David Littleproud (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure to arise this afternoon and speak in favour of this legislation, because it is the government's responsibility to set the environment and infrastructure around its people—not to get caught up in its lies but to put the environment and infrastructure around them to allow them to innovate, to grow and to invest. That's a government's responsibility. That's what we did back in March when we passed the first tranche of this legislation, passing tax cuts onto small businesses. It's quite interesting that the member for Lyons, the champion of small business, proclaims to know and understand it all. I challenge him and those opposite to understand and know what a small business is. Many on this side, including me, own a small business, have to pay the wages and the electricity, have to understand how to keep it open. Real representation is to understand what economic levers need to be pulled to ensure we get the growth and get the engine room of this nation moving. That's what we did back in March.

But no. These great champions of small business stood in our way and tried to stop it. The hypocrisy of them to come in here and say they are the champions of small business is nothing short of laughable. The reality is we are making the legislative changes. We are pulling the economic levers that are driving growth for small business. There are over 3.2 million small businesses that will take advantage of all of these cuts that we'll be undertaking. But it also ensures that we are going to get now a next level of investment.

Those opposite don't understand the flow of capital. We have to be competitive. When they take off their tinfoil hat with its simplistic understanding of economics—when they understand we are part of a global economy—they will have to understand that we are competing in a global economy and that that's a good thing for this nation. We have to be attractive to actually compete and attract the capital that we need to invest and to continue to see, whether it's a small business or a large business, that they are the engine room that employs people. Those opposite want to take umbrage at trickle-down economics and all that it may or may not be, but let me tell you: we are starting to see the benefits of this so-called trickle-down economics as we are pulling these levers right here and now. There were 240,000 new jobs created. That is real economic growth in our nation. We are seeing exports exponentially increase, particularly in the agricultural sector. There has been an increase of over 18 per cent in agricultural exports because of the environment we are putting around the Australian people. We are putting them in an environment where they are now part of a global economy, lo and behold.

Those opposite are yet to understand that we are part of the world and that it's a good thing because we have what the world wants here, and it's important that we engage the world. It's more important than ever that we engage the world, that we are part of it and that we compete in it. You have to have a competitive environment to be able to be part of that global economy. We've done that with the trade agreements with South Korea, Japan and China. We continue to work on trade agreements in Indonesia and opening up greater export opportunities that are putting real wealth in the pockets of people across this nation, and particularly in my electorate of Maranoa, where we're seeing significant growth because of the trade agreements in the agricultural sector in particular. We are seeing people getting real returns. Four or five years ago they got $1.50 per kilo for their beef, and now they're getting $4 or $5 per kilo. That's an exponential increase in their income that flows through.

Talking about trickle-down economics, what happens is that it trickles through the economy when people have more disposable income. Those opposite wouldn't understand, but, when you are a small-business owner and you have an industry like the agricultural sector in your community, you need it to be strong because then more money comes into the business. If you invest in small business and business in this community, they reinvest through more employment and through greater competition. That's what this nation is about. It's about understanding how we fit in a global economy but also how we fit locally and how we can get money to trickle down not only to the Brisbanes, the Sydneys and the Melbournes but to the Romas, the Charlevilles and the Longreaches of this world. No matter your postcode, you are just as precious and just as important in this nation. That's something we should always protect, and that's why we must put an environment around our Australian people to allow them to prosper, to grow and to undertake it.

We must not be the big hand of government and think that we can spend our way out of this. This is the simplistic nature that the Labor Party continue to hold onto. They believe that, as soon as there's trouble, the only way is to spend our way out of it—to be the big hand of government. The reality is that we all have to pay for it at some point, and that's what they forget. They have a never-never scheme where they kick the can down the road. Unfortunately, the generations to come—my three young boys—will be the ones that will have to pay for that legacy of economic vandalism that we've seen time and time again from the Labor Party. They are not understanding how we fit in the world and how we need to have a competitive environment for the people we are here to represent.

