**Verification of the voting record:** According to parliamentary voting records from They Vote For You (an independent project by OpenAustralia Foundation), the Coalition parties (Liberal Party, National Party, Liberal National Party, and Country Liberal Party) voted against the Taxation Administration Amendment (Corporate Tax Entity Information) Bill 2017 in the Senate on June 25, 2018 [1][2].
**Specific voting breakdown:**
- **Liberal Party:** 19 senators voted No, 0 voted Yes (83% turnout) [2]
- **National Party:** 2 senators voted No, 0 voted Yes (67% turnout) [2]
- **Liberal National Party (Queensland):** 1 senator voted No, 0 voted Yes (50% turnout) [2]
- **Country Liberal Party (NT):** 1 senator voted No [2]
**The legislation:** The bill sought to amend the Taxation Administration Act 1953 to require the Commissioner of Taxation to publicly release tax data for large private firms with turnover of $100 million or over [2][3].
This was intended to bring approximately 600 large private companies into the tax transparency regime that had been excluded by amendments made in 2015.
**The outcome:** Despite Coalition opposition, the bill passed the Senate 37-28 on June 25, 2018, with support from Labor, Greens, Centre Alliance, and crossbench senators [2].
**Historical context of the 2013 Labor legislation:** The claim omits that Labor originally introduced tax transparency laws in 2013 (Tax Laws Amendment (2013 Measures No. 2) Bill 2013) that required the ATO to publish tax information for all large companies with turnover of $100 million or more [2][3].
This original legislation passed with bipartisan support or at least without recorded division opposition.
**The 2015 Coalition amendments:** In 2015, the Coalition government passed amendments (Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (Better Targeting the Income Tax Transparency Laws) Act 2015) that removed the disclosure requirement for private companies, raising the threshold to $200 million and effectively exempting approximately 600 large private companies from transparency requirements [3][4].
The Coalition's stated rationale was to "balance the need for greater public transparency in the tax affairs of large companies while not jeopardising the privacy and competitiveness of Australian owned private companies" [4].
**The 2018 bill was restorative:** The 2018 bill that the Coalition voted against was not introducing "new" transparency requirements but rather restoring the original 2013 Labor legislation that had been amended in 2015.
As Labor Senator Doug Cameron stated in the Senate: "This bill addresses a prominent deficiency in the tax transparency regime that arose after amendments were made in 2015" [2].
**Greens amendments rejected:** The Greens voted for the bill but also introduced amendments to lower the disclosure threshold even further from $100 million to $50 million, which would have captured more companies [1].
The Greens have consistently advocated for stronger corporate tax transparency, including pushing for lower disclosure thresholds than those proposed by Labor [1].
**They Vote For You / OpenAustralia Foundation:** The parliamentary voting records are sourced from Hansard (official parliamentary transcripts) and compiled by the OpenAustralia Foundation, a non-partisan organization that creates civic technology.
This is a highly reliable, independent source for parliamentary voting records [1][2].
**Parliamentary Hansard sources:** The original parliamentary debate records are authoritative primary sources for legislative proceedings and member statements [2][3].
**Did Labor do something similar?**
Search conducted: "Labor government corporate tax transparency voting record Australia"
Finding: Labor was the original architect of Australia's corporate tax transparency laws.
* * * *
The Rudd-Gillard Labor government introduced the Tax Laws Amendment (2013 Measures No. 2) Bill 2013, which established the requirement for the ATO to publish tax information for large companies (originally $100 million threshold) [2][3].
**Comparison of party positions:**
- **Labor (2013):** Introduced original tax transparency legislation requiring disclosure for companies with $100M+ turnover
- **Coalition (2015):** Amended the laws to raise threshold to $200M, exempting ~600 private companies
- **Labor (2017-2018):** Introduced bill to restore original $100M threshold
- **Coalition (2018):** Voted against restoring the transparency requirements
**Uniqueness of Coalition position:** The Coalition's 2015 amendments and their 2018 vote against restoring transparency requirements represent a distinct policy position favoring less corporate tax transparency than the original 2013 legislation.
検索 nounKensaku クエリ nounQuery : : 「 " Labor nounLabor government nounGovernment corporate nounCorporate tax nounTax transparency nounTransparency voting nounVoting record nounRecord Australia nounAustralia 」 "
This is not a bipartisan position - there is clear divergence between Labor (pro-transparency) and Coalition (more protective of private company information) on this issue [1][2][3].
**Coalition's stated rationale for opposing increased transparency:**
The Coalition government's position, as stated in parliamentary documents from 2015 and 2018, centered on several arguments [4]:
1. **Commercial sensitivity:** The government argued that releasing tax information for private companies could prejudice their commercial negotiations and competitive position
2. **ATO expertise concerns:** The Coalition contended that the Tax Office "is not equipped with the expertise to assess the commercial sensitivities of company negotiations"
3. **Resource allocation:** They argued that requiring ATO to assess disclosure exemptions would "divert resources away from its core activities"
4. **Privacy for private companies:** The Coalition maintained that private companies should have greater privacy protections than public companies, which already disclose financial information
**Critics' counter-arguments:**
1. **Public interest:** Transparency advocates argue that the public has a right to know whether large companies are paying appropriate tax
2. **Large company threshold:** The $100 million threshold only affects very large enterprises, not small businesses
3. **International precedent:** Many other jurisdictions have implemented similar or stronger corporate tax transparency requirements
4. **Closing loopholes:** Transparency helps identify aggressive tax minimization strategies
**The 2018 vote context:**
The June 25, 2018 vote occurred during the Turnbull government.
The bill passed the Senate with crossbench support despite Coalition opposition, but would have needed Coalition support or a change of government to become law in the House of Representatives.
The Coalition maintained consistent party discipline on this vote, with no recorded rebellions [2].
**Key context:** This is a genuine policy disagreement between the major parties on the appropriate balance between corporate transparency and commercial privacy, not merely partisan point-scoring.
Labor favors greater transparency for large corporations, while the Coalition prioritizes protecting private company information from public disclosure.
The Coalition (Liberal Party, National Party, Liberal National Party, and Country Liberal Party) did vote against the Taxation Administration Amendment (Corporate Tax Entity Information) Bill 2017 on June 25, 2018, which sought to increase tax transparency by lowering the disclosure threshold for large private companies from $200 million to $100 million [1][2].
The bill would have required the ATO to publicly release tax data for approximately 600 additional large private companies that had been exempted by Coalition amendments passed in 2015.
The Coalition (Liberal Party, National Party, Liberal National Party, and Country Liberal Party) did vote against the Taxation Administration Amendment (Corporate Tax Entity Information) Bill 2017 on June 25, 2018, which sought to increase tax transparency by lowering the disclosure threshold for large private companies from $200 million to $100 million [1][2].
The bill would have required the ATO to publicly release tax data for approximately 600 additional large private companies that had been exempted by Coalition amendments passed in 2015.