Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Minister for Small Business) Share this | Hansard source

Burke is not lost; he is just there, member for Maribyrnong. He is just behind you. I bet he is probably doing the numbers, too, just like the member for Grayndler is. There we heard 10 minutes of politics of envy. The member for Maribyrnong, the opposition leader, talks about teachers and nurses. Look out, those same teachers and nurses, if they happen to have an investment property because 'Mr Anti-Negative Gearing' is coming to get you. Back to your bunker! Off he goes, back to his bunker to count the numbers.

I like to see that there are plenty of children up in the gallery. That is great. They should know that their principals, teachers and parents will benefit from the fact that they are about to get more needs-based school funding. It is great that there are so many of them in the gallery—and they are giving a wave. They are going to be getting more funding thanks to the coalition's recent budget.

For many Australians, today is just another day. They may be ordinary Australians, older Australians in need of help through the National Disability Insurance Scheme or a student sitting in a classroom—or, dare I say, in one of the galleries—which is in desperate need of needs-based funding. They might be a farmer whose crop can feed or clothe thousands—somebody from your own electorate, Mr Deputy Speaker Coulton. They might be a truckie travelling along one of our country's connecting highways, delivering those goods to market—perhaps from the member for Lyne's electorate to one of our fine cities. Or they could be a worker, just like 5.6 million Australians are. Almost half of our workforce who got up today went to work in one of Australia's small businesses. Ordinary Australians are at the heart of this government's agenda. Deep in the heart of those opposite, they know it is true. All of these people, all of these ordinary Australians, all of these everyday Australians are the people our budget was for. It represented them. It was fair and responsible, and provided opportunity for them. And it was measured. Our plan, outlined on 9 May, means that from the inland to the coast, in the cities and across the regions, there is a bright future for ordinary Australians who are just trying to get ahead.

As we deliver our budget of fairness for ordinary Australians, those opposite, just like the member for Maribyrnong, play politics with people's lives. He would be in his little bunker now doing the numbers and making sure that the member for Grayndler is not getting too far ahead of him. There was a time when those opposite called for needs-based funding for our kids, but they sit silent as this government delivers it. There was a time when those opposite told the Liberals and Nationals to: 'Do the right thing by people with disability; support the increase in the Medicare levy.' But the opposition leader rolls his shadow cabinet to stand in the way of delivering it.

There was a time when those opposite would have you believe that the Inland Rail corridor from Melbourne to Brisbane was built by the member for Grayndler himself—it was already there! But they can only muster calling it a 'valuable idea', as construction is set to begin through places such as my electorate and your electorate, Mr Deputy Speaker Coulton. Deep in the heart of those opposite is a division which cuts to the core. They know this budget has a Liberals and Nationals stamp on it—a Liberals and Nationals letterhead above it—because it has real money to fund it. It is not phoney money; it is not Monopoly money; it is real money. They know it will improve the lives of those who are most in need, be they students or people with a disability. The politicking of their leader means they cannot support it. They will not support it. They will be just as obstructionist. They will just stand in the way. Ordinary Australians are the ones left behind and hurt by Labor as politics pummel people. The Labor letterhead—speaking of letterheads—says, 'We'll put people first.' What a joke that is! It is ordinary Australians who are getting left behind by those opposite.

Our budget delivers for ordinary Australians. We stand with them shoulder to shoulder, and it starts with small business. Small business is everyone's business. It is ordinary Australians' business. There was a time when it was Labor's business. Once, there was a speech soaring in rhetoric from a man who knew what it took for the economy to grow. Once there was a man who knew that our country grows when our small-business sector is strong. There was a man who invited this government to join him to boost our country's economy. That man said the following:

I invite you to work with me on a fair and fiscally responsible plan to reduce the tax rate for Australian small business from 30 to 25 per cent—not a 1½ per cent cut; a five per cent cut.

He continued:

A 1½ per cent cut for small businesses might be enough to generate a headline but it is not enough to generate the long-term confidence and growth our economy needs.

