It has been a year since I first began asking questions in the late evening of estimates on 15 February 2023 about the breach of Australia's confidential information which occurred, and I discovered that the Australian government's plans to crackdown on multinational tax avoidance had been shared over email not just to parties within Australia, but to those around the world as part of the PwC international conglomerate. In the year since that time, our country has laid witness to the grotesque greed, the ethical apathy and the leadership failure. This has allowed not just PwC to manifestly fail in their ethical and regulatory obligations, but this incident has seen the largest firms within the audit and consulting sector all face a renewed and more strident level of scrutiny.
Along with my colleagues from across the parliament, and through the diligent efforts of the media, we have prosecuted these issues and brought the scale of misconduct in this sector to light. In contrast, while the consulting sector, and PwC in particular, seem eager to talk a big game with regard to their supposed desire to reform, the truth continues to tell a different story indeed. Just today it was revealed through the work of Edmund Tadros at the Financial Review that there is an explicit agreement between PwC Global and PwC Australia. Simultaneously a conglomerate and a franchise, this agreement apparently enables the global firm to actively intervene in the affairs of the Australian firm when the internationals determine that the PwC franchise has brought the global brand into disrepute.
This agreement, which has become public in the last 72 hours, enabled the global firm to oust Australian Kristin Stubbins. She is the person who acted as the interim CEO after the resignation of Mr Tom Seymour, also CEO of PwC Australia, who followed in the steps of his predecessor, Mr Luke Sayers, now CEO of Sayers group, who oversaw the ethical and cultural failure of PwC Australia for the period from 2012 and through this tawdry tale. PwC clearly inserted their own trusted actor—his name is Mr Kevin Burrowes—to repair the image of their discredited international PwC brand. They sought to stem the problem here domestically but it seems predominantly on the global stage.
Now I would wholeheartedly agree that the actions of Mr Peter-John Collins and those others directly involved with the tax leak scandal brought not just the firm but the entire profession into severe disrepute. I would, however, argue that this is the primary issue at hand. What seems clear, given Mr Burrowes' explicit installation in PwC, is that he is part of a strategy to protect the firm's global brand. Secondary to that come any changes to culture and practice or ethical standards in the Australian context.
The international dimension of the tax leak scandal is also an issue of deep concern. As the internal PwC emails released by the Senate show clearly, senior members of the PwC firm across the globe knowingly received and planned to utilise Australia's confidential information. PwC and CEO Kevin Burrowes have repeatedly claimed they're simply unable to access and provide the Linklaters legal report, which chronicles this international collusion. But, given the clear and explicit insertion of Mr Burrowes as an actor of the global brand, it appears that his evidence about not being able to access that Linklaters report on the tax scandal is nothing more than a convenient piece of legalistic positioning.
For the now PwC Australia CEO to come before the Senate and withhold relevant details surrounding his own insertion into PwC Australia is not merely an oversight but a direct obfuscation. This is a sector in deep need of reform. The Switkowski report refers to the factors which enabled confidential misuse of government information. (Time expired)
]]>I do remember my first interactions with Senator White at a Labor Party conference some 10 years ago when she and Terri Butler and I were engaged in negotiating the final wording of the affirmative action policy, which has so significantly ensured great participation by women in our party. She was a thought leader, and she was never afraid of the work.
Linda and I worked most closely on the Senate Select Committee on Work and Care, and it was throughout the course of that inquiry that I first had the opportunity to truly bear witness to Linda's deep commitment to ensuring and furthering the rights of Australian workers. In her 10 years at the ASU, Linda was a formidable champion for the union movement. Beyond her obvious competency, I also came to know a woman of unmatched integrity, compassion and good humour. Many of the recommendations that Linda most strongly advocated for back in late 2022 when the select committee inquiry was undertaken—such as 26 weeks of paid parental leave and the right to disconnect—have since been legislated. It's a testament to Linda's forward-thinking nature and her status as a deeply respected parliamentarian in this place. I'm deeply honoured to be taking over Linda's role as chair of the Senate Standing Committee on the Scrutiny of Delegated Legislation and will endeavour to emulate the collaborative, careful work for which she was so well regarded in this committee.
I close with words from Linda herself:
Getting justice for people has dominated my working life. How that happened and why it happened goes to a series of experiences, decisions and opportunities, some within my control and some not, which have determined the life I have led to date.
