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

I thank the honourable member for the question because it brings to mind another important matter that he should note for his stirring address tonight, and that is this: the tax cuts for small and medium business, which employ collectively nearly half of all of the Australian private sector employees, are law—they have been passed. And they cost, over the 10 years, $24 billion, around half of the total of the Enterprise Tax Plan.

So, is the Leader of the Opposition, having spent that $24 billion, tonight going to say that he will repeal it? Is he going to say, to all those hardworking family-owned businesses, that the Labor Party is going to increase tax on them? Is he going to say to them, as they take the incentive and the encouragement to invest and employ, 'Oh, that tax cut was a handout'? Note the language; it is very insightful. He says that a tax cut is a handout. What that means is that the view of the Leader of the Opposition is that every dollar earned by a business actually belongs to the government, and such portion as the government allows the business to retain is a handout.

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