Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The coalition is also not proceeding with Labor's changes to the offshore banking unit regime or the abolition of section 25-90, which allows companies to deduct interest expenses on debt related to foreign untaxed income. According to the government's figures in MYEFO, this will cost Australian taxpayers around $700 million. So while the US is cracking down on people evading tax, the coalition government seems to be doing the exact opposite—indeed, facilitating it.

At the heart of this debate is a discussion about the revenue-raising capacity of the government and its distribution of this finite resource. Governments all over the world, faced with structurally lower revenue bases, are facing the choice of whether to accept this neoliberal dogma and go down the austerity path of cutting people loose and dividing the haves and the have nots, or to get those most able to to do their fair share of the heavy lifting.

Most importantly, we do need to have a broader debate about the role of government which, of course, partly manifests itself in this taxation debate. To this extent, the government has started this debate with its neoliberal, extremist budget. For the record, I take this opportunity to say that I believe that there is such a thing as society, and that there is a major role for government in society. Those opposite say that government should get out of the way so that we are left with a dog-eat-dog, survival-of-the-fittest contest that punishes the weak. I believe that government can, indeed must, be a check on the unfettered power of the strong over the weak.

And so, in supporting the important principles and the intergovernmental agreement that are enabled through this legislation, I also express the hope that it might inspire further action for Australia as a responsible global actor, but also domestically, to ensure that fair contributions are made to support a fairer society.

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