Day 36, and the pond at last performs its Caterist duty ...thank the long absent lord, someone is still thinking of long suffering multinationals, the Chairman and the benefits of taxpayer grants ...

Having just featured that eminent voice of reason, the arm-breaker of the west, the pond was - as a devoted completist - compelled to record the deep thoughts of the arm-breaking Caterists this day ...

It's impossible to underestimate the pond's sense of outrage at the notion that the wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share of tax.

It's just so unfair, so wrong, so damned bloody socialist.

(and the rest of that story outside the AFR paywall here)

Where's the harm in round robins? Isn't that the entire point of having accountants and lawyers?

Surely this is an exemplary way to be a corporation with a sense of community and what constitutes a fair share?

Damn these socialists intent on persecuting the humble and the poor. Is there anyone poorer or more humble than Chairman Rupert?

Here the pond must step in to make an important exception. 

It's true that the welfare system destroys initiative and robs people of the incentive to work, but every so often, it can actually work. Where would the Caterists and the Menzies Research Centre be without a generous taxpayer grant?

Why a stumble bum like the Caterist might well be out on the street, importuning passersby for alms in a way that would be offensive to all civilised people.

Instead the Caterists can lead a productive life scribbling columns for the reptiles of Oz, celebrate the life and work of Ming the Merciless, and work furiously for the re-election of Malware and chums.

At least this shows that on rare occasions the welfare system of grants has a role to play, where it's not just the money that gets used, but it helps in assisting useful lives. Waste? Not a cent wasted!

As for those devious, deviant multinationals, it's simply not their fault. It's the intertubes and the digital thingie wot's done it. Agility, mobility and innovative digital island tax shelters fitting for a modern digital economy ... it makes sense simply not to have any company tax ... a proven methodology for trickle down rhetoric of the idle kind ...

Ah Mark Latham, an impeccable man who never once changed a policy position... will we ever return to the glorious days of Medicare Gold?

For some strange reason, with the Caterists at the lizard Oz, and the arm breaker now employed at Sky and by the Terrorists, the pond was reminded of an old Rowe cartoon ...

Perhaps it's time for an update from Mr. Rowe. Heel, Caterists, heel ...