Elizabeth Watson-Brown (Ryan, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move the amendment as circulated in my name:

That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House notes that:

(1) one in three of Australia's largest companies paid zero corporate income tax in the 2023-24 financial year;

(2) Labor and the Coalition have created a tax system where a single nurse or teacher paid more income tax than fossil fuel corporation Adani, streaming giant Netflix or the parent company of Optus, Singtel; and

(3) calls on the Government to:

(a) introduce an excessive corporate profits tax to make sure big corporations pay their fair share of tax; and

(b) extend the ban on supermarket price gouging to corporations across the economy".

The Greens will be supporting the Corporations (Review Fees) Amendment (Technical Amendments) Bill 2025 as it fixes a technical inconsistency to ensure certain fees collected by ASIC are valid. However, it is telling that when Labor mentions the word 'corporations' in a bill, it is to fix a technical error and is not the bold reform this country desperately needs.

The most recent ATO tax transparency report found that one in three of Australia's largest corporations, including fossil fuel, gambling and airline corporations, paid zero corporate income tax in the 2023-24 financial year. This means that a single nurse or teacher in my electorate of Ryan paid more income tax than fossil fuel corporation Adani, streaming giant Netflix or the parent company of disgraced telco Optus, which is Singtel. The amendment I have moved calls on Labor to support the Greens' push to impose an excessive profits tax on corporations. We took this policy to the election. A 40 per cent tax on the superprofits of Australia's largest companies would ensure that corporations pay their fair share of tax so we can properly fund the services people need, like affordable housing and expanding Medicare to include dental and mental health.

During the election campaign, Labor finally got on board with the Greens push to ban price gouging, at least in the supermarket sector. This is a good thing, a great thing, but it needs to apply right across the country and right across the economy. Supermarkets are not the only corporations that are pushing up prices to increase their own profits. The cost of insurance, mortgage payments and flights are through the roof and are definitely contributing to people's struggles in this cost-of-living crisis. This is why the Greens amendment also calls on Labor to implement an economy wide ban on price gouging. Experts, including the former head of CQC, Professor Allan Fels, have recommended a ban across the economy. No other international jurisdiction, including the European Union and the United Kingdom, have a ban on price gouging that singles out one sector.

It's your wealth and they're taking it from you. It's time to take it back. Taxing big corporations, taxing billionaires fairly, is not asking for handouts; it's people asking simply to keep hold of some of their own wealth, some of their own money. Every time you get price gouged for groceries at Coles and Woolies, that's your wealth being taken out of your hands by ultra-wealthy corporations. When you're in a mountain of debt for your first home and you're paying exorbitant interest to the bank, that's your wealth being siphoned off into record bank profits. When our gas, which we all own, gets ripped out of the ground for free and exported for massive profits, that's our wealth going to ultra-wealthy investors. As wealth accumulates further and further at the top, the big corporations and billionaires naturally consolidate their control over our political and economic system. No wonder it's getting harder and harder to get ahead.

One in three big corporations pays no tax. The wealth of Australian billionaires is increasing at a staggering rate. In 2024, their wealth increased by $3.2 million every single hour. It's time to make them pay their fair share. People aren't stupid. It's a controversial statement sometimes in this parliament, isn't it? But it's true. This Labor government wants to tell you that everything's fine, that all we need is a few tweaks here and there. But if you get to the end of a fortnight and you have far less in your bank account than you used to have, you're not falling for that. If you're shocked by your weekly shopping bill, if you can't buy a house no matter how hard you work, you are not falling for that.

People know that things are getting harder and that someone's at fault, but now the entire establishment is trying to shift blame onto migrants. Well, they're wrong. This is the fault of decades of privatisation, deregulation, tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy by both Labor and Liberals. The number of billionaires in Australia doubled over the last decade, and one in three big corporations pays no tax—wealth flowing upwards, out of your pockets.

It's time to turn the page on this hopeless politics. We all share more in common with a migrant than we do with a billionaire. We all deserve a decent, comfortable life, and Australia can afford it if we take our wealth back.

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