Greens Treasury spokesperson, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, will be attending the white-collar crime Senate Inquiry hearing tomorrow in Melbourne [information below] and will be asking criminologists and regulators, “How tough do we have to make penalties to help stop endemic financial misconduct in Australia’s financial system?”

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “In Iceland, they held the bank Chairmen and CEOs responsible for the fraud and market manipulation that was carried out in their name by the bank staff, during the global financial crisis; and they were sent to jail.

Today Greens Senators for Tasmania Peter Whish-Wilson and Nick McKim were thanked by representatives of the Tasmanian agricultural community for stepping up and solving the political impasse over the backpacker tax including Glynn Williams, President of Primary Employers Tasmania, Keith Rice, Chief Executive of Poppy Growers Tasmania, Michael Bakhaazi of the Australian Institute of Marine Power Engineers and Phil Pyke of Fruit Growers Tasmania for a press conference in Salamanca, Hobart.

Greens Treasury spokesperson, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson is relieved to see the backpacker tax impasse finally resolved to provide certainty for Tasmania’s agriculture and tourism industries and to have helped deliver additional funding to landcare groups right across the state.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “What a bloody relief to get this finally done. It should never have gotten to this point, but I am relieved it to finally have it resolved.

Senator Di Natale, Australian Greens Leader said today, “This is a victory for farmers who have been watching their fruit wither and die on the vine. Farmers have already lost tens of thousands of dollars waiting for politicians in Canberra to agree on an outcome. With this agreement, they will wait no longer.

“Rural communities have been desperate for someone to clean up this mess with a sensible solution and the Greens have heard them.”

Greens Treasury spokesperson welcomes the announcement of a government review into potential rorting of the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax and the Commonwealth Royalty regime. Yesterday in Senate question time we asked the Government to consider doing this.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “The Government has known about potential rorting by big fossil fuel companies of the PRRT and the oil and gas royalty regimes for years. Everyone should pay their fair share.

“The Greens have been raising questions about the integrity of these schemes in the last parliament and in this one.

Greens Treasury spokesperson, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson says it is astonishing that in a week the Senate is squabbling over just tens of millions in revenue from backpackers, that the ANAO have just released a bombshell report (LINK HERE) saying that oil and gas companies may have wrongly claimed billions in tax deductions.

Greens Treasury spokesperson, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson welcomes the passage of the amended backpacker tax at a lower tax rate of 10.5% through the Senate today. He calls upon National Party backbenchers to take a stand for their communities and cross the floor next week to support the lower rate.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “It’s a simple test for the Nats next week. Do they want to maintain Australia’s competitive advantage when it comes to agricultural production or not?

Greens Treasury spokesperson, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, says that Scott Morrison’s supply-side economics response to his worsening budget deficit will do nothing to address the budget position and will only exacerbate inequality.

Greens Treasury spokesperson for Treasury, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, says that unless Malcolm Turnbull radically changes Australia’s economic settings those who are currently the economic winners will continue to prosper at the expense of those who are being left behind.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “Turnbull’s economic plan of corporate and top-end income tax cuts and slashing social welfare payments is a Reagan-era prescription that will only worsen the modern economic ailments of our time.