Senator the Hon Mathias Cormann

The Government was left with a legacy from Labor of over 92 tax measures that had been announced but never legislated. 

This was symbolic of Labor’s ad-hoc and dysfunctional decision making.

We have acted swiftly to clean up Labor’s mess to provide certainty and reduce red tape for investors, small business and corporate Australia.

The Government is proceeding with the majority of measures announced by the previous government targeted at corporate profit shifting.

We are also taking a leading role in global efforts to tackle tax evasion through our presidency of the G20.

The measures we are not proceeding with are as a result of advice from the Treasury that these measures cannot be implemented or would cause severe disruption to Australian businesses looking to expand overseas.

This advice was confirmed by Treasury officials at Senate Estimates only last week.

The Leader of the Opposition now seems to be suggesting that Labor will somehow push ahead with these changes to help fill his $40 billion black hole — despite clear Treasury advice that this would not be sensible.

If Labor has advice that explains how these measures can be practically implemented, without hurting Australian businesses, they should release it and the Government will happily consider it.

Otherwise, Labor should offer up a real plan to fix their debt and deficit disaster.