Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Canning for his question. He knows, because he is part of the Turnbull government that is making multinationals pay their fair share of tax in this country. I hear those opposite scoff, but we know that those opposite, the Labor Party, when they were in government did absolutely diddly squat when it came to the issue of making multinationals pay their fair share of tax. Here is the record: this year alone, as a result of the measures that we brought into this parliament, we will claw back $2 billion in revenue from multinationals. That is the advice from the Australian Taxation Office. That is $2 billion that those opposite, the Labor Party, voted against. They came into this place and said they were going to vote against making multinationals pay their fair share of tax. That is important revenue to support schools and hospitals and to pay down the disastrous deficit that those opposite left us through their fiscal mismanagement when they were in government.

Labor did oppose those laws, but the laws that we were able to pass through the parliament gave the tax office the power, the resources and the penalties to get the job done—some $3.7 billion is estimated to be collected as a result of the measures that we have introduced and passed and which were opposed by the Labor Party. There are some 71 audits currently underway, involving 59 multibillion-dollar multinationals. That is the action that the Turnbull government is taking with the powers, the resources and the penalties that we have given the tax office to get the job done. It is having an effect—Facebook are now booking their Australian revenue in Australia and not in Ireland, as was occurring under the laws that were favoured by the Labor Party. On top of that, Google have also changed their arrangements. Chris Jordan, the Commissioner of Taxation, has said multinationals are now:

… abandoning their contrived structures and restructuring to models whereby the sales are booked in Australia.

On top of the measures that we introduced through the multinational anti-avoidance legislation, we have introduced legislation to make sure that people buying things from overseas at a low value will pay GST, just like if you went into a street anywhere in Australia and walked into a shop you would pay GST in those premises. We are levelling the playing field. There is the tax that is now applied to digital services online, and the diverted profits tax, which was introduced in the budget, will come before this chamber again to ensure that it can be passed. We have taken action on multinational tax; those opposite wanted to let multinationals fleece us.

See this speech in context