Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to continue to make statements about the shameful scandal that is emerging around the practices of those who have been in charge at PwC, PricewaterhouseCoopers. The last time I stood to speak in this chamber about it, I said I would not let the matter rest. That was some time before Australia became aware of the egregious behaviour of one Mr Peter-John Collins, who found a very fertile soil in which he planted information that he'd stolen from the Australian people. He went back and decided he'd grow a money tree for PwC with your information and mine to help multinational companies avoid paying their fair share of tax. I see people in the chamber here today, senators and people who are here as members of the public, who pay their fair share of tax. It's only right that we should expect big companies making lots money off us to pay their fair share.

PwC had a different version of events. When they were caught doing this red-handed by the tax office, they tried to avoid scrutiny. Like Harry Potter's invisibility cloak, they used legal professional privilege to try and hide all of the information from the Australian tax office and from the Australian people. It was shameful behaviour. The only thing that escaped was 144 pages of emails which reveal the whole slimy show. The reality is that today, despite a headline a couple of weeks ago which was completely disingenuous, the current leadership of PwC, who've been brought in to clean up this political mess, have not released the names of the people who were involved in those 144 pages of emails. They have not released those names. They have not released the emails. So, currently, around the world, no-one knows where these PwC people have been unleashed. It's got to change. I will continue to pursue this matter.