I'm glad the opportunities led her to this place and to our association.
]]>I note that the Minister for Finance, who's the acting leader here in the Senate here this week, doing a great job, my colleague Senator Gallagher, did indicate in her response to one of the questions that in fact there were some figures out about inflation today. I reckon that matters to the Australian people. We might have got some questions about that. We might have got some questions about taxation, after the big whingefest that's gone on for weeks and months from the Liberal and National parties about taxation and their disgust at the fact that 13.6 million people in Australia are going to get a bigger tax cut. We could have got questions on that, but, no, we didn't.
But I am going to attempt to respond with integrity to what was a ridiculous question but did focus on an important issue, and that is what's happening in the seat of Dunkley. I want to take the opportunity to acknowledge that in this place we are still grieving the loss of a beautiful woman, a fine Australian by the name of Peta Murphy, who was the member for Dunkley. Like so many Australians, particularly Australian women, sadly she had an encounter with breast cancer. She had successful treatment, and then it became metastatic. In the course of the time that she was a member, she was fighting that the whole time. She didn't take her eye off that community and what it needed in terms of advocacy, though, and she engaged with the candidate who is now running in her place by the name of Jodie Belyea. As a Frankston mum with a mortgage, we know that she actually understands the cost-of-living pressures. I am sure she would never have thought that the questions we got here in the Senate today deal with anything that is real for the people of Dunkley.
Jodie is fighting for the people of Dunkley to make sure they get more of what the Albanese government can give them, which is relief, a real response, not hand-wringing nonsense—'yes, we see you are having a bit of a bad time but we can't possibly help'. We can see Australians are having some really serious challenges and because, responsibly, we agreed to a package of tax cuts and gave our word that we would honour the tax cuts that were already in the budget, the Labor government decided that the suffering of 13.6 million hard-working Australians should not go ignored, that it deserved a response. This is the government that has Jodie standing for us in the seat of Dunkley, the government focused on the real things that impact people's lives, not the nonsense that we have seen from the opposition today, and that is why we were making sure last night, when we put the legislation through here, that Australians will be able to earn more and keep more of what they earn.
The reality is for the people in Dunkley to remember when they are casting their vote on Saturday that the cost-of-living tax cuts that passed the Senate are going to mean that more than 70,000 taxpayers in that seat of Dunkley are going to get a tax cut. A retail worker who, hopefully, has joined the great union with which I am associated, the SDA, earning $73,000 a year, is going to get a tax cut of $1,504.
The people in Dunkley need a government that is focused on their real needs. They also need an opposition that is going to come in here and do a fair day's work and ask decent questions that have material impact to the people of Australia, instead of the games that we have seen played in the Senate today. There is a big win for the people of Dunkley on Saturday when they support Labor's candidate, Jodie Belyea.
]]>This support for every working Australian, who gets to earn more and keep more of what they earn, is vital for many Australians who are really doing it tough right now. The Albanese government knows this. We understand that change of itself won't be sufficient, but the combination of this change plus other significant changes we've brought in—a host of other policies and initiatives—will make a real difference. I note the contribution of Senator Marielle Smith from South Australia, who was just talking about the paid parental leave support that's going to change lives for Australians, and for women in particular, of whom there are so many on the Labor side. Our policies and plans have women at the heart and centre of them, and women are going to benefit significantly from the change in 13.6 million Australians' pay packets that will become real on 1 July this year.
In the great electorate of the Riverina, 87 per cent of taxpayers will be getting back more of what they earn than they would have under the previous plan—an average cut of $1,425 a year. I know that 16 per cent of the workers in the electorate of Riverina are in the healthcare sector and the social assistance sector. That means that, for example, a nurse in Cowra earning $76,000 a year will receive a tax cut of $1,579.
Like that nurse in Cowra, right across Australia there are 13.6 million Australians who are working very hard and paying their tax. They are Australians who don't do income splitting, who haven't got fancy tax schemes so as to skirt around their obligations. They get their salary and, every time they get it, money is taken out to contribute to the wellbeing and benefit of the nation. They pay their tax. They show up, they do their job with effort and integrity, they make small businesses successful, and they expect everybody else to shoulder their fair share of the burden as well. These are the salt of the earth Australians who deserve, who need right now, the extra cost-of-living relief that an Albanese Labor government is delivering, which will be real and present in people's lives as of 1 July this year.
