Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is something that those on the other side simply do not seem to understand. There is nothing envious about a community wanting to have quality infrastructure, such as a hospital to which they can go when they are sick. There is nothing envious about a community seeking investment in infrastructure so that they can move around freely, have successful businesses, do business and trade, grow jobs, grow our economy and then go home to their family in a reasonable time. There is nothing envious about that. It is about a call for fairness and a fair distribution of opportunity for every single Australian.

But what we see on the other side there is a group of people who are happy to pull down the shutters, to do little deals on the inside with their insider mates, to prop up their own perverted sense of advantage and to shut out the rest of Australia. All of the other workers and all of the other businesses—small, medium and large—do the right thing. They pay a fair share of tax and make a contribution to the country, which is a very significant thing. Those opposite just do not want people who are making an awful lot of money to have to reveal anything of the truth of their earnings to this country and pay their fair share.

Then we have the other fake argument—the 'privacy' argument, that people who earn that much money should be entitled to their privacy. People who are earning $30,000 in the seat of Robertson on the Central Coast could say they need to be able to have their privacy, too, and that the Taxation Office should not look into their affairs. The reality is—