2018-03-28
Greens Treasury spokesperson, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, provides the following comments on the status of the corporate tax cuts Bill and how the latest Business Council leaks have played a role in removing the Bill from the Senate agenda.
Senator Whish-Wilson said, "I congratulate the whistleblower or whistleblowers who have brought these Business Council secrets to light. These leaks have certainly played an important role in bringing facts into the debate and have helped kill off the Government's radical agenda of giving big business a leg-up at the public’s expense.
"The leaks around the BCAs flaccid attempts to win friends in the debates on corporate tax cuts have highlighted their contempt for transparency and their unwillingness to be totally honest with the public on significant policy issues. It lays bare the organisation's split-personality and clearly shows that their genuine agenda is self-interest, not necessarily what is in the public interest.
"If the BCA and its members are seeking to restore confidence and public trust in big business in this country, the best starting point is to abandon its advocacy for tax cuts to big business. Australians aren’t interested in supporting more corporate welfare.
"The only thing that will rescue the BCA from this mess of their own making is to unequivocally state that business is happy to pay its fair share and it no longer wants ordinary Australians to provide them handouts through big business tax cuts," he concluded.