David Bradbury (Lindsay, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer ) Share this | Hansard source

I welcome the member for Dunkley's intervention on this occasion. In particular, I welcome his willingness to bring small business front and centre into the debate about what this government is doing. Once again, I am surprised that he would come into this place and seek to draw attention to his own abysmal failure. The member for Dunkley is the shadow small business minister, and he would have to be the only shadow small business minister, certainly from the coalition side, in the history of this parliament who has voted against tax relief for small business. He came into this parliament and voted against tax relief for small business, and then he has the audacity, the hide, to come in here.

But it gets much better than that. He glossed over the fact that he voted against tax relief for small business—the instant asset write-off measure, which will ensure that small businesses all around this country will be able to share in the benefits of the mining boom by getting an upfront deduction, an instant asset write-off for every asset they purchase under $6,500. This will be a massive boost to small business and will give them the capacity to invest in their own capabilities and in their own capital and equipment, making sure that they are able to take advantage of the opportunities that arise in the markets they serve. Not only did he gloss over that point, he had the audacity to come in here and challenge the government when it comes to the question of company tax cuts. Day after day we came into this parliament and those opposite jumped up and down and said, 'We will vote against company tax cuts.' The rationale for that was, they said: 'We don't support the income-generating source. We don't support the minerals resource rent tax. So, because we don't support the minerals resource rent tax, we won't be supporting any of the expenditure measures that are attached to it.' They made that point. They would have an ounce of credibility if they would at least maintain some consistency on that point. But what have they now done? We have handed down a budget where we have made it clear that, despite their determination to block our company tax cuts, we will make sure we spread the benefits of the boom. But we are going to do it by providing some other forms of assistance—in the form of increases to family payments and increases to allowances—to ensure that those individuals and families who are doing it tough share in the benefits of the mining boom. And what did they say?

All of a sudden they discovered that they were in a position where they could support expenditure measures that were linked to the MRRT. I think the real issue here is that the shadow small business minister does not have the clout in shadow cabinet. When it comes to small business issues, he was not able to get them over the line when it came to supporting a tax cut for business. What a shameful position to be in! He has been the only shadow Liberal small business minister to vote against tax relief for business, but then he got rolled. He got rolled in shadow cabinet on trying to give a company tax cut. For the member for Dunkley to come in here and try to challenge the government when it comes to tax reform, particularly in relation to company tax cuts, not only is really gilding the lily but is beyond the pale.

The member for Dunkley also made a few points in relation to the global financial crisis. He wants to block it from his memory. We all remember the shameful position that they took when they voted against the stimulus measures that supported this economy—or at least those that managed to turn up to parliament to vote against them. The member for Dunkley voted against them. Hundreds of thousands of jobs have been protected and supported as a result of that. One challenge I hand down for those opposite is that they should come forward and tell us which economy, which country, out of all those economies out there in the world handled the global financial crisis better than Australia.

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