Trevor Evans (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

They have indeed written books about it. In fact, in the last five years or so four of Labor's shadow ministry—the opposition leader, the member for Rankin, the member for McMahon and the member for Fenner—talked about the need to cut taxes. They spoke about it on at least 18 separate occasions that I can find. It really does cause you to lament the current state of Labor. Exhibit 2, I would say, is Labor's hypocrisy this week on child care. How, I wonder, will Labor explain to low- and middle-income families out there why they voted against reducing childcare costs for the most needy and deserving in our society?

Exhibit 3 is Labor's hypocrisy on multinational tax avoidance. This government has passed the first tranche of multinational tax avoidance laws already, and over the past year those laws have clawed back $2 billion, and counting, from multinational companies—taxes that would otherwise have fallen unfairly on the shoulders of local and small businesses. But Labor did not support those multinational tax avoidance laws when they had the chance. Small businesses, our strong focus, are so many and varied that they are difficult for centralised decision-makers to engage with. Small businesses exemplify reward for effort; they refuse or are unable to accept one-size-fits-all solutions. One of the two major parties in this country—Labor—cannot help but think first about big union and big business deals.

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