Cameron Thompson (Blair, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Can the Treasurer inform the House what steps the government is taking to bolster enforcement of Australia’s tax and financial laws against cross-border exploitation?

Peter Costello (Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Blair for his question. Today, the government has announced that it will allocate another $305 million over the next six years to a multi-agency operation directed at bolstering enforcement of Australia’s tax and financial laws against cross-border exploitation. The money will proceed under the codename Operation Wickenby. This cross-agency cooperation plan will involve the Taxation Office, the Australian Crime Commission, the Australian Federal Police, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions and the Australian Securities and Investment Commission.

I am advised by the Commissioner of Taxation that, as a result of a joint investigation between the Taxation Office and the Australian Crime Commission, including the execution of search warrants and unannounced access visits in June 2005, information has been obtained about the promotion of and participation in tailored international tax schemes. These arrangements are alleged to have had at their heart attempts to create fictitious deductions or to conceal income.

Operation Wickenby will be directed at enforcing a number of Australian laws. A wide range of sanctions will be applied, including confiscation of assets using proceeds of crime, criminal and summary prosecutions, actions for breaches of taxation laws and tax assessments. Where breaches of other laws are identified under Operation Wickenby, matters will be referred under law to the relevant agencies. I indicate that this additional funding of $305 million—a very substantive sum over a period of six years—is in addition to the normal funding for these agencies in relation to international matters and it indicates the seriousness with which the Commonwealth law enforcement agencies take this conduct. The resources will be directed at investigating and bringing it to an end and this indicates the seriousness with which it is viewed by the Australian government.