Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Polley may not have been enthusiastic, but she was paying attention, and I thank her very much for that.

I was referring to paragraph 3 at page 52; you might like to grab it on your iPhone, Senator Polley, before you make a contribution this afternoon. It says:

In 2019-20, around $67 billion of franking credits were distributed by Australian companies. Around $17.2 billion of these were claimed by 3.1 million residents on their individual tax returns that year, with the remainder flowing to other local entities including other companies, superannuation funds and charities …

Think about the remainder, which is $50 billion. That was in the government's own document, released as part of the budget honesty process. Why is it then that this government feels that it needs to pick on charities? They were slow to deliver their election commitments, slow to deliver the Productivity Commission inquiry into doubling giving by 2030, and now, hidden at page 52 of the tax expenditure statement, we have Labor's plan to make it harder again for charities.

But just think about this for a moment: a little while ago they announced a Productivity Commission inquiry to double giving by 2030. Here, at page 52, is a plan that will make it harder for charities to earn income—Peter robbing to pay Paul. This is crazy and it is inconsistent at a time—and this is the most serious point—when Australian charities and the not-for-profit sector need to be supported in our community more than at any other time in recent history.