edited
12th Nov 2015
Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (Better Targeting the Income Tax Transparency Laws) Bill 2015 - Second Reading - Against the bill
Not passed by a small majority
No rebellions 91% attendance
14th Sep 2015, 6:08 PM – Representatives Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (Better Targeting the Income Tax Transparency Laws) Bill 2015 - Second Reading - Agree with the bill's main idea
Summary
EditThe majority agreed with the bill's main idea (in parliamentary jargon, they voted in favour of giving the bill a second reading). This means that the House can now discuss the bill in more detail.
However, in this case, there wasn't any further discussion and the bill was immediately passed in the House (that is, given a third reading). This means it will now be sent to the Senate for them to decide whether to pass it or not.
Bill's main idea
The purpose of the bill is to stop certain tax information of Australian-owned private companies from being made public by the Commissioner of Taxation. In other words, the bill makes sure that the tax information of those companies stays private.
The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry and Science, Karen Andrews MP, argued that this bill "will ensure that there is greater public transparency of the tax affairs of companies but without risking the privacy, personal security and market environments of Australian owned private companies" (see her full speech).
What 'tax information' is currently made public?
Right now, the Commissioner of Taxation publishes some tax information of companies whose total annual income equals or exceeds $100 million. The information published includes the company’s:
- ABN and name;
- total annual income;
- annual taxable income or net income (if any); and
- annual income tax payable (if any).
See the bills digest for further information.
Background to the bill
The previous Labor Government introduced the requirement to publish this tax information in 2013. The then Assistant Treasurer, David Bradbury MP, announced that it would "encourage enterprises to pay their fair share of tax and discourage aggressive tax minimisation practices" (see his media release).
Votes Passed by a small majority
Nobody rebelled against their party.
| Party | Votes | |
|---|---|---|
| Adam Bandt Melbourne Australian Greens | No | |
| Australian Labor Party (89% turnout) | 0 Yes – 49 No | |
| Sharon Bird Cunningham | No | |
| Chris Bowen McMahon | No | |
| Tony Burke Watson | No | |
| Mark Butler Port Adelaide | No | |
| Anthony Byrne Holt | No | |
| Jim Chalmers Rankin | No | |
| Nick Champion Wakefield | No | |
| Lisa Chesters Bendigo | No | |
| Jason Clare Blaxland | No | |
| Sharon Claydon Newcastle | No | |
| Julie Collins Franklin | No | |
| Pat Conroy Charlton | No | |
| Justine Elliot Richmond | No | |
| Kate Ellis Adelaide | No | |
| David Feeney Batman | No | |
| Laurie Ferguson Werriwa | No | |
| Joel Fitzgibbon Hunter | No | |
| Andrew Giles Scullin | No | |
| Gary Gray Brand | No | |
| Alan Griffin Bruce | No | |
| Jill Hall Shortland | No | |
| Chris Hayes Fowler | No | |
| Ed Husic Chifley | No | |
| Stephen Jones Throsby | No | |
| Catherine King Ballarat | No | |
| Andrew Leigh Fraser | No | |
| Jenny Macklin Jagajaga | No | |
| Alannah Mactiernan Perth | No | |
| Richard Marles Corio | No | |
| Rob Mitchell McEwen | No | |
| Shayne Neumann Blair | No | |
| Brendan O'Connor Gorton | No | |
| Clare O'Neil Hotham | No | |
| Julie Owens Parramatta | No | |
| Melissa Parke Fremantle | No | |
| Graham Perrett Moreton | No | |
| Tanya Plibersek Sydney | No | |
| Bernie Ripoll Oxley | No | |
| Amanda Rishworth Kingston | No | |
| Michelle Rowland Greenway | No | |
| Joanne Ryan Lalor | No | |
| Bill Shorten Maribyrnong | No | |
| Warren Snowdon Lingiari | No | |
| Wayne Swan Lilley | No | |
