Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Go for it? I briefly touched on this earlier—that is, the government's position with reference to phoenixing with the powers available to them that already exist. In wrapping up, we have 6,000 known phoenix operators. The government can put a number on them, so we know how many there are. We also know there are 7,500 to 9,000 directors involved in phoenixing. So why is it that the department, the government, Treasury, the Australian Taxation Office or ASIC, with the powers that are available to them at the moment, which are underutilised, is allowing these repeat offenders to turn around and start trading the next day by getting access to another tax file number. I just think that it is a simple remedy and the way that the bill presents at the moment, I do not believe that the coalition will be supporting it.

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