The Senate has descended into uproar on the final sitting day of the year after the Greens reached a deal with the Turnbull government to partially reinstate tax transparency measures, prompting Labor senators to accuse the party of “selling out” its progressive base.
The Liberal backbencher Cory Bernardi also vowed to oppose his government’s deal on the basis that it contradicted “the express will of the Coalition party room”.
The Greens defended the last-minute deal as a win for outcomes over protesting from the sidelines, but the Labor senator Doug Cameron disputed suggestions the party was “on the side of the angels”.
“You’re on the side of Lucifer on this one, you’re definitely on the side of the forces of evil,” Cameron thundered to the Greens. “I don’t think lickspittle goes far enough describing what you’ve done.”
The deal will ensure Australians gain access to the tax information of about 280 big private companies with revenue of at least $200m, but an estimated 500 to 600 companies will continue to be shielded from disclosure because they fall below the new threshold.
Greens sources said the companies that would have to show their tax paid, total income and taxable income from early next year would include Transfield, Grocon, Inghams, Pratt Holdings and Meriton.
The Greens leader, Richard Di Natale, said the party had also secured agreement to force multinational corporations with global revenue of at least $1bn to file “general purpose” financial statements to the corporate regulator, instead of “flimsy” special purpose statements.
The second amendment, to take effect from July next year, would affect companies that included Serco, Glencore, News Corp, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and Unilever, Greens sources have said.
The measures are to be formalised in amendments to the Coalition’s bill to clamp down on multinational tax avoidance in the Senate on Thursday.
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