Labor queries PM's Panama Papers words

Labor wants Malcolm Turnbull to provide a fuller explanation of his association with a company set up in the tax haven British Virgin Islands.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. (AAP)

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. (AAP) Source: AAP

Labor is refusing to accept just yet Malcolm Turnbull's assurance there was no impropriety around his association with a British Virgin Islands company set up to exploit a Siberian gold prospect.

The prime minister is mentioned in the Panama Papers as a former director of Star Technology Services Limited, a company incorporated by tax haven law firm Mossack Fonseca.

"There is nothing new here," Mr Turnbull said when reporters quizzed him in Melbourne on Thursday.

Star Technology Services was a wholly owned subsidiary of a publicly listed Australian company, he said.

Mr Turnbull was asked if the company had paid its fair share of tax in Australia.

"Had it made any profits which it did not, regrettably, it certainly would have paid tax in Australia," he said.

Earlier Labor demanded a full and frank response to revelations outlined in the Australian Financial Review.

Cabinet Secretary Arthur Sinodinos likened them to a "dead horse being flogged".

Mr Turnbull said his involvement was "very, very well known and, as the article acknowledges, there's no suggestion of any impropriety at all".

That was not enough for Labor leader Bill Shorten who said the Panama Papers revealed the great lengths to which some very wealthy individuals and large corporations went to avoid paying tax.

"These are very serious matters for Mr Turnbull to answer and I think it is incumbent upon him to do so fully," he told reporters in Rockhampton.

Back in 2014, Mr Turnbull recalled his association with Star Technology Services, following the death of former NSW Labor premier Neville Wran.

Both men were appointed directors of the company in 1993.

In a condolence speech to parliament, Mr Turnbull said the pair had "some amazing adventures" together.

"At one point we were financing a gold project in Siberia. Neville came on one trip to Siberia, and at the same time we had another gold project in Ghana," he said.

"He took me aside after all these bizarre people we encountered in Siberia - large men with guns and all this stuff. I thought it was pretty frightening.

"He took me aside and said, 'Son, here is the deal: you do Russia, I will do Africa'. So I commuted to Siberia and Neville commuted to Ghana."

Star Technology Services started life in November 1991 as Green Applied Systems.

It was incorporated by Mossack Fonseca, but not administered by it.

The name was changed to Star Technology Services in 1992, after Mr MacNee together with a Russian-Australian, Ludmilla Melnikoff, negotiated with Russian politicians for a 34.88 per cent share in a joint venture to develop a $20 billion Siberian gold mine called Sukhoi Log.




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