Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Those opposite do not fathom this; that is why I am getting interjections. They do not get that what happened after that was that Ireland became the IT centre of Europe. It became the IT centre of Europe because that was the emerging business, the emerging industry, of the time. Those businesses said, 'Let's move somewhere where there is a business friendly environment.' What happened then of course is that there was much more employment, and things were going very well in the private sector.

Another thing that I am very proud that our government has done is clamp down on multinational tax avoidance. It is something that the other side has talked about. They were in for six years and did nothing about it; we have been in for two and are now doing a lot on it. While we believe in competitive tax rates, we certainly believe that businesses and multinationals should pay their fair share. So it was great to see in the budget that the government I am very proud to be a part of has brought in a diverted profits tax. We, by reinforcing the ATO and giving them more resources to do this, are budgeting to collect nearly $4 billion over four years to make sure that multinationals pay their fair share—because, if you are making profits in Australia, you should be paying tax in Australia, and that is what this measure will ensure.

I am running out of time, so I will touch on a couple of things that I am really happy about. In our youth employment package of over $800 million, business will be working with government. Businesses take a big risk. Those opposite would not know that, but I have employed people. When you employ people, it is a big commitment. You know that they are not going to be productive at the start and that you will have to train them. There is a big expense when you take someone on. Again, those opposite would not know that, but we do because most of us here have employed people. We are going to work with small business and, together, put in place internships, skills training and a bonus wage subsidy to encourage small business to employ people.

On infrastructure, employment and competitive taxation it is a great budget and I am very happy to be part of the government that brought it down.

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