2021-03-25
by Adam Bandt —
Big corporations and billionaires in this country have too much power. That is corrupting democracy. And they are also not paying their fair share of tax. One in three big corporations in this country pays no tax at all. During the pandemic, while everyone else was doing it tough, billionaires grew their wealth by an eye-watering 25 per cent in this country and, because they are not paying their fair share, everyone else is left to pick up the tab. That's the reason everyone has to pay hundreds if not thousands of dollars to send their child to a public school or why the cost of going to see a doctor and the out-of-pocket expenses keep going up and up. How is this system allowed to continue? How is it that the big corporations and billionaires are allowed to have so much power? They make donations to the Liberal and Labor parties. As a result, the rules get written in their favour, and we don't take the action we need to tackle the long-term problems in this country. That is why politics is working for the big corporations and billionaires but is not working for everyday people.
I want to tell you a tale of three private jets. Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg billed taxpayers $5,000 to take the Prime Minister's private jet to Sydney for Lachlan Murdoch's 2018 Christmas party. Matthias Cormann has flown on mining and gas magnate Nev Power's personal jets a few times and then Nev Power got appointed to lead the gas-fired COVID recovery. Gina Rinehart flew Barnaby Joyce and other coalition MPs on her private jet to a lavish wedding in India to meet her business partners. These three stories about private jets show us why Australia is not going to do the sensible thing and recover from the pandemic by tackling the long-term problems our country faces by investing in job-creating, nation-building, planet-saving projects. Instead these billionaires and big companies make super profits, amplifying the climate crisis. They ship the bulk of their profits offshore, tax-free, and they keep the major parties on a drip-feed of donations, so the government has outsourced the recovery instead of having a government led investment in nation-building, planet-saving, job-creating projects. The government has just tipped well over $100 billion a year into corporate welfare. Instead of creating jobs directly, we've handed billions of dollars to big corporations and billionaires and crossed our fingers that it will all work out okay. JobMaker hiring credits and JobKeeper for companies that are already paying dividends, instant write-offs for big corporations and fuel tax credits for coal and gas companies—the list of corporate subsidies goes on and on.
Two million people either have no job or do not enough work—and it's going to get worse in a couple of weeks time when JobKeeper is cut—and workers who do have a job aren't expecting a pay rise for years. But, while everyone else suffers, the billionaires and big corporations are making out like bandits.
The wealth of billionaires grew an eye-watering 25 per cent during the pandemic—from $267 billion to a record high $357 billion during the pandemic. There were also 48 more billionaires in 2020 than there were just three years earlier—just shy of a doubling of billionaires in the last three years. So, not only is their wealth growing rapidly but, like cane toads, they are multiplying out of control as well. Gina Rinehart doubled her wealth, to $29 billion during the pandemic. Twiggy and Clive jointly increased their wealth by 141 per cent during the pandemic, while everyday people suffered lost jobs or pay cuts at worst or no pay rise at best. Kerry Stokes, through Sevenwest took millions in JobKeeper, made millions in profit and cut the pay of his staff by 20 per cent and just put in an order for another private jet.
While we were locked down the billionaires got rich off us. While we try to stop the climate crisis, the billionaires make it worse. While we pay tax, the billionaires and the big corporations get handouts. Meanwhile, one in three big corporations pays no tax, including many that are making the climate crisis worse, with the Australian Tax Office singling out the oil and gas industry as—and I quote the ATO here—'systemic non-payers of tax'. While everyone else deals with rising public school fees and the high cost of going to the dentist, big corporations pay not tax and send their profits offshore. And, not only are they tax dodgers; now the government wants to give them extra public funds as well. Well, the next election is closer than you think. The Greens could be in balance of power. Because we don't take donations from the billionaires and big corporations, we will make them pay their fair share.