Labor senator: Bring global giants to heel on tax

Labor senator Tony Sheldon has used his maiden speech to ­attack the “scourge” of multinational tax avoidance.

NSW Labor senator Tony Sheldon is congratulated by Eric Abetz after his first speech in the Senate chamber. Picture: Gary Ramage.

Labor senator Tony Sheldon has used his maiden speech to ­attack the “scourge” of multinational tax avoidance while calling on the government to extend superannuation to all working Australians, including those who are in the “gig economy”.

Senator Sheldon said global companies — including Uber, Amazon, Facebook and Google — needed to be held “economically accountable” and forced to contribute their fair share of tax on revenue generated in Australia.

The former Transport Workers Union national secretary, who said he had been a member of the ALP since he was 14 years old, cited France and India as examples of nations that had the “courage” to tax such companies.

“The OECD and a number of European countries are looking at this and other tax models and it is time for Australia to do the same,” Senator Sheldon said.

“I say that as responsible legislators, we cannot wait for other countries to act. We cannot stand by and watch while our tax base is eroded, and with it our ability to provide health, education and other critical infrastructure for our citizens.”

The senator also took aim at food-delivery companies such as Foodora and Deliveroo, saying the basic rights of workers had been eroded under the “gig economy”.

“It is incumbent on us to ­enforce and create rights for these workers,” Senator Sheldon said.

“That includes the rights to fair pay and superannuation.

“While the Coalition nurtures wreckers of Australia’s world-leading superannuation, I believe we should extend superannuation to every worker in Australia — including those in the emerging gig economy.”

He also threw his support behind the Safe Rates union campaign for truck drivers and vowed to “never rest” until parliament ­restored a system of minimum pay and conditions for the transport industry.

Another fresh face addressing the upper house was Queensland senator Nita Green, who ­expressed admiration for her mother and revealed how their lives had been rocked by domestic violence when she was a child.

Senator Green spoke of the importance of enshrining an indigenous voice to parliament in the Constitution and hoped that, during her time in parliament, she would secure more apprenticeships and jobs for young people and better hospitals and aged-care facilities in her state.

Senator Green paid tribute to her wife, and said she was immensely proud of the work she and her Labor colleagues had done to achieve marriage equality, but she said that “victory” belonged to many Australians.

“I want to acknowledge the LGBTI activists who worked for decades,” she said.

“They spoke out … not only when it was unpopular … but when it was unthinkable.

“I want to acknowledge all of the allies who had never fought or marched before, but wrapped their arms around us when we needed it the most.”