Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

No, let them yell, Mr Deputy Speaker. Let the shrill yells come from the other side. I am quite happy for it to occur. Let them have their discussions. I am obviously touching on a bit of a sensitive subject when I mention what is occurring on the other side. If they want to have a freewheeling discussion about leadership issues, fine. We want to talk about a very serious issue on this side—we want to talk about the taxation system. We want to talk about having a taxation system that will grow jobs and growth the economy. We know that we need to set up our economy so it will remain competitive in the 21st century. Sitting still and doing nothing will not deliver that. We need to look at the tax mix to see whether it will deliver us the type of economy, the type of jobs growth and the type of GDP growth that we need in a globalised world. And that is what we are doing.

What we are seeing is real economic leadership, and that leadership is not fearful of a campaign of fear about change. We are seeing real economic leadership, where everything is put on the table in the best interests of this nation. We want to see a tax mix so that not only the current generation will have an economy which sets us up in a globalised world, but our children and our grandchildren will also benefit from strong economic growth that comes from strong jobs growth. What does that mean? It means that you do not have a personal income tax system that shackles the economy and that shackles growth. It means a personal income tax system which can be compared to our near neighbours like New Zealand and other countries like Canada or the United Kingdom with which we compete.

When you look at our company tax rates and compare them with those of New Zealand, Canada and the UK, we are competitive. We want to set up our economy so that as Martin Parkinson said—and I think that Martin Parkinson served that side as well is he served our side—we have indirect taxes which help to produce a higher standard of living and not direct taxes which actually shackle our standard of living. That is what we are all about. Rather than looking at the reintroduction of the carbon tax or the mining tax, I would suggest that those on the other side look at other suggestions and alternatives. Rather than having your little conversations in the corridors about Mr 15 per cent, do some real work and have real discussions on real issues that matter to the mums and dads in this nation—and not only to the mums and dads, but to their kids and their grandkids. That is what our government is about—real economic leadership and real discussions on our tax mix.

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