Pauline Hanson says One Nation is steadfast in opposing company tax cuts

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson says the government made a last-ditch “suggestion” to carve out the big banks in a bid to win her support for the remaining company tax cuts.

Senator Pauline Hanson in Parliament House in Canberra. Picture Gary Ramage

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson says the government made a last-ditch “suggestion” to carve out the big banks in a bid to win her support for the remaining company tax cuts but made no official proposal with draft legislation.

The Australian was told yesterday that Finance Minister Mathias Cormann made the offer a week and a half ago to exclude the Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, Westpac and NAB from receiving the lower, 25 per cent tax rate.

Scott Morrison attacked Senator Hanson last night for siding with Labor on the big business tax cuts, declaring the government gave her “every opportunity to support lower taxes for Australian businesses without supporting tax cuts for the big banks”.

But Senator Hanson’s version of events raise questions over whether an official proposal was put to One Nation.

“I have always maintained an open door policy with members of the government and opposition on corporate tax cuts, however Senator (Peter) Georgiou and I have remained firm on our decision not to raise the threshold before parliament broke in June,” the One Nation leader said.

“In a parting comment by Minister Cormann, he suggested carving out the banks to secure One Nation votes, to which I said my decision was firm. No draft legislation was ever received and I can confirm, Senator Georgiou did not receive this alleged document either.

“This government along with previous have left zero fat in the budget in order to pay down debt. Until multinational companies are pursued and forced to pay their fair share of taxes, and we stop allowing oil and gas companies to rape our resources without paying adequate royalties, I cannot justify cuts beyond $50m dollars that One Nation was instrumental in securing for small to medium size businesses in this country.”

Senator Hanson is steadfast in her opposition to the company tax cuts for businesses turning over more than $50 million, which are set to be voted down in the Senate as early as today, claiming Australia “can’t afford” them.

Cabinet meanwhile will consider fast-tracking the existing company tax cuts for businesses with an annual turnover of up to $50m, which has popular support within the Coalition and Senate crossbench.

Senator Hanson said the government should work with her to build new dams, roads, railways and other infrastructure projects if it had “billions of dollars left in their forecast budgets”.

She also called on the government to start working with state counterparts to investigate reducing payroll tax, which she said was a “bigger impost on business across the nation and will stimulate jobs in Australia”.

The Australian has asked the government if draft legislation setting out the carve out for banks with liabilities above $500bn was given to One Nation to consider.