here's what's really happening to your power and heating bills.","\u002Fimages\u002Felectricity-pylons-gregadoo.jpg","Two electricity transmission pylons in a green paddock under a blue sky at Gregadoo, NSW","18-22%","How much higher the typical household power bill was in NSW, Victoria and SA, year on year, in the September 2025 quarter",6,{"path":97,"title":123,"description":124,"date":42,"category":5,"author":107,"image":125,"imageAlt":126,"bigNumber":127,"bigNumberLabel":128,"readingTime":129,"featured":113},"How to move a profit offshore: the 9% loan and the Singapore hub","Two real cases, one decided in court and one settled with the tax office for about $1 billion, show how multinationals can shrink an Australian tax bill. Follow the money, step by step.","\u002Fimages\u002Fsingapore-financial-district.jpg","The towers of Singapore's financial district seen across Marina Bay","~$1bn","What Rio Tinto agreed to pay the ATO to settle its Singapore marketing hub dispute",5,{"path":76,"title":77,"description":131,"date":42,"category":9,"author":107,"image":132,"imageAlt":133,"bigNumber":134,"bigNumberLabel":135,"readingTime":136,"featured":137},"Snowy 2.0 was sold at $2 billion in 2017. Snowy Hydro's new target cost is $22.2 billion, up to $25 billion, and first power is now 2029. How it blew out.","\u002Fimages\u002Fsnowy-hydro.jpg","Pipelines run down a hillside to a power station on the Snowy Mountains Scheme","12x","Snowy 2.0's possible final cost compared with the 2017 price tag",9,true,{"path":30,"title":31,"description":139,"date":32,"category":9,"author":107,"image":140,"imageAlt":141,"bigNumber":142,"bigNumberLabel":143,"readingTime":121,"featured":113},"The weather bureau's redesign launched days before a wild storm weekend, confused farmers, and cost 23 times what Australians were first told. Then the same contractor won more work.","\u002Fimages\u002Fbom-berrimah-radar-darwin.jpg","The white dome of a Bureau of Meteorology weather radar on a tower at Berrimah, Darwin","$96.5m","What the BOM website really cost, after the public was told $4.1m",1793586229976]