Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Banking and Financial Services) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Given the minister’s confidence, will she guarantee that the $90 million in bribes and back taxes will be paid to the Australian Taxation Office? Why didn’t the government support Labor amendments to the tax act on 27 February this year which would have removed any doubt that a facilitation payment is in fact a bribe? If the penalties in the Tax Administration Act were now able to be applied properly, wouldn’t AWB now be liable for a tax debt of $250 million? Hasn’t this $250 million been put in jeopardy by the government’s failure to take action to clarify and clear up the anomalies and doubts about this issue and to stop AWB’s bribes to Saddam Hussein being able to be claimed as a tax deduction?