Andrew Leigh (Fraser, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Yesterday coalition senators in the Senate Economics Legislation Committee backed tax secrecy because, as they state, 'the Australian public has a poor understanding of corporate tax'. Does the Prime Minister agree with his senators that Australians are mugs who do not understand the tax affairs of wealthy companies? How smart do Australians need to be to understand that one in five of these companies pays no tax? Will the Prime Minister dump this policy of secrecy?

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

I thank the member for the question and I thank the Prime Minister for the opportunity to respond.

Mr Champion interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Wakefield will leave under 94(a).

The member for Wakefield then left the chamber.

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

Those opposite seem to want to give large public companies a leg up, because the measure as it is being put forward, and sponsored and promoted by those opposite, will allow large public companies to be able to scrutinise the financial matters of these private companies and be able to reverse engineer the negotiating position that they would be able to walk into a negotiating room with and deal with those large companies. So I do not understand why the member would want to give Coles, Woolies, BHP or any of these other companies the opportunity to give them a leg up in a negotiating position.

Opposition members interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Fraser.

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

They either want to back big business in that way—to be able to put one over on smaller business when they are negotiating these things—or, the alternative is that they just do not have a clue.