Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Labor will be supporting the Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (2014 Measures No. 3) Bill 2014. This bill implements a previously announced Labor government measure which restricts the immediate deduction for the cost of acquiring mining rights so that it is only available for genuine exploration activities.

The opposition welcomes the government implementing this sensible measure to prevent base erosion within the mining industry. This was first introduced by the then Assistant Treasurer David Bradbury in the 2013-14 budget. The opposition recognises that it is important to protect this important concession that allows companies to immediately deduct costs incurred during genuine exploration activity. Unfortunately, in recent years, it has become apparent that companies were using this deduction to claim expenses that were not associated with genuine exploration activities.

Unfortunately, while the government has accepted this tax integrity measure, it has abandoned around $1 billion of tax measures to address base erosion and profit shifting. This is a government that goes soft on multinationals but hard on vulnerable Australians like pensioners and the jobless. However, we would like to see the government implement measures to prevent base erosion and profit shifting by multinational companies in Australia as they are applying to ensure that US nationals are complying with their domestic tax laws.

The government has shown a significant gap between its rhetoric and its actions when it comes to ensuring that multinationals pay their fair share of tax in Australia. By not proceeding with similarly sensible measures as are implemented in this measure, the Australian people have forgone $1.1 billion in revenue that is being made up in cuts to essential services. It is a simple equation: every dollar avoided by multinational companies must be paid for by Australian taxpayers and businesses or by cutting services.

With this budget we have seen which side the government is on: the side of the billionaires; certainly not the battlers. The Prime Minister used his speech in Davos on the government's G20 agenda to argue 'the G20 will continue to tackle businesses artificially generating profits to chase tax opportunities.' However, the only action the government has taken on multinational tax integrity is to dump Labor's thin capitalisation reforms and transparency measures.

Brett Mason (Queensland, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Again, I thank Senator Cameron for his contribution and commend to bill to the Senate.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.