Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, the Commissioner of Taxation, Mr Jordan, has described the Cayman Islands as a tax haven. Is this the government's position?

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would say to the honourable member that, as he well knows, there are many countries that are in jurisdictions that can operate as tax havens, including countries in our region. As far as the Cayman Islands is concerned, to save the honourable member time, and for the build-up of this, I just want to make this very clear. When I became a minister, all of my investments were approved under the Ministerial Code of Conduct by the secretary of Prime Minister and Cabinet. In order to avoid conflicts of interest, almost all of my and my wife's investments—and they are all disclosed—are in overseas managed funds, which means that I and Lucy have no say in which single-name companies those managed funds invest in.

Thousands of managed funds, well over 10,000 or 12,000, with investors outside of the United States are registered in the Cayman Islands, with the result that the income of the fund is taxed in the hands of the investors in their own home jurisdictions. So the fact is that all of my or Lucy's income from investments, including funds which are registered in the Cayman Islands, is taxed in full in Australia.

Government Members:

Government members interjecting—

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

Members on my right! The minister for immigration! The member for Aston!