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

I thank the member for his question. I commend the Australian Taxation Office for the extraordinary work that they are doing in ensuring that the revenue base is secure and that we have provisions in place. As we know on this side of the House, we have been increasing the resources of the Australian Taxation Office to ensure that they can pursue these very measures and the increased support we have given them to ensure that we recover debts. It is the same support we have given to the Department of Human Services and other agencies to ensure that we recover the debts of those who might have a welfare debt or something like that, and the same is true for those in the corporate sector. As the Prime Minister has said, it is absolutely critical that we have a tax base that is secure. We would all like the tax to be lower, but all taxes must be paid. My advice, obviously, to those people is to work with the Australian Taxation Office to ensure that they are able to meet their debts.

But the one thing I would not suggest they do is the practice that we have seen from a member of the opposition in the Senate, Senator Dastyari, whose approach to paying debts—we know those opposite seem to think this is about foreign donations; it is not about foreign donations at all; it is about paying a debt. What we know is that Senator Dastyari—Shanghai Sam—

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