Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

What planet is this guy living on? Members opposite live on Planet Tax! It is members opposite who live on Planet Tax—the carbon tax, the mining tax—they have never sought an area of activity that they did not want to tax. That is the problem with members opposite.

This is a government and this is a political movement which in the marrow of its bones wants to cut tax. And we have delivered. We do not just talk about cutting tax, we actually deliver the tax cuts that the Australian people want and deserve. In last year's budget we abolished the carbon tax and the mining tax—two rightly-hated taxes. In this year's budget I am so pleased that we did not just talk about doing the right thing by small business; we have delivered for the small businesses of Australia, with $5.5 billion worth of tax cuts.

Those tax cuts mean that the most creative people in our country are liberated to have a go. Those tax cuts mean that at a time when mining investment is slowing down small business investment is speeding up. The great thing about that small business investment is that it is directed by the entrepreneurs of our country. It is not chosen by the officials in Canberra; it is directed by the entrepreneurs of our country, because they are the people who deserve a fair go. They are the people who want to have a go, and when they have a go every Australian is more likely to get the fair go that they all yearn for.

So this is a government which is delivering tax cuts. We delivered them in last year's budget and we have delivered them in this year's budget. And as far as I am concerned every budget that this government delivers will be a tax cut-cutting budget, because that is what we want to give to the people of Australia.

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