Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

But there is a roadblock—the Australian Labor Party. The Australian Labor Party is blocking initiatives, like the abolition of the carbon tax, that are going to help to grow the Australian economy. This will, in fact, grow the Australian economy because of its abolition. As proven by Treasury data, the carbon tax is a handbrake on growth, there is no doubt about that. But the Labor Party wants to keep that handbrake in place. When you have mining investment coming off, the Labor Party's solution is to do everything it can to keep a tax on mining. When mining investment is coming off, what does the Labor Party do? It says, 'Do everything you can possibly do to make it harder to open a mine in Australia.' That is what it wants.

Well, that is the Labor Party, because the Labor Party just does not get it. It does not understand that more taxes and more regulation inhibit growth. They inhibit aspiration. They inhibit the capacity of business to employ more people and to give Australians hope that tomorrow will be better than today. The Labor Party thinks of the last six years as a great big black hole. Nothing happened. The problem is the damage that it has done. What it has left Australia with is an economy that is underperforming. It is stuck in second gear. But what I say to the Australian people is: the coalition is up for the challenge. We are ready to help to grow the Australian economy.

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