a probity query, page-18

Do you know this for sure? It might have been part of his package / contract, and he could be just being thrown under the bus to protect a polly who agreed to it in the first place.

Many moons ago the company worked for posted me to the US for 3 years. Part of the deal was that they engaged one of the big accounting firms (I think it was Price Waterhouse) to do both my Australian and US tax returns for that period. I have no idea how much it cost, but I bet they charged a pretty penny. It is quite possible Mr Shipton's contract included similar provisions, and no need to assume this is unreasonable or nefarious.

Point in case: the bruhaha over the Australia Post's boss giving a small number of senior staff a modest $3,000 bonus. (In that case, the issue was not the value of the bonus, but the optics of the pretentiousness of a $3000 watch. If it had been a cash bonus there would not have been an issue).

The real problem with ASIC is years of budget cuts leaving them under resourced and ill-equipped to do their job.