Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

I reject the insinuation at the end there and point out the fact that the Australian tax office does go after—to use your words, Senator Hanson—businesses on a routine basis and, indeed, any other taxpayers on a routine basis, where there is any evidence of fraud. The tax office undertakes routine audit and compliance activity as well, and all of those sorts of activities have the potential not just to look at tax fraud but also, in instances, to look at the administration of the JobKeeper program. I want to assure Senator Hanson that enormous effort does occur there. As a result of their compliance activities, the tax office recoups many billions of dollars for the Australian taxpayer and, of course, where necessary, takes legal action against those businesses—no matter how big they may be—to ensure their compliance with tax rules, grant rules and other things that the ATO administers.