Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I note that, from 13 to 17 October 2024, I attended the 149th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Geneva alongside Senator Reynolds, Mr Warren Entsch, Mr Graham Perrett and the delegation leader, Mr Speaker, who did an extraordinary job in representing Australia. I just want to associate myself with the remarks of Senator Reynolds. Often, in a cynical world, people don't realise how important people-to-people relations and parliament-to-parliament relations are. In fact, it was remarked in one of our meetings that when diplomatic relations were at a sad point between us and one other country the embassy was actually quite shocked to see how important the relationships between parliamentarians were and how vital they were in rekindling the relationship. It's important work that's done by so many people right across the parliament, and we do it as team Australia. I was very, very proud to be there with such a hardworking group of senators and members.

There were 1,207 delegates at the IPU from 130 member parliaments, and I know from conversations with you offline, Acting Deputy President Sterle, that you also have participated in this august forum. It's an international organisation of national parliaments. The IPU promotes democratic governance, institutions and values in working with parliaments and parliamentarians to articulate and respond to the needs and aspirations of people. It works for peace, democracy, human rights, gender equality, youth empowerment, climate action and sustainable development through political dialogue, cooperation and parliamentary action.

In the IPU Standing Committee on Sustainable Development, I furthered the Australian committee's work here on PwC, shining a light on the practices of multinational consultancies that seek to profit from tax evasion and base erosion profit shifting. At the IPU, I moderated a panel debate on the committee, entitled 'Towards a fairer global financial system: the role of parliamentarians and parliaments in preventing corporate tax avoidance and achieving sustainable development'. Members of the panel included Mr Ben Dickinson, deputy director of the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration; Ms Kalale Mambwe, the project manager of the Tax Inspectors Without Borders initiative; Mr Thomas Beloe, the Director of the Sustainable Financial Hub in the United Nations Development Program; and Mr Ahtesham R Khan, the head of the UNDP Tax for Sustainable Development Goals initiative. And I want to thank our former colleague, former senator Mathias Cormann, for facilitating the engagement with the OECD, who are leading this work around the world. In fact, many of the participants were very surprised to find that they could get the support of Tax Inspectors Without Borders. This is critical for countries where a lot of money has been shifted away, and poverty remains the consequence of that for far too many of our fellow citizens around the world.

During the debate, I heard from countries across the world including Iran, Norway, China, Malawi, Zambia, Canada, Egypt and Thailand, to just name a few, which gives you the sense of how many nations reiterated the necessity of fair and proper taxation and its importance in facing global concerns such as climate change, poverty, hunger and education. Clearly, without funds, governments are powerless to fight these challenges and strive towards the Sustainable Development Goals.

Analysis from the UNDP states what countries could fund if companies like PwC, EY, Deloitte and KPMG were not being consulted by multinationals on how to tax-evade. In South Africa, 3,500 schools or six million HIV treatments could be funded from the $3 billion that is shifted away from that country. In Gambia, 6,500 water wells could be provided for, and, in Brazil, homes for more than eight million low-income families could have been financed. I look forward to promoting that resolution and calling for more action to be taken to ensure further taxation worldwide.

Also, at the IPU, as Senator Reynolds has indicated, I was honoured to be supported by the Australian delegation to take on the role of President of the Standing Committee on Democracy and Human Rights, alongside the vice-president, Mr Torosian from Armenia. I want to congratulate the work of Senator Reynolds, who has led a fine internationally accorded debate on orphanage trafficking, which is traffickers who recruit children from vulnerable families or situations and transfers or receives them into orphanages with the ultimate purpose of exploitation and profit. This document that is now produced from the IPU is really down to her contribution. This is the kind of work we do, and I'm very proud to be associated with it.