Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Labor will support this motion as amended. The exchange in Senate estimates between Senator Patrick and the Commissioner of Taxation was isolated to an individual entity. We appreciate the Commissioner of Taxation's position in regards to that specific line of questioning by Senator Patrick. The motion as drafted, however, has a public interest rationale. The motion targets a type of behaviour rather than a specific entity. The motion is targeted at a sector, the financial sector, which is under the scrutiny of a royal commission and remains a topic of public interest. The motion also limits the order to documentation relating to firms that have, at some stage in the past 18 years, had a turnover of $100 million or more. In government, Labor legislated for the public release of tax data for public and private firms with revenue of $100 million or greater. The motion as drafted is similar in spirit to such transparency initiatives and, by being limited to large firms, has a public interest rationale.