We all benefit when corporations pay their fair share of tax. But, in April last year the Panama Papers revealed the lengths that Australian companies were going to to avoid their own tax obligations. When the Panama Papers were leaked, Kelly O’Dwyer, Minister for Financial Services, promised to do something about it. Now she is pushing ahead with plans to create a public register that would expose legal structures and make it easier for the ATO to scrutinise corporations. She needs to know that she has our support.

Sign our petition supporting Kelly O’Dwyer’s move towards a public register.

Predictably, parts of the corporate sector have vocally opposed the proposal for a public register. They’ve called it a “gross over-reaction”. They want to make sure that the Government does nothing - and that corporations can keep hiding their tax dodging in a complex web of legal loopholes.

This isn’t just wrong, it’s unfair. Corporations might not want to pay tax, but they also use and benefit from the public services that taxation funds. It’s just sensible that they should have to chip in.

If the public register is going to happen, we need to make sure that Minister O’Dwyer knows she has the public’s support in taking these important steps towards greater tax transparency.