| Matt Thistlethwaite Kingsford Smith | No | |
| Kelvin Thomson Wills | No | |
| Maria Vamvakinou Calwell | No | |
| Tim Watts Gellibrand | No | |
| Tony Zappia Makin | No | |
| Anthony Albanese Grayndler | Absent | |
| Gai Brodtmann Canberra | Absent | |
| Anna Burke Chisholm | Absent | |
| Terri Butler Griffith | Absent | |
| Michael Danby Melbourne Ports | Absent | |
| Mark Dreyfus Isaacs | Absent | |
| Natasha Griggs Solomon Country Liberal Party | Yes | |
| Bruce Scott Maranoa Deputy Speaker | Yes | |
| Cathy McGowan Indi Independent | Yes | |
| Bob Katter Kennedy Independent | No | |
| Andrew Wilkie Denison Independent | No | |
| Bob Katter Kennedy Katter's Australian Party | Absent | |
| Liberal Party (96% turnout) | 69 Yes – 0 No | |
| John Alexander Bennelong | Yes | |
| Karen Andrews McPherson | Yes | |
| Kevin Andrews Menzies | Yes | |
| Bob Baldwin Paterson | Yes | |
| Bruce Billson Dunkley | Yes | |
| Bronwyn Bishop Mackellar | Yes | |
| Julie Bishop Curtin | Yes | |
| Jamie Briggs Mayo | Yes | |
| Russell Broadbent McMillan | Yes | |
| Mal Brough Fisher | Yes | |
| Scott Buchholz Wright | Yes | |
| Steven Ciobo Moncrieff | Yes | |
| David Coleman Banks | Yes | |
| Peter Dutton Dickson | Yes | |
| Warren Entsch Leichhardt | Yes | |
| Paul Fletcher Bradfield | Yes | |
| Josh Frydenberg Kooyong | Yes | |
| Teresa Gambaro Brisbane | Yes | |
| Alex Hawke Mitchell | Yes | |
| Sarah Henderson Corangamite | Yes | |
| Peter Hendy Eden-Monaro | Yes | |
| Luke Howarth Petrie | Yes | |
| Greg Hunt Flinders | Yes | |
| Eric Hutchinson Lyons | Yes | |
| Steve Irons Swan | Yes | |
| Dennis Jensen Tangney | Yes | |
| Ewen Jones Herbert | Yes | |
| Michael Keenan Stirling | Yes | |
| Craig Kelly Hughes | Yes | |
| Andrew Laming Bowman | Yes | |
| Craig Laundy Reid | Yes | |
| Sussan Ley Farrer | Yes | |
| Ian Macfarlane Groom | Yes | |
| Nola Marino Forrest | Yes | |
| Louise Markus Macquarie | Yes | |
| Russell Matheson Macarthur | Yes | |
| Karen McNamara Dobell | Yes | |
| Scott Morrison Cook | Yes | |
| Andrew Nikolic Bass | Yes | |
| Kelly O'Dwyer Higgins | Yes | |
| Tony Pasin Barker | Yes | |
| Christian Porter Pearce | Yes | |
| Jane Prentice Ryan | Yes | |
| Melissa Price Durack | Yes | |
| Christopher Pyne Sturt | Yes | |
| Rowan Ramsey Grey | Yes | |
| Andrew Robb Goldstein | Yes | |
| Stuart Robert Fadden | Yes | |
| Wyatt Roy Longman | Yes | |
| Philip Ruddock Berowra | Yes | |
| Fiona Scott Lindsay | Yes | |
| Luke Simpkins Cowan | Yes | |
| Andrew Southcott Boothby | Yes | |
| Sharman Stone Murray | Yes | |
| Ann Sudmalis Gilmore | Yes | |
| Michael Sukkar Deakin | Yes | |
| Angus Taylor Hume | Yes | |
| Dan Tehan Wannon | Yes | |
| Alan Tudge Aston | Yes | |
| Malcolm Turnbull Wentworth | Yes | |
| Bert Van Manen Forde | Yes | |
| Nickolas Varvaris Barton | Yes | |
| Ross Vasta Bonner | Yes | |
| Brett Whiteley Braddon | Yes | |
| Lucy Wicks Robertson | Yes | |
| Matt Williams Hindmarsh | Yes | |
| Rick Wilson O'Connor | Yes | |
| Jason Wood La Trobe | Yes | |
| Ken Wyatt Hasluck | Yes | |
| Tony Abbott Warringah | Absent | |
| Ian Goodenough Moore | Absent | |
| Joe Hockey North Sydney | Absent | |
| National Party (93% turnout) | 13 Yes – 0 No | |
| Andrew Broad Mallee | Yes | |
| George Christensen Dawson | Yes | |
| John Cobb Calare | Yes | |
| Mark Coulton Parkes | Yes | |
| David Gillespie Lyne | Yes | |
| Luke Hartsuyker Cowper | Yes | |
| Kevin Hogan Page | Yes | |
| Barnaby Joyce New England | Yes | |
| Michelle Landry Capricornia | Yes | |
| Michael McCormack Riverina | Yes | |
| Ken O'Dowd Flynn | Yes | |
| Keith Pitt Hinkler | Yes | |
| Warren Truss Wide Bay | Yes | |
| Darren Chester Gippsland | Absent | |
| Clive Palmer Fairfax Palmer United Party | Absent | |
| Tony Smith Casey Speaker | Absent | |
| Totals (92% turnout) | 85 Yes – 52 No |
Turnout is the percentage of members eligible to vote that did vote.