That is what he said. He knew that ordinary Australians had a big future in small business. As a minister in the Labor government he used to skite about small business and how Labor cared—or purportedly cared. Once he told ordinary Australians:

Any student of Australian business and economic history since the mid-80s knows that part of Australia's success was derived through the reduction in the company tax rate.

He went on to say:

We need to be able to make life easier for Australian business, which employs two in every three Australians.

But that was when the member for Maribyrnong actually believed in something. It was when he wanted to actually support ordinary Australians instead of lecturing them.

But it is clear from today's matter of public importance debate that something has changed. Today, the member for Maribyrnong thinks of just one thing: his own job; politics. He is so spooked by the machinations within the Labor Party that the references to small business have gone. So too is the belief that small business has a big future and that it creates real jobs. Gone is the support for tax cuts. Gone is the quest for growth. Gone is the jobs focus of the modern Labor Party. From the man who once told parliament about the economic boost from small business tax cuts comes today the ridiculous notion and the ridiculous belief that those with a $2 million turnover are somehow millionaires. From the man who once invited us on that journey to cut small business tax, we have had just eight references to small business in this parliament since the last election—just eight.

I thought I would take a look, because surely the journeyman to 25 per cent could not have jumped that far off the bandwagon—surely not! Sadly, it seems that this is true. Of the eight references to small business from the member for Maribyrnong since the last election, three were when he was tabling the shadow ministerial arrangements. I thought I would give the so-called ordinary Australians' champion the benefit of the doubt. After all, he has written a book! It is a book, I hope, like those of his frontbench colleagues, that says what they are too scared to say in this place—a book like those by the members for McMahon and Fenner, where good sense can prevail. Alas, it is no better there. There are just a handful of references from the self-appointed small business journeyman, nothing like the 'Labor thing' the member for McMahon once espoused—he called cuts to small business tax a 'Labor thing'. There is nothing about the good economic theory applauded by the member for Fenner.

No, today the member for Maribyrnong forgets that ordinary Australians who own small businesses think about the responsibility they have to their employees, their workers. He forgets that they think about the responsibility of paying wages that support their employees' families. He forgets that they think about the burden of far too much red tape and far too much bureaucracy. He forgets that they think about their plans to expand their businesses even further and provide even more jobs for locals.

But today, just like every day, the Liberals and Nationals do think about them. We do care. We do support them. We think about those who wake up early and start work in their small business. We think about those for whom paperwork and commitments mean that the work clock ticks long past five o'clock. We think about those who employ almost half the Australians in work and the $380 billion they contribute to the nation's gross domestic product. We think of ordinary Australians doing extraordinary things in small business. That is why we have cut the small business tax rate to its lowest level—27½ per cent—in many, many decades. That is why we have an incentive of $300 million on the table, from the budget, for the states and territories to further reduce red tape. That is why our bill, which passed this House last night, will extend the instance asset write-off for another year.

But as we deliver for ordinary Australians in small business, those opposite stand in the way. They voted against our tax cut. They will scrap our incentive to cut red tape. They will hike small business tax in government. Hopefully they will not get there too soon; hopefully they will not get there at all. They are not even shy about it. Gone are the days of job creation. Gone is the soaring rhetoric and the economic plan. Here instead are ordinary Australians—the pawn in Labor's political game.

I wonder what happened to Labor's small business journeyman and how we can get him back on track. How can we get him back on track? Maybe it is one of those books from the members for McMahon and Fenner, which he can purchase from any good local bookstore—now paying less tax, thanks to this government. Or maybe it is the simple fact that small businesses—ordinary Australians, each and every one of them—have a applauded this year's budget for its fairness, its security, its opportunity for all Australians. So I will say to the Labor Party something simple: deep within their heart they know this budget is fair, they know it is fair, they know it is fully funded, they know it is full of opportunity. They know it delivers David Gonski's dream of needs-based funding for schools, with an $18.6 billion increase in funding over 10 years. In their heart of hearts, they know it is right.

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