Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Zero! Zero ships when the member for McMahon was Treasurer, and the member for Lilley. We have ordered—what is it?—42 or 46? I cannot keep track, it keeps going up so fast. What it means is that a generation of people will have jobs in South Australia for years to come and beyond.

Of course, we also have a clear plan in relation to company tax and what the benefit of cutting company tax will do for jobs. We know that small businesses under $2 million have about 10 people employed. When you up it to $25 million you might get 30 people employed, and up to $50 million maybe 140 people are employed. And all we hear from those opposite, from the member for Rankin and others who have been interjecting today, is that offshore investors will benefit from tax cuts and that the banks will benefit from tax cuts.

Well, when does that kick in? A decade from now? Ten years from now? In the next three years the tax cuts will be delivered: for businesses up to $10 million this year, up to $25 million next year and up to $50 million after that. This will help jobs—it will help jobs in those areas in particular.

A real estate business in my electorate—Bowmaker Realty—employs 24 local people. If there is a bit of a benefit there and they can increase their workforce by 10 per cent, then that is 2.4 jobs. If companies like East Coast Bullbars in my electorate, which employs 140 people, can employ 10 per cent extra then there are 14 jobs.

Maybe the member for McMahon should talk to people on his own back bench who have run businesses before. I understand the member for Longman has run her own small business before. Maybe the member for McMahon should go talk to her before he ridicules company tax cuts and only talks about large businesses, because small businesses will benefit.

In relation to multinational tax avoidance: will cutting company tax to 25 per cent from 30 per cent help that? It probably will. But they were not serious about it, because they did not vote for our measures either. Indonesia, our nearest neighbour, has a tax rate of 25 per cent. Singapore has 17 per cent, Ireland has 12½ per cent, Poland has 19 per cent and Montenegro has—what is it?—nine per cent over there. (Time expired)

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