Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I see the shadow Treasurer has enlisted from the opposition another member of the bank protection society for major banks. I would have thought the shadow finance minister would have been keeping his distance from the shadow Treasurer on this one, given he has been coveting his job the second he came into the role. So he has been enlisted in this program, and that will reflect poorly on him. Again, the only issue that is consuming the opposition is the poor old big banks that we have decided to tax—the poor old banks that benefit from the strong regulatory regime we have in this place, which ensures they have been able to maintain their credit rating. We have decided on behalf of the Australian taxpayer that they should be playing a bigger role in protecting not just the budget over the next budget and forward estimates but into the future, because we still have to fund schools, we still have to fund hospitals and we still have to fund Medicare. That goes well beyond just the budget and the forward estimates. So the forward estimates that are outlined in the budget are what the budget presents. That is a statement of obvious fact.

Those opposite have raised the issue of holes in funding. I note that the opposition continue to say that their funding promises depend on the full reversal of the Enterprise Tax Plan. They know that, to live up to that promise, they have to reverse the legislated tax cuts for small businesses. They have to drop the threshold for a small business from $10 million to $2 million. The shadow Treasurer should be up-front and tell people if he is going to increase taxes on small business in this country, because if he does not then he has a $25 billion black hole in his commitments.

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