A bit further down the road from Canberra, as you head towards the west and the south, is the lush seat of Farrer. There, 76,000 taxpayers are receiving a tax cut, for an average tax cut of $1,359. Ten per cent of workers in Farrer work in the retail trade sector. That means that part-time retail workers in Albury earning $32,000 will receive a tax cut of $414 a year, and I know that is going to make a real difference in their lives and the lives of their families. Might I add that their local member, Sussan Ley, the member for Farrer, has been against these tax cuts that you're going to get on 1 July. She's been against them from the very beginning. She's promised to roll back the tax cuts that you're going to get. She's promised to roll them back to take your earnings and your return and reduce that, which will impact very negatively on working Australians. She's promised to make laws allowing employers to contact their workers up to 11 o'clock at night, perhaps even past that.
Now, I'm not usually in the business of giving the Liberal Party and the National Party free advice—critique, yes, but advice, no. But going to an election threatening to tax people higher and allowing people's bosses to call them at midnight is not really an election-winning strategy, in my view. Frankly, it's absurd; it's certainly antiworker, and it's anti Middle Australia. Labor will always be the party of the working class and those who aspire to a great life in this country, and we're always going to help people when they need it. We have all Australians' best interests at heart.
In sunny Hume, 86 per cent of taxpayers will receive a bigger cut than before. A truckie living in Goulburn who drives from Sydney to Canberra, hopefully a union member, earning $77,000 a year will get a tax cut of $1,679. That truckie was an essential worker during the pandemic, making sure all the grocery stores were stocked and farmers were able to get their produce out. Truckies ensured that we had access to medicine, food and clothing when we needed it most, and the least we could do is to make sure the tax cuts that the Albanese Labor government will deliver will work for such hardworking frontline workers.
In beautifully green and blue Lyne, which hugs the coast—great beaches, lots of koalas—nine per cent of the workforce are in the education sector. A primary school teacher in Forster, who might take their students to the new library that I opened last year, will get a tax cut of $1,679. Now, that is a big deal, and it will go a long way to helping those individuals and will help the community in which they will spend those dollars. More money will hopefully mean more money spent to improve things in the local shops, such as the shops in Dungog or the florist in Taree, or the beautiful new pub in Kew—a shout-out to the pub; I know how important that new renovated pub is to that local community, and thank you for your hospitality. Tax cuts mean a lot more than just a benefit to the individuals who receive them. The economic reality is that these dollars will move into local economies and support small businesses that provide goods and services there.
In the vast seat of Parkes, where 62,000 people are going to receive a tax cut, 86 per cent of those people are going to receive a bigger tax cut than before, with an average cut of $1,465. That's going to make a big difference. A plumber in Broken Hill who's earning $70,000 will receive a tax cut of $1,429. That's more money in that plumber's pocket to spend on their family, at the local RSL or at one of the beautiful pubs down that main street of Broken Hill. Or it could be a new pair of shoes for the new year. It could be a membership in one of the local brilliant sporting organisations. It's a good thing for the people of Broken Hill that, in response to their reality, Labor has brought forward a package where, if you work and pay taxes, you will earn more and keep more of what you earn.
In Calare, 60,000 taxpayers are going to be getting a bigger tax cut than they would have under the Liberal and National parties—an average cut of $1,532. In Bathurst, a New South Wales police officer on $110,000 will get a return of an additional $2,429. These tax cuts are a response to Australia and a great response so you earn more and keep more of what you earn.
]]>I appreciate the time to respond to Senator Hanson's matter, as it gives me the opportunity to clearly put on the record some of the blatant falsehoods that are perpetuated by some, sadly too often, conservative members in this parliament who seem determined to deride the nation rather than lift our sights. Sometimes, it seems they have a few issues with the truth as well. Senator Hanson's motion is less a matter of public importance and more of a grievance list. I'm going to attempt to unravel it and address each one in a respectable and sensible manner, which will echo the sensible and respectable manner of governing that is the hallmark of the Albanese government.
