Ben Morton (Tangney, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

and the minister!—what it is like to give people a job. Young jobseekers will participate in the intensive pre-employment skills training that will help build practical industry skills, like working in a team, presentation, effective communication, IT skills and job hunting skills. The voluntary internships of four to 12 weeks will give young jobseekers real time in businesses and they will be incentivised with an additional $200 payment per fortnight. The employers that give these young people a start will be eligible for a youth bonus wage subsidy of between $6,500 and $10,000 if they hire a young jobseeker under 25 who has been in employment services for six months or more. It is a much smarter way of leveraging what the community would otherwise spend on welfare payments.

But all those opposite could do was advocate for more handouts for no personal effort for those that sit back and feel it is their right to get a handout without any personal obligation. Those opposite should remember the words of the member for Lilley, the former Treasurer, in May 2010, shortly after the Rudd government had included a budget measure to reduce the company tax rate from 30 per cent to 28 per cent. The member for Lilley said:

Our plan will also improve the competitiveness of the entire economy. It will deliver a company tax rate cut for all companies.

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These changes promote growth across the entire economy.

Fine words. And I encourage my Labor colleagues to take the sage advice from their elder statesman—a 'Treasurer of the Year', in fact, from memory. While we are reviewing the hypocrisy of the current campaigning of those opposite, we should heed the advice of the Leader of the Opposition, who said:

Cutting the company income tax rate increases domestic productivity and domestic investment. More capital means higher productivity and economic growth and leads to more jobs and higher wages.

But that has gone straight out of the window in the attempt to pursue populism over good policy.

The core focus of the Turnbull government remains increasing what hardworking Australians can earn. Through the Treasury Laws Amendment (Enterprise Tax Plan) Bill, this government is committed to providing tax relief for businesses. This bill improves Australia's tax system for businesses and to drive investment in our economy. It drives investment and new jobs to employ people, particularly young people. Businesses in Tangney want it, industry bodies want it, young jobseekers want it and this Liberal-National government want it because it is good for all Australians.

It is very clear since I have been in this place for a short time that there is a party and a government that is going to back hardworking aspirational Australians that want to apply their efforts to succeed. There is a government on this side of the chamber that is committed to encouraging and rewarding those people that go out there, that work hard and that give people the opportunity to do so themselves. What we have seen from the Labor Party constantly is the pursuit of populism—abandoning things that they have said before, abandoning things they know will make a big difference to employing young people in this country in order to pursue populist politics for their own political end.

This bill is an important one. As someone who has grown up in a family committed to small business and working in small business, I know what is like to give people a job. I know what it is like to interview someone. I know what is like to look at your cash flow and to work out if you can afford to give that person a chance, if you can afford to take a risk on that young person. To suggest that cutting the tax of small businesses will not lead to more jobs and more investment in our economy is absolutely absurd.

In conclusion, I would like to commend this bill to the House and I hope that the Labor Party will put aside populism and do what is good for this country.

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