Australia is under increasing pressure to crack down on offshore tax havens, with new research suggesting the country is falling behind in tackling the insidious issue.
Oxfam has released research estimating governments around the world are losing $190 billion in revenue each year as tax-dodgers conceal their funds.
The not-for-profit group is calling for the adoption of public, country-by-country reporting on tax avoidance.
Labor's assistant treasury spokesman Andrew Leigh said the register would allow people to know where firms operate, how much revenue they book there, and how much tax they pay.
"We know that tax havens are used by drug dealers and arms traffickers. We know they are being abused by multinational firms to avoid paying their fair share of tax," Dr Leigh said on Monday.
"It is up to Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg to take action. As Oxfam states, it's time for Australia to become leaders, not laggards on tax transparency."
The 'Buried Treasure' report estimated that as much as "$1.1 billion in profits was shifted out of Africa in 2015 alone by the Australian mining sector through the use of tax secrecy jurisdictions".
Oxfam said the tax revenue generated from those profits could have instead been used for schools and hospitals.
"This means Australian mining companies may be responsible for the loss of an estimated $289 million in government tax revenues in some of the poorest countries in the world (many of which are in Africa) in one single year alone," the report said.
