Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Tonight the Prime Minister will give his Point Piper neighbours, who earn more than $300,000, a tax cut of $2,600 a year. But in the electorate of Bass in Tasmania, 82 per cent of workers will get absolutely nothing. How is it fair that the Prime Minister gives his Point Piper neighbours a massive tax cut, whilst the average workers in Bass get absolutely nothing?

Mr Nikolic interjecting —

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

The member for Bass will cease interjecting.

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

The honourable member's question reminds me of the member for Reid's fine performance on 7.30 the other night, in which he observed that the Labor Party was so economically illiterate that they were not able to mount a credible class war. The question from the honourable member, which is an example of what we are going to hear a lot more of between now and the election, underlines the fundamental fact that Labor has nothing to run on except a class war, envy and attacks on the banks, companies and business—attacks on anybody except its own vested interests in the trade union movement. Well let me tell the honourable member—and she was kind enough to refer to the suburb in which I live, Point Piper—I do not think there are a lot of owner-driver truck owners there living in my street.

Mr Mitchell interjecting—

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

The member for McEwen is warned!

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

I suspect there are not. But you know something: your party put 50,000 of them out of work, and thousands of them live in Labor Party electorates. It is the Labor Party that is denying to people on average earnings the ability to save and invest and get ahead. Of course, in terms of my affluent neighbours, many of whom—most of whom, perhaps—have substantial investment income, they will not be interrupted by the Labor Party's plans. They will be fine. The people that the Labor Party professes to care about have been abandoned—abandoned in their policies, abandoned in their government and abandoned when many of them were leading the trade unions who failed so dismally to represent those people.

Let me say this: the budget we are presenting tonight, the budget the Treasurer is going to bring down tonight, is one that will drive jobs and growth in our 21st century economy. It will ensure that we have a tax system that is sustainable, is fit for purpose, meets our needs in the 21st century and is fair. Everything we commit to—whether it is in health, whether it is in schools, whether it is in roads, rail or water—will be fully funded. We will do that without raising taxes as a percentage of GDP. We will do that as we bring the budget back into balance. We will do that as we deliver the growth, the jobs, the responsibility and the prudence that Australia's future demands and the Australian people expect.

Ross Vasta (Bonner, 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 the government's action to ensure multinational companies and individuals are paying the right amount of tax? How does this compare with other proposals?

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

I would very much like to thank the member for Bonner for his question, because he understands that this government has been acting to ensure that multinational companies and high-net-worth individuals are paying the right amount of tax in Australia. This side of the House can be trusted because we act. The other side is all talk.

The opposition had six years in government, and what did they achieve on this? Virtually nothing. We have been in government for under three years, and we have a very long list of achievements when it comes to acting against multinational companies that are trying to avoid their tax. Let us go through them. We passed legislation to tighten the thin capitalisation rules to stop multinational companies claiming excessive tax deductions. We designed and we implemented the multinational anti-avoidance law to stop multinationals with global income of over $1 billion from artificially avoiding a taxable presence in Australia. We doubled penalties for multinationals caught avoiding tax.

What did those opposite do? What did they do? It should be noted that those opposite, those in Labor, voted against this bill. We have given the Australian Taxation Office greater access to multinationals' transfer pricing policies, their income and the tax paid across the entire groups' operation, through new country by country reporting requirements. We have legislated to give force to a double tax treaty with Switzerland that allows the exchange of information between tax authorities of each country to ensure that there is not tax evasion. We have enacted legislation for the common reporting standard to detect those who are trying to hide money in overseas accounts. We on this side have established the Serious Financial Crime Taskforce, a multi-agency task force that goes after those people who are avoiding or evading their tax. Under this government, we have ensured that the ATO numbers in their public group and international business line have grown. They are higher than they were under Labor. It is going after those people who are avoiding their tax.

On this side, we get angry when people are not paying the right amount of tax. We get angry when multinational companies are not paying the right amount of tax. The Labor Party claim that they are going to do something, and they claim that that something is going to be worth billions of dollars. But they have not released their modelling, they have not released their assumptions, and I call on them to do that now. Why won't they release their assumptions? Well, I think we know why. Last night we found that there is a $20 billion hole in their tobacco policy. That is why they are not prepared to release their modelling. That is why they are not prepared to release their— (Time expired)