Subjects: Mr Beazley should hand over documents in possession of Labor Party; Audit of GST compliance
E&OE................................
PRIME MINISTER:
Well twice on the AM Programme this morning Mr Beazley was asked whether the Labor Party would send to the taxation office any further documents in its possession relating to aspects of GST compliance by the Queensland Liberal Party. On both occasions he refused to give that commitment. Now that a full audit has been requested of GST compliance by the Queensland Liberal Party, it's a full open inquiry, Mr Beazley has an obligation to hand over to the taxation office any other documents in the possession of the Labor Party. I mean we are conducting a full audit, we have nothing to hide, the Liberal Party has nothing to hide, I want to get to the bottom of this, if there is anything further I want to know about it. If Mr Beazley is sincere he will undertake immediately to make documents available that haven't been made available. If he refuses to do so then he's once again revealed as a shallow opportunist, not interested in getting to the bottom of a matter, rather seeking to score a cheap political point.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard is a fair to ask Mr Beazley to do something which the Treasurer didn't do back in February by passing over these documents to the tax office?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well Mr Beazley is the person who is alleging that there's a scam. Mr Costello wasn't alleging that there was a scam, Mr Costello properly handled a letter that was received and in any event the substance of that letter was also dealt with in correspondence from the Federal Director. Look he wasn't alleging a scam, we are perfectly happy as I've indicated to have the taxation office look at all of the records of the Queensland division relating to GST compliance. We don't have anything to hide, I have no interest in anything being concealed, I don't want it concealed, every section of every political party in Australia must comply with the GST laws like everybody else. And we have nothing to hide. If we had something to hide I wouldn't have having a full audit. I asked for the audit and I'm saying to Mr Beazley if you've got anything else don't sit on it, don't conceal it, don't suppress it, make it available to the taxation office so we can fully investigate this matter. As far as I'm concerned the inquiry will fall where it may because everybody has got to comply with the tax laws but on the evidence available the Labor Party is making wildly exaggerated claims.
JOURNALIST:
Does Mr Macfarlane still enjoy your full support?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes I think Mr Macfarlane has been a good Small Business Minister. I don't believe that Mr Macfarlane set out to mislead the Parliament last week. If you look at what he said it is not in conflict with what he subsequently said in his statement. On the information available to me I don't believe that he set out to mislead to the parliament, he didn't in the parliament, for example, deny having spoken to anybody, he made the comment that he didn't believe anything untoward had occurred. On the information I've been given that was his belief and you can't be accused of misleading parliament merely by stating your belief about what a set of circumstances amounts to.
JOURNALIST:
150 per cent support for Mr Macfarlane?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh he's an excellent Minister, he does have my support, yes of course he has my support.
JOURNALIST:
Do you concede this might have damaged the government's.
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh look those questions always get asked, in the long run what damages a government is something the Australian public determine not Prime Ministers or media commentators. So I'm not going to get into a bit of political commentary about it but we're dealing with the issue. The important thing is that I have called an audit by the tax office. Now if I had something to hide I wouldn't be doing that because once you get the tax boys in they look at everything. This happens to people in small business, I don't see why it shouldn't happen to a political party if some claim is made. But I'll be very interested to see the outcome of that audit and I think the Australian public will but I am perfectly happy for the tax office to look at everything relating to GST compliance by the Queensland Liberal Party and I'm just saying to Mr Beazley stop playing games, stop being an opportunist, don't make breathless allegations on morning radio, just 'fess up and hand over all the documents you've got.
JOURNALIST:
One of the claims from Labor is there's one rule for the Liberal Party and another for the rest of the country. Do you think there's a perception out there from small business this could create a lot of anger that the Liberal Party hasn't followed the proper GST input credit rules.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well Tom if there one rule for the Liberal Party and another one for everybody else I wouldn't be having an audit. I mean if the tax office thinks there's something odd with somebody's tax behaviour they do a audit. I've invited them to do an audit on the Queensland division and I'm quite happy to live with whatever outcome there is from that audit. Now you couldn't be more open and you couldn't be more equitable in your treatment of the Liberal Party compared with the rest of the community. I mean that is the point. So I say to Mr Beazley stop the pointscoring nonsense, if you've got any more documents give them to the tax office, don't give them to me, give them to the tax office.
Thank you.
[ends]