Sam Dastyari (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am conscious of the time and I am conscious of what has already been said. I want to make sure the government has the opportunity to have its say on this. The Common Reporting Standard is a multilateral policy initiative that has been led by the G20 and the OECD. This bill continues with what has been a lot of work that has already taken place and a lot of initiatives over the past period. It is important that we not look at the Tax Laws Amendment (Implementation of the Common Reporting Standard) Bill in isolation but understand that it is part of what has really been a series of bills and a series of initiatives in this chamber to address some of these taxation issues. I point out that while there has been quite a bit of political disagreement and a bit of rancour about certain aspects of legislation, the Senate itself, all parties in this place, have come at it from a series of genuine but different views that are largely supportive of one another.

It is important to understand that the initiatives here are largely being supported, but there are some differences. Those of us on this side of the chamber want to see the government go further. We would like to see the government go harder. We think there are other initiatives and other steps that can and should be taken that have not been taken. We feel there are good things that can and should be done that have not been done, and in fact there is more low-hanging fruit in terms of legislation. That being said, there are a lot of good intentions and goodwill in this bill, and when we get to the committee stage I will propose some amendments which will go a long way towards improving it. With that, being very conscious of the time, I do want to give the government the proper opportunity to wind up.