Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Treasury Laws Amendment (Making Sure Multinationals Pay Their Fair Share of Tax in Australia and Other Measures) Bill 2019. It's crucial that some of the largest companies in the world operating here in Australia pay their fair share of tax, just like every other Australian has to. Labor understands the importance of trying to shut down loopholes which allow big multinational companies to send their profits overseas. This bill addresses that, but it could be doing a lot more.

It's crucial that changes to the arrangements for how multinational companies claim tax deductions occur. There needs to be greater compliance work by the ATO to track down and tackle corporate tax avoidance. We must actually crack down on multinational companies using hybrid structures to reduce tax. It's not fair that Australians work hard and pay tax while big multinationals get to play by different rules. Tax evasion is a serious issue that has not been addressed adequately. It's not fair that Australian businesses are paying more tax in Australia than big multinationals. There must be new limits on the amount of debt that companies can claim tax deductions against. Our tax system shouldn't get softer the higher it goes. How much tax you pay shouldn't be decided by how good your lawyers or your accountants are.

Last year, one of the largest companies in the world paid $80 million in Australian tax on local revenue of just over $6 billion. A local retailer, Harvey Norman, paid more tax, $89 million, on a quarter of that revenue. In the last budget, the Liberals handed back more than $1 billion to big multinationals but cut the pension; that's the priority of those opposite. Under the Liberals big multinationals pay less while young Australians pay more for university degrees. We know that big business have those opposite in their back pocket. That's not fair, and it shows just how arrogant and out of touch the Liberals are with the cost of living pressures on Australians.

I want to speak more broadly now about the state of the Australian economy under this government. Currently, the Australian economy is slowing. Economic growth is the slowest it's been in 10 years, since the global financial crisis. Wages are stagnant. There are 1.8 million Australians who are looking for work or more work and can't find employment certainty. Australian household debt is high, and living standards are going backwards. All of these nasty facts are happening under this Morrison government. The balance between economic growth and ensuring low inflationary pressure is a fine art form—an art form that this Morrison Liberal government is failing poorly at. After six years of the Liberals, the economy has slowed substantially, Australians are struggling and the Morrison government has no plan to turn things around. Weak growth like this is an inevitable consequence of a government with a pure political strategy but not a clear economic plan.

Consumer spending continues to decrease, with Australians who are in a position to spend instead making a conscious decision to save. Last week, the Reserve Bank decided to keep interest rates at a record low of one per cent after two cuts in June and another in July. It's also downgraded its economic growth and inflation forecast. The Reserve Bank Governor, Philip Lowe, has said that it is likely that interest rates could fall as low as 0.5 per cent in the coming months and that, if the world moves to negative interest rates, Australia will be forced to consider them.

The global economy is unsettled, with trade tensions between the US and China continuing to drive down stock markets and exchange rates. Furthermore, interest rates being lowered in the US and political instability in Europe are creating particularly fragile circumstances. The Australian dollar has also hit a 10-year low, of US66.77c. Right when Australians need and expect a plan from the Morrison government to get the economy going again, all they get instead is finger-pointing and blame-shifting. Those opposite fail to take responsibility for their own economic mismanagement. They're too arrogant to adhere to the Reserve Bank Governor's warnings. That's how arrogant and out of touch this government really is.

Its economic mismanagement and incompetence have left Australia's economy adrift. Australians are struggling to make ends meet. This government has attacked working people and their living standards. The government could have stopped the penalty rate cut, but they didn't. They could have addressed the wage crisis, but they haven't. Household living standards are declining under the Liberals, with real household median income lower than it was in 2013. When the global economy is shifting and the Australian economy is struggling to keep up, wages are growing at only one-sixth of the pace of profits, with this government presiding over the worst wage growth on record. That's not much of a legacy. Household debt has surged to record levels, increasing by $650 billion under this government to 190 per cent of disposable income.

The economy is floundering, and all this government has to say is, 'There's nothing to see here; it's business as usual.' Business investment is down 20 per cent since the Liberals came to office, and now it's at the lowest level since the 1990s recession. The reality is that Australia was one of the two fastest growing economies in the OECD under Labor and the eighth fastest when government changed hands in 2013. But, under the Liberals, we have dropped to the 20th spot. That's nothing to be proud of. We as a country are going backwards under this government. That's without looking at the debt situation. Gross debt has risen to over half a trillion dollars. To put that into context, that means that debt has more than doubled under the Liberals. And they call themselves the good economic managers! It's a joke, and they need to be called out for it.

Australians are currently feeling that, no matter how hard they work, they just can't get ahead, because their wages aren't keeping up with the skyrocketing energy prices, health costs and food costs—just the basic standards of living. The Morrison government repeatedly assures voters that the economy will remain strong under its government. However, the Morrison government is in denial about the weakness of the economy. You only have to listen to families and to people out in your electorates to know that they're doing it tough. They're doing it very tough. Tasmania has been hit so hard. Our economy is not moving. It's not keeping pace with the wages. Wages are stagnant and housing costs are rising, but people can't get the amount of work that they need and they can't get job security. This is all under the leadership of the Liberals.

The Liberals spend their time playing politics and talking about Labor instead of coming up with a plan to turn the economy around. The government must focus on ensuring lower unemployment and better wages for all Australians. Our economy is stronger when we have more people in work and when those in casual positions or part-time positions can have the hours that they need. The government supported cuts to penalty rates and championed how there were going to be more jobs created in this country. Well, there haven't been any new jobs created; in fact, there are fewer jobs.

This government needs to be held to account. Those on this side of the chamber will always hold this government to account and seek to have the government actually demonstrate to us and to the Australian people that they have an economic plan for the future.