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

I rise today to say that the Greens support the Treasury Laws Amendment (Black Economy Taskforce Measures No. 1) Bill 2018, but I note that I will move a second reading amendment when I finish this speech.

We, as a party, have taken tax avoidance in this country very seriously. My previous colleague and leader, Tasmanian Christine Milne, initiated the original Senate inquiry into multinational tax avoidance. That kicked off nearly four years ago. A number of senators in this chamber have been involved in that long-running inquiry. It's still continuing in various forms, but we've managed to get some good outcomes in this place—one is all of us working together on multinational tax avoidance. We still have a long way to go; there are still many more things we have to do. We have to continue to prosecute the case in Senate estimates every time we speak to the ATO, and we need to continue to push for stronger measures to crack down on tax avoidance across the board.

This bill also targets tax avoidance. It outlaws the use of electronic tools that are used by a business to falsify their sales so as to reduce their recorded income and to misrepresent their employee records. The measures in this bill should ensure that more businesses are paying their fair share of tax and paying their workers their fair due. That's ultimately what this is about: it's about making sure that businesses pay their fair share of tax. We, as individuals in this country, all know that if we don't do the right thing in our own tax returns we run the very serious risk of severe penalties. It shouldn't be any different for the corporate sector. We have to make sure that the Australian tax office and our other regulators have the right resources to audit and monitor tax avoidance, and we need to work through international treaties to target some of the biggest tax avoiders in this country.

While we are strictly talking about tax avoidance, or illegal and unethical behaviour, we should also be tackling some of the bigger issues around corporations not paying their fair share of tax, by looking at things like the petroleum resource rent tax. I have said it a million times in this place and I'm going to continue to harp on about this: we can't talk about fairness and equity and tackling inequality in this country unless we talk about tackling the petroleum resource rent tax. Nearly $300 billion in legal tax credits have been granted through a system, a rort, which has been in place in this country for nearly two decades. It allows some of the biggest and most profitable countries on the planet, which happen to be also the biggest polluters on this planet, to avoid paying tax and avoid paying royalties to the Australian people for the resources that they extract from our sovereign nation. In my opinion, that is very low hanging fruit—for the Senate to bring in changes to the PRRT. There are others around this chamber who want to see this happen. We had the specific sub-inquiry into this issue through the multinational tax avoidance inquiry, and it is something which we absolutely need to get on with. Nevertheless, all these challenges face us. Bills like this matter, in the aggregate.

We support this bill, as we do any measures that are genuinely designed to crack down on the black economy. But, if we are going to talk about the black economy and raise these issues in the federal Senate chamber, then we need to talk about money laundering in the bigger context, especially money laundering through real estate. I will use the opportunity provided in this bill today to move a second reading amendment that highlights 12 years of inaction on this issue—12 years of inaction on what is arguably the biggest issue in the black economy. I don't think there is anyone in this chamber who could deny the reason we haven't cracked down on the dark heart of money laundering in this country, and that is that vested interests have lobbied so hard to stop this from happening. I'll be outlining the details in my second reading amendment.

There are a couple of points to note—they are in my second reading amendment, which I hope all senators have had a chance to look at. The explanatory memorandum to the 2006 anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing bill forecast a second tranche of legislation that would regulate real estate agents and a range of non-financial transactions provided by accountants and lawyers. That was in 2006. Twelve years ago that legislation said: 'This has to happen. This needs to go the next step.' Once again, I ask senators to reflect on why we haven't got there in 12 years. While I'm not downplaying the importance of what we're doing here today, the biggest issue in money laundering in this country is still an issue, and there has been no solution and no legislative change that has come before this chamber to propose cracking down on that. There has been a discussion paper, which has been looked at by several governments over the years. I understand Senator Brandis himself wanted to tackle this issue before he finished up as Attorney-General, but it never happened. So, even back then, they were saying, 'We need to go this next step.'

In April 2016, the government released a statutory review of the AML/CTF laws—the anti-money-laundering laws. This review recommended that the government develop options for regulating lawyers, accountants and real estate agents under the act. Exactly 10 years later, the government review recommended that we take action on this issue. The government then undertook consultations on the regulation of lawyers, accountants and real estate agents under the act, and this finished in January 2017 with a promise to act soon thereafter—so 18 months or so ago. But, once again, we have seen nothing since. Action on this issue has been stalled.

In the few seconds that I have left before we move to other items—and I presume I will be in continuation after that, Mr President—I just once again ask the Senate to reflect on why we're having a bill like this before us today and yet the issue that's most critical hasn't come to the Senate in legislation.

I move:

The Australian Greens amendment on sheet 8499 as revised:

Treasury Laws Amendment (Black Economy Taskforce Measures No. 1) Bill 2018

At the end of the motion, add:

", but the Senate:

(1) notes:

(a) the explanatory memorandum to the Anti-Money Laundering and

Counter-Terrorism Financing Bill 2006 forecast a second tranche of legislation that would regulate real estate agents, jewellers, and a range of non-financial transactions provided by accountants and lawyers;

(b) in April 2016 the government released the statutory review of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 that contained a recommendation for the government to develop options for regulating lawyers, conveyancers, accountants, high-value dealers, real estate agents and trust and company service providers under the Act;

(c) the government commenced consultation on the regulation of lawyers, conveyancers, accountants, high-value dealers, real estate agents and trust and company service providers under the Act, and submissions to this consultation closed in January 2017;

(d) the Financial Action Task Force's April 2015 Mutual Evaluation Report on Australia's measures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing stated that Australia is an attractive destination for foreign proceeds of crime, particularly corruption-related proceeds flowing into real estate;

(e) the December 2017 OECD Phase 4 Report on Australia's implementation of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention recommended that Australia address the risk that the real estate sector could be used to launder the proceeds of foreign bribery; and

(2) calls upon the government to introduce legislation that would address money laundering through real estate."