Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Forde for his question. In responding to his question, I repeat and echo the words of the Prime Minister, who has very well put out the case as to how the government has acted to put in place legislation which is now in effect from 1 January to do all of the things the Prime Minister has said. Those opposite voted against it. They voted against it in the other place. They voted against it in this place. They put forward a measure which they claimed—although they will not release their assumptions or costings on it in any way, shape or form—will raise $1.9 billion over the budget and forward estimates.

But they will be pleased to know this: based on what this government is already doing, and has been doing, in the area of combating multinational tax, during the 2015 financial year the ATO completed around 50 audits and 350 reviews of multinationals which raised $2.5 billion—in one year. What this government did was actually produce $2.5 billion in additional revenue by going after multinationals that were not paying their fair share of tax—and that was before the laws were introduced. Now, we have gone from 30 companies—30 companies we were looking at before that legislation—to 80 companies. Let me go further. The ATO still has 45 audits in progress, of which 12 are technology companies and three are in the pharmaceutical industry. The companies under audit are the household names you hear about—Chevron, Origin Energy, GlaxoSmithKline, Apple, Microsoft, Google, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto. They have all reported that they are under audit for these things. In the courts, the ATO is challenging aggressive arrangements. The tax office successfully challenged in court and received positive decisions in respect of both Chevron and Orica last year.

Those opposite gasbag about it, but when it comes to voting on it they vote against it. On this side of the House, we say what we mean; we mean what we say. We put laws into this place which say we are going to make multinationals pay tax on the income they earn. People know that we mean that because we have put the laws in place and the resources into the ATO to make sure they can do just that. Two point five billion dollars in outcomes last year—of getting that revenue out of the multinationals—demonstrates what the government is doing.

We are deadly serious about this. We are outraged, like Australians are. But we are not just going to be outraged about it; we are going to do something about it—and we are doing something about it. We are getting the results, while those opposite just keep gasbagging.

See this speech in context