Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question and I thank him for the opportunity to talk about our party room and the depth of the experience on our side of the House. I thank him for giving me the opportunity to remind the House that, on the coalition side, on the government side, we have members from every walk of life—from big business; from small business; we have farmers; we have professional people; and we have military people. We have every line of work represented. So, when we have a discussion about economic matters, there are backgrounds and views brought to it with a rich range of diversity that enable us to work through these issues carefully and come to the right decision.

The challenge that every member of the government party room knows is before us is: how do we successfully transition our economy from one that is led by the mining construction boom to one that is led by the big opportunities opened up by the new global economy and the big opportunities in Asia? How do we do that? Each and every one of our party room knows that the answers to that lie in innovation. They lie in investment. They lie in infrastructure. They lie in opening up big markets. They see, and we recognise, that every lever of our policy is pulling in that direction. They recognise our innovation statement in encouraging investment in start-up companies, encouraging investment, promoting entrepreneurship and promoting investment.

We compare that to the policy of the Labor Party, which of course is to increase the tax on investment by 50 per cent So, at the same time as the government is encouraging people to invest in new businesses and new enterprises, the Labor Party are saying, 'We will increase the tax by 50 per cent on any gain you might make.' That is what they are seeking to do—to increase capital gains tax by 50 per cent. At a time when we are promoting confidence and encouraging entrepreneurship and recognising that the family home is the most important single asset for every family, the largest single asset class in Australia, what are the Labor Party doing? They are recklessly, thoughtlessly and ideologically undermining the value of the family home.

There is a road to that new economy. There is a transition that can be undertaken. It needs investment, innovation, infrastructure and open markets. We know what those levers are and we are pulling them. Labor are standing in the way.

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