Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Hansard source

You have got 20 minutes. Good, I shall listen intently to Senator Ludlam, on behalf of the Greens, telling me why the multinational coal companies are exempted from this tax, or perhaps I am misreading it. This bill—the bill we are voting on—clearly says ‘if you are an individual’. As Senator Cash very perceptively pointed out, too, the bill goes on to say that you do not have to pay:

(2) ... if you are a member of a class of individuals specified in a legislative instrument made by the Minister for the purposes of this subsection.

(3) The Minister may only specify a class of individuals for—

that purpose—

if the Minister is satisfied that the class was affected by a natural disaster that happened in Australia ...

That gives a lot of power to the minister. Taking the example to the nth degree—and I am sure this would not be allowed to happen in Australia—does that mean that the minister could say, ‘If you are a class of people that happen to belong to a union then you don’t have to pay’?