If you have faith in our nation and its businesses, they will reinvest in our nation, and we will be where we need to be in our international rankings. When you look at our international tax competitiveness, we were formerly the ninth lowest, and now we're the fifth highest. The reality is that our competitive nature in a global economy has slipped exponentially. If you think that we are not competing with other jurisdictions with respect to tax, it's all about profitability—as the member for Lyons talked about, if they're making profits they're happy, but if they get bigger profits that's when they'll invest. It's understanding how business works. Unfortunately, those opposite haven't had a lot of experience in running businesses. They've been union hacks and political hacks, but they haven't had the responsibility of paying wages, paying electricity bills, paying their rates, understanding what it is to run a business—the responsibility not only to your staff but to your community. That's what we bring to the table in terms of pulling the economic levers that are going to generate the growth. We understand that, if we make the investment in our country, it will give an investment back—a great return.

These measures around international tax competitiveness are so important around the flow of capital. I've been an employee of a major corporate. I'm not saying that all of them are the most socially responsible, but the reality is that they are an important employer in this nation. They are a very important employer in this nation. As someone that has been employed by them and has seen retrenchments over time of some of those people I've worked closely with, I can assure the House that those businesses are no different to small businesses. If they cannot have the competitiveness that they need, they won't reinvest in their businesses and they won't reinvest in the human capital of each and every Australian in order to give them the opportunity to have a job.

There is the simplistic notion of class warfare, where big corporates are bad. Yes, they've got some work to do on some issues. But the reality is that we have to put the environment around them to ensure they are internationally competitive and that we attract the capital flows we need—and deserve—to continue to get the employment that we have to have in this nation. Lo and behold, funnily enough, the people who are employed by those corporates also pay tax. The reality is that the simplistic notion of class warfare that the Labor Party unleash at every opportunity just does not work. It is simplistic; it is politically great for them, but the reality is that our nation suffers. We as a nation are at a tipping point. We are $500 billion in debt. We have to pull the right economic levers now to ensure that we put in place a framework that drives growth for this nation.

It is also around infrastructure priorities that will increase the productivity of our nation. You do not have to look far for that. We are making a significant investment in roads and rail and telecommunications. The NBN will be rolled out across my electorate of Maranoa—nearly 43 per cent of Queensland—by 2018. These things are the tools of the 21st century, the tools we will need in order to take advantage of the trade agreements that we have put in place. There is the $220 million that we have put in place for the mobile phone blackspot program—again, tools of the 21st century that we need in order to take advantage of and engage in the global economy. We must understand that we are part of a world that is there to embrace us. It is an important thing that people in rural and regional Australia understand better than those opposite.

Before I was elected, I went out to a little town called Alpha. I visited a lady who had been in drought for the last six years. I went and did a feed run with her. We were driving around in her ute. She was getting a little emotional about the fact that she had not seen her husband for nearly 18 months because he was off working 700 kilometres away. I said to her, 'Do you really think there's a future in this?' She looked me in the eye and said: 'Mate, I don't even know your politics, but the only person who is important to me is the trade minister. When it rains, I know that all the work I've done over the last five or six years is going to be worth something to me. The cattle are going to get us out of this, and my husband is going to come home to me.' That was somebody in the depths of despair. She had been to the bottom and was still at the bottom. For her to acknowledge and understand our place in this world and the importance of the environment we put around our people is something I will never forget. That is the understanding that the Australian people have. If we empower them to do what they need to do then we will get the investment and the growth that we need.

We can also talk about inland rail—a corridor of commerce from Melbourne to Brisbane. It is going to open up regional Australia far more than ever before. We are going to get our products to the world more quickly. We have what the world wants. In fact, if you want to put the importance of trade agreements to the fore, we have a population of about 24 million people and we produce enough food for 75 million people. If we do not have trade agreements, we as a nation will not have rural and regional Australia.

You can couple that with the tax incentives that we have provided to small businesses. There are 25,000