Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Shortland for her question. The paid parental leave scheme being put forward by those opposite has at its core a $10.8 billion tax, which will harm the economy and, of course, will risk family budgets. The Leader of the Opposition has spent a lot of time talking about big new taxes—well, this one is a whopper. It is the Big Mac of taxes. Of course it will impact on business, it will impact on employment and it will impact on family budgets.

I think we can all celebrate today’s employment figures, which were spoken about before by the Deputy Prime Minister. But this big tax is a risk to investment. This big tax is a risk to growth. This big tax is a risk to jobs. Those opposite are having a few problems coordinating their discussions on economic policy. I note that the Leader of the Opposition said that the shadow Treasurer and the finance spokesman should have known about this scheme because they could have read it in his book—which was published a year ago. We know they do not actually read very often, and this is part of the problem.

We know that last December the shadow Treasurer actually missed a very substantial revision to the national accounts—billions of dollars just went past him and he did not notice. So they do not do a lot of reading. But there is some reading they should do—for example, a recent report from the OECD, which said:

Corporate taxes are found to be the most harmful for growth ...

This is something that those opposite do not appear to understand: the need to invest for growth, the need to invest to employ Australians.

They have proven, through what has occurred over the last couple of days, what a serious risk to our national economy they have become. They could not even work out whether the tax is going to be imposed on businesses with a $5 million turnover or on businesses that paid $5 million worth of tax—thereby leaving something like 2,500 businesses in limbo. This demonstrates that they are a risk to investment and a risk to business. What they do not appear to understand is that this tax will be passed on to families—passed on at the supermarket, passed on at the petrol station and of course passed on at the local bank. That demonstrates just how out of touch they are.

What this is all about is trying to prove that somehow they are pro family—after they supported Work Choices which ripped away fundamental conditions for families. On this side of the House, we are proud of the first-ever commitment to a paid parental leave scheme from an Australian government, from the Rudd government—a scheme which is affordable, a scheme which is sustainable and a scheme which does not require a big tax which will cost jobs.

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