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

I say to the member for McMahon that, whilst the capex figures released today were disappointing, they were, of course, over the March quarter—prior to the cut in interest rates by the Reserve Bank and prior to our budget. In fact, in plant and equipment and machinery in particular, I can say to you that the $20,000 instant asset write-off in our budget is going to make a difference to the procurement of capital by small business in particular. When it comes to capital expenditure by the private sector, as reported by the ABS, and given that there has been a substantial reduction in commodity investment and construction associated with a fall in iron ore prices in particular, the fall in capex was not without expectation. There was no doubt about that.

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