Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer update the House on how the government is acting to improve integrity in Australia's taxation system? And how is the government's Tax Integrity Package, announced in the budget, working to combat fraud?

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

I thank the member for his question and his keen interest in ensuring that our tax system has integrity. He will know that it has been this government that introduced the multinational anti-avoidance laws which already, in this financial year, will be clawing back some $2.9 billion from multinational companies. This is the legislation that was opposed by the Labor Party. I do not know which multinationals they were acting for in opposing this legislation, but they opposed it, and this legislation is already yielding some $2.9 billion in additional tax liabilities, coming into the tax coffers of this country, because of the action taken by this government.

But in this budget we have gone further, and we are acting further. Our Black Economy Taskforce is addressing the cash economy, and we have accepted the first tranche of recommendations from the Black Economy Taskforce, which includes ensuring that payments made to contractors are reported and outlawing the manufacture, distribution, possession and sale of technology that suppresses the sales and income received by contractors and others. We have abolished all capital gains tax exemptions for foreign investors in residential real estate in this country. We have tightened up withholding tax arrangements. And we have restored the caps on foreign ownership of residential real estate that were lifted by the Labor Party when they were in office.

Another thing we are doing is stopping tax fraud in the gold and precious metals industry. We are putting an end to the blatant and criminal tax activity that has already cost taxpayers more than $860 million to date. We read today that the gold-plated fraud which we are acting to stop has wormed its way into the Australian Labor Party. At the last election Labor recruited Simon Zhou, who was reported to have channelled $140,000 from dodgy gold deals into the coffers of the Labor Party. And he was recruited to join the Senate ticket with Sam Dastyari—Shanghai Sam! So, we have Shanghai Sam and a would-be Labor senator—Labor's own Goldfinger—who wanted to become Goldmember of the Australian parliament! It only leads you to wonder: who is the Mini-Me of the Leader of the Opposition over there? And who is No. 2—the Deputy Leader of the Opposition—really working for at the end of the day?

But the real question for the Leader of the Opposition is this: will the Labor Party set aside that $140,000 in a trust account so that it can be accessed by the Australian Taxation Office as a result of their investigations into this gold fraud? Or is the Leader of the Opposition going to hang on to Labor's ill-gotten gains?

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before I call the next question, I just want to make clear to members: on many occasions I have said that members need to refer to each other by their correct titles. That also applies to senators. That is not a widely known fact, but I am making it very clear now that the practice to refer to members and senators by their correct titles is quite longstanding.