Stephen Jones (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

When this matter of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Combating Illegal Phoenixing) Bill 2019 first came before the House we moved some amendments. We moved them again upstairs and we welcome the fact that the government has accepted the amendments after discussions with me and my office.

The bill deals with phoenixing. It's a serious issue. On a weekly basis members of this place have walking through their doors small businesses who have been done over by unscrupulous actors. We want to close that down and we want to work with the government to ensure that we can close it down. We are sceptical that the measures within this bill will do the job that's needed. When the bill first came before the House we moved an additional schedule, which went to the provision of director identification numbers.

Between that time and now, the government, which didn't support our amendments on director identification numbers in the House, after a period of consideration moved its own bill in relation to registries which would provide for the introduction of director identification numbers. This is the real gain: being able to track down directors who are recidivists in this area, who go from one company to another and put in place strategies which are specifically designed not only to defeat their creditors but to defeat the Australian tax office as well. We welcome the fact that the amendments have been agreed to and we call on the government to get its skates on in relation to the other matter.

Question agreed to.

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