Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Revenue and Financial Services. Will the minister update the House on recent action the government has taken to identify and crack down on tax crime?

Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party, Minister for Revenue and Financial Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like very much to thank the member for McMillan for his question. He, like his constituents, understands how critically important it is that we preserve our tax base, for the benefit of all Australians. We in this government have made it very clear that hiding assets and not disclosing income offshore is not going to be tolerated by our government. Evading your tax obligations is cheating law-abiding Australian taxpayers. Tax evaders have nowhere to hide.

Just on a year ago, the Minister for Justice and I set up the Serious Financial Crime Taskforce, a multiagency taskforce that brings together our law enforcement and regulatory agencies to make sure that we can detect and combat serious financial crime. Led by the Australian Taxation Office and the Australian Federal Police, in collaboration with our international partners, the Serious Financial Crime Taskforce has had a week of action in relation to the Panama papers. The week of action saw 15 unannounced visits in Victoria and Queensland which involved more than 100 Australian Taxation Office officials. We had three search warrants executed in Queensland, which saw the recovery of documents, electronic documents and 170 kilograms of silver bullion valued at about $150,000.

More than 100 taxpayers have been contacted by the Serious Financial Crime Taskforce through the Australian Taxation Office. They have been told that they will be subject to compliance action, and that may result in them receiving, potentially, criminal prosecutions, going forward. They include high-net-wealth individuals and professional facilitators such as accountants and lawyers.

This has not been the first action of the Serious Financial Crime Taskforce. It already has a significant list of achievements over the past 12 months, including more than 300 audits, more than $130 million in liabilities raised, more than four people who have received custodial sentences as a result of prosecutions, and 19 joint operations that are on foot at this stage.

The Serious Financial Crime Taskforce is the successor to Project Wickenby, which raised more than $2 billion in liabilities and saw more than 46 people prosecuted with criminal convictions, a number of whom were jailed. The government will continue to work with our international partners, with our regulatory agencies and with our law enforcement agencies to make sure that we crack down on tax— (Time expired)