David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Small Business and Assistant Treasurer. Will the minister update the House on what the government is doing to crack down on those who are not paying their fair share of tax?

Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party, Minister for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to thank the member for Banks for his question. The member for Banks, like so many fair-minded Australians, is rightly angry at the idea that he might have to pay more tax and his constituents might have to pay more tax as a result of someone not paying the tax that they are supposed to pay. It is a real question of fairness. That is why this government has acted to close the loopholes for multinational tax avoidance. That is why we have strengthened the powers of the Australian Taxation Office to enforce the law.

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

The member for Rankin is warned!

Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party, Minister for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is why we have doubled the penalties for large companies, requiring them to pay the tax they have avoided and, on top of that, to pay the same amount again as a penalty. This change that we have made makes Australia one of the toughest countries in the world on multinational tax avoidance.

Opposition members interjecting—

Well may they laugh, but it is no laughing matter. Over there on that side, those in Labor voted against the very legislation that allows the tax office to stop companies from artificially structuring themselves, from moving profits from businesses here to those offshore, to low- or no-tax jurisdictions. For all of their big talk on tax, they put their base political interest ahead of our national interest. They sided with those people who are ripping off the Australian taxpayer. They sided with those people who are hiding the money that should be going to Australian schools, to hospitals and to our Defence Force.

Not only have we changed the law to make sure that we have tougher laws in place; we have made sure that the Australian Taxation Office has the powers and the resources to enforce them. The Australian Taxation Office has expanded its international team. It is now larger than it was under Labor, and we are seeing the results. Already the Australian Taxation Office has raised over $400 million in liabilities and, following the introduction of our law—which they opposed—which came into effect on 1 January this year, the Australian Taxation Office has already identified 80 taxpayers as having arrangements in place within the general scope of the law, and a further 300 that they are profiling. The government's crackdown on these multinationals will raise revenue.

I want to emphasise that it is no magic solution to the budget problem that Labor left us with—with all of the debt that they left us with—nor is it a magic solution to Labor's terminal spending problem. We have acted. Those against us have opposed our action and they should hang their heads in shame.