Senator Hanson wishes for clarification on Australian borders, so to this point I'd like to echo what Australia's Border Force Commissioner by the name of Michael Outram has said on the public record. He said that federal funding for border control has reached its highest level since 2015. There's just the fact. This includes considerable investment which was made last year. Mr Outram, who I might add was appointed by the previous government, is continuing a policy of strong border protections and ensuring that immigration only occurs through legal mechanisms.
I would caution Senator Hanson and others who are privileged to serve this nation, our home, Australia: the words we use in this public place matter, and, very sadly, people smugglers—who are profit-driven and don't care who they hurt—listen to what we say in this chamber and in the media. For those opposite to state that the borders of Australia are anything but strong, and that individuals who arrive here illegally will be dealt with in any manner other than the usual course of action, is blatantly incorrect. It's, frankly, dangerous. And it's unworthy of a representative of the nation in this parliament.
Senator Hanson wants to know about the Albanese government's immigration plans. Well, Minister O'Neil clarified, late last year: this government's fixing the immigration system. And goodness! What a state it was in—like on one of those renovation shows: 'We've got a real fixer-upperer!'—when we got here, with huge problems.
Following the findings of the Parkinson review, the plan will have five key objectives: raising living standards by boosting productivity; ensuring a fair go for all Australians and preventing migrant worker exploitation; building stronger communities through sustainable migration; strengthening international relationships by building strong regional economic and social ties; and making the system work by being fast, efficient and fair for migrants and employers. We inherited a broken system, but we're determined to fix it. We are rebuilding the Public Service to do the job that needs to be done.
Now, Senator Hanson wants to talk about Labor's cost-of-living tax cuts. Let's be clear: Labor wants every Australian to earn more and to keep more of what they earn. It's not that hard. It's a great message. It's a message for an Australia that is a better place to live. It's a message that people who've come to this country—like my parents—as immigrants, believe is the story of Australia: that they can have a better life here. Our Labor government is committed to doing what is right when it's required to ensure that every Australian who is working is going to get a tax cut in July and improve the quality of their life.
]]>I want to thank those Lithuanian MPs, whose trip was facilitated by their very energetic ambassador, Darius Degutis. I acknowledge Andrius, Dalia, Giedrius and Ieva, who ably represented Lithuania. I note my appreciation for my colleagues Mr Neumann, Ms Templeman, Mr Entsch, Mr Khalil, Senators Fawcett, Sharma, Kovacic and Senator Paterson for their engagement with the delegation as well. Of particular importance to us all was the ongoing illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine and our shared and unwavering commitment to supporting Kyiv in its efforts to protect the Ukrainian people.
For its part, Lithuania has been one of the strongest advocates of Ukraine's independence and has made one of the largest per capita aid donations of any country, at 1.9 per cent of their GDP. Many of us take democracy as a given. We have never known anything else. But Australia stands with Lithuania not just because we share ideals, despite the distance, but because we know the Lithuanians have a voice that is stronger than most. They know democracy is not to be taken for granted. It is only three decades since they rose up and threw off their Russian oppressors.
]]>But there is good work being done here in the Senate, good work being done by an orderly government that respectfully engages with the people here who have been elected by the Australian people, that engages with the crossbench in a way that is respectful, determined to move as collaboratively and cleverly as we can towards cooperation in the interest of the nation. It's that endeavour of serving the nation that's going to see this bill advance, with the declarations today that it looks like there's support for this bill at this point in time—which hadn't been there.
Building consensus isn't an easy thing to do. That's why I want to take the opportunity to roundly endorse the profound leadership on these matters of the great Transport Workers Union, and the two men sitting here inside the Senate with me, directly in front of me: Senator Tony Sheldon—who's had a long and illustrious career with the TWU as its former leader and is now a great senator for the great state of New South Wales, alongside me here—and the wonderful Glenn Sterle from Western Australia. And I see representatives of the Transport Workers Union, and I'll wave to you, happily. I wave to you on the roads, like everybody does—wave to the trucks as we pass them. They are representing workers in the transport industry, representing owner-drivers in the transport industry, representing big businesses in the transport industry and representing every Australian who gets on the road every day with their precious cargo, the people they love, in the car, relying on your advocacy to bring to the attention of this Senate important matters of national safety and security.
