Sue Lines (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Australians can smell a rat a mile away and they have well and truly smelt a rat in relation to multinational tax avoidance. Wage earners in Australians cannot avoid their tax; most do not want to as most Australians recognise that tax revenue contributes to hospitals, schools, roads, public transport and so on—the general wellbeing of our community. Why is it that our Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, and his government want to shield multinationals, want to shield private companies when it comes to transparency on tax? This is something the Australian public has called for. Why is it that they want to continue to protect the big end of town?

I do not believe there is any justification for private companies with over $100,000 million in revenue in any given year being shielded by the Turnbull government. Why should these companies not be held to account through proper scrutiny and transparency? How dodgy is this secret list? Surely, one of the companies on the now public list presents a conflict of interest for the whole of the Turnbull government. Turnbull and Partners is one of the companies on the secret list, and the sole directors are listed as Lucy and Malcolm Turnbull. Then, once the list becomes public, and only then, suddenly the PM says he has requested to come off the list. Good on people like Mr Turnbull making money, but it well and truly smacks of self-interest and a very, very big conflict of interest that Mr Turnbull and his government are hell-bent on protecting the Prime Minister and his partner Lucy Turnbull and others on the list.