Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

We should all pay our fair share of tax: I think everyone in here agrees on that. With a progressive tax system in Australia, it is only fair that low-income Australians pay a lower rate of tax than high-income Australians or wealthy Australians who pay a higher rate of tax. That is what the basis of a progressive tax system is. The Greens would obviously like to see higher income Australians taxed at an even higher rate. We have had policies in place for a buffer tax and a millionaires' tax and we have opposed tax cuts to wealthy Australians.

While we have this matter of public interest from One Nation today, let's be very clear: in this 46th Parliament, the Labor and Liberal parties, along with One Nation, supported tax cuts to the wealthiest 20 per cent of Australians. While the Greens thought that was disgusting and a sellout of the battlers that One Nation purport to represent, we do agree with One Nation today on the simple proposition that multinational corporations are not paying their fair share of tax. In fact, we can especially agree on the fact that it is not fair for some of the biggest and most profitable companies in the world to pay no tax at all. In fact, by coincidence, it was just reported in New Zealand today—and I am sure Senator Dastyari is on it, because he has been tax watcher for some time—that Apple have paid no tax—