And you've been doing it for years—years and years and years. There'll be a couple of steps forward, and then we get the opposition, when they were in government, and many steps backwards. But you've never resiled from the task. Your heart's been pure, and your efforts have been powerful and effective. So, I want to really congratulate you, because that's what union people do: never give up, always fight. And it's not a selfish fight for you as individuals; it's a battle in the interest of many. When this legislation passes there will be victory and benefit to so many millions of Australian workers, and your efforts over many years are a vital part of the recipe that is being cooked here today. So I want to sincerely thank you for those efforts.
Australians do believe that we live in a great country, and we believe in fairness. We also believe in the rule of law. People think that if it's in the law it's going to be pretty fair, and they're pretty shocked sometimes when they find that that isn't the case. I know Australian workers from growing up in a small-business family, in the construction sector, where across the road from us were a couple of drivers of trucks for the coalmining industry up in Appin. They used to park their trucks out the back of where we lived, and they were proud of their rigs. That's the kind of family that I grew up in, where everybody on our street wanted to pay off a house, raise their kids and do something meaningful, to be proud of what they did, to be able to go to work, to show up and get paid fairly for the work they do every day.
I don't think it's unreasonable, either, that Australian workers should work in a workplace where they have a degree of safety such that they can expect that they'll probably go home alive. That is not an unreasonable expectation. This piece of legislation today goes to all these things. It's about people showing up and getting paid fairly for what they do. It's about people showing up and being able to operate safely in the industry that they choose to be a part of.
And it's about people having, in those conditions, the necessary security of a job that will let them go to a bank and say, 'I've got enough security in my job to be able to pay back a loan' or 'I can actually buy a car', if they live in regional Australia, where there are no buses, no other transport, and if you've got no car you don't work. Even where I live, on the Central Coast, an hour and a half outside Sydney, a public transport system just doesn't operate. If you don't have a car, you don't work, you can't advance and you can't move into the future, which I believe you have a right to do as an Australian. You have to be able to pay off a car loan.
And the dream of owning an Australian home is something that people still very much hold onto in this country. There's a crisis in that sector as well that's going to require further legislation and policy work from this government to begin to redress the decades of neglect. But you're never going to get a home loan if you haven't got secure income. No bank is going to lend to you. And the insecurity of work that is the signature of those who are now sitting on the opposition benches is what they want to see continue to be the way of Australia. Well, no longer. I congratulate all the senators in this place who are coming onboard with a far better, healthier, more sustainable, more dignified, more just, more Australian way of enabling workers in this country to get the basic rights they deserve—to close the loopholes, to close the flawed, unethical exploitative practices of bad employers who seek profit over everything else and forget the humanity of the people who are the workforce.
I said I grew up in a small-business family. Sadly my dad, who was out on the construction sites laying out pipe, didn't live past his 49th birthday. But when my mum turned 70 and we had a party, let me tell you, half the people in that room were people who formerly worked in that business, because good businesses, especially good small businesses, absolutely understand that the strength of their business lies in the quality of their workforce. People who work in a small business are a work family, and you look after your people if you want to be successful in an ever-changing economy and you're in a small business. The small businesses that are already doing the things that this legislation is going to force the malign actors to come onboard with are actually going to have, for the first time in a decade, a level playing field—these great businesses that are already doing all the things that this piece of legislation is going to make law.
I want to congratulate Minister Burke, because there have been some serious headwinds—incredible opposition. We've heard some of the hysteria manifest in this chamber this evening. Senator David Pocock has already commented on it. There is, unbelievably, a desire amongst some people in this place, on that side of the chamber, to stand up and completely misrepresent reality. The shame of that is worn as a badge of honour, if they can prop up malign actors in big businesses and small that are abusing their workers. That's nothing to be proud of. The Australia I'm proud of is the one that unions have built and that unions are developing, through new legislation with this government and the crossbench, for Australia and our future. We can be better. If you're unfortunate enough as a worker to choose to work in a business that hasn't been doing the right thing, it's going to get a whole lot better when this piece of legislation is passed. If you're an immigrant to this country and come here with the belief that you're going to get a fair crack at life as a worker, this legislation is going to make it an awful lot more likely.
It wasn't so very long ago that the opposition leader at the time, Anthony Albanese, promised something extraordinary, it would seem from the media's response, which was just to recommend that the Fair Work Commission give Australians a minimum wage increase of $1. That set off chaos amongst the then government. Mr Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton and other members of the Liberal and National parties absolutely opposed that. The coalition threatened that the sky would fall in if the lowest-paid workers in Australia, some of whom are our essential workers, many of them represented by the great union with which I'm affiliated, the SDA—people who were on the front line looking after us during COVID—were granted that pay rise. And, like on so many things, the Liberal and National parties were wrong then, and they're wrong now in continuing to oppose this important piece of legislation.
Labor has always been there, supporting the national interest and looking after the workers of Australia. We're the party that brought in the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme because people needed that. We're the party that brought in Medicare 40 years ago, against opposition, because the Australian people needed that. The Labor Party saw it. We understood it. We cared enough about it to create and bring into being Medicare. We brought in superannuation—a dignified retirement. The predecessors of this opposition said that the world would fall apart and that the whole economy would fall apart if superannuation were brought in.
There's a pattern here. They oppose anything that advantages ordinary, hardworking Australians. That is why they're going to continue to oppose this piece of legislation. They have no vision for the country. They have no sense of integrity in legislating for the advantage of all Australians. Theirs is an Australia where some have, and they feel even better when some don't. That is not the kind of Australia that the Labor Party seeks to bring into being in Australia. We've always been there for the Australian workers.
This legislation is going to certainly improve the lot of Australian workers, and it's going to improve the competitive advantage to good businesses that are doing the right thing already. This bill was not designed to hurt or impact good employees. We know that loopholes undermining pay and conditions for Australian workers cannot continue. Minister Burke has led the charge. He has been ably supported by decent Australians in business and in unions and by people who found out a little about what's going on here—people who've been subject to those loopholes.
My good friend Senator Polley this morning in her contribution said that she was brought up in a family that I think is quintessentially Australian. She was told, 'Show up to work, do a really good day's work, get a fair pay, make sure you've got an insurance policy and join your union, and if you get really smart you'll join the Labor Party too.' She knows what a winning ticket looks like. This piece of legislation will close the loopholes that have seen too many Australians exploited. This is going to be better for workers and better for our nation.
]]>You've got a couple of choices when you're a government. You can either stand deaf to the Australian people, wring your hands, say, 'Oh, I'm so sorry it's a bit hard for you at the moment,' and do nothing, which is what we saw under the opposition when they were in government, or you can actually listen to the Australian people, actually care, invest energy and emotion in responding to the concerns that they raise and then carefully design a response to the pain and suffering that they're articulating to you. We did it when we put in Medicare 40 years ago. We've been talking about the anniversary of 40 years of Medicare. People should know that the major cause of bankruptcy before Labor instituted Medicare was medical debt. We heard, we designed policy and we responded, and that is what's going on with the tax cuts for 13.6 million Australians.
I want to speak to the duty seats that I represent across the great state of New South Wales. If you're in Oberon, Orange or Bathurst in the seat of Calare, a beautiful part of the state of New South Wales, there will be 71,000 local people who will be getting an average tax cut of $1,532. That's 85 per cent of the people of Calare under Labor's tax plan where you keep more of the money that you earn. That's what we will be supporting, and, belatedly, after a huge whinge and a continuing dummy spit, the opposition now say that they're on board. If you're from Farrer and live in Albury or Coleambally, 76,000 taxpayers are going to get the benefit of Labor's policy which is responding to the pressure that Australians are telling us that they're under from cost of living. The average tax cut for 66,000 people in the seat of Farrer is $1,359. In Hume, if you're in Narellan or Picton or anywhere around that seat, 79,000 taxpayers will benefit to the tune of $1,585. That's 68,000 taxpayers who are going to get a bigger cut than they would have under the Liberal-National coalition's plan. In Lyne, if you live in Manning Point or Kew, 57,000 of your fellow citizens will get a $1,325 cut. If you're in the seat Riverina around Wagga Wagga, 67,000 of the people that you live around in that community will get an average tax cut of $1,425. In Parkes, Coonabarabran, Broken Hill, Dubbo and Wilcannia, 62,000 people will receive a tax cut, with an average of $1,465 going back to individual taxpayers. These are the facts. They're a Labor investment in the people of Australia—allowing you to keep more of your tax for your own benefit and for the benefit of your local economy.
]]>The senator is entitled to make her observations, but to impugn the motives of the Attorney-General is beyond what is required in the standing orders, and I ask that she withdraw any reflections.
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