Lucy Wicks (Robertson, 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 action the government is taking to crack down on multinational tax avoidance, and is the minister aware of any alternative approaches?

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

) ( ): I thank the member for her question—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Ms Plibersek interjecting—

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

Members on my left won't interject, and the member for Sydney is warned.

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

and I note her very strong and keen interest in this area and her strong support of the Australian Taxation Office and the creation of 600 new jobs on the Central Coast in her area of Gosford. The member knows how important it is to the community that they have confidence in the integrity of our tax system that corporates and multinationals pay the right amount of tax. That is why the Turnbull government has taken strong and decisive action to ensure that we strengthen Australia's multinational tax regime. We have enacted the diverted profits tax, the Multinational Anti-Avoidance Law. We have introduced country-by-country reporting regimes and we have also established the Tax Avoidance Taskforce. All are, as the ATO commissioner has said, game changers to ensure that profits that are earned here are taxed here.

As reported in The Daily Telegraph on Monday, as a direct result of our laws—and no thanks to those opposite—38 multinational entities have already had to change their tax affairs; $7 billion of income has been added to Australia's tax base, and that is each and every year; and more than $½ billion in additional GST payments has been secured. The ATO have said that the MAAL was instrumental in closing almost $½ billion worth of tax assessments across the last financial year.

The fact is that those opposite voted against the introduction of the MAAL. They voted against $7 billion of the additional tax base coming to the government each and every year. They voted against $½ billion of GST and at least a billion dollars worth of tax assessments that would never have been if they'd had their way. The Tax Avoidance Taskforce established by this government means that the ATO now has more staff than ever before to look at the affairs of high-net-worth individuals and multinationals. For around 18 months, large corporates and multinationals have been sent tax bills of around $10 million a day, every day.

On the country-by-country reporting regime that those opposite say they care so much about—which was introduced by us—the ATO commissioner has said that it is absolutely transformational. Those opposite have said that they would actually publish the details of this, and the ATO commissioner has said it would 'kill the regime'. We on this side of the chamber believe it is important to have strong tax laws. Those opposite would unpick them. They are a risk to the tax integrity of our laws. They do not support the strong measures we have brought into this parliament, and they should not be trusted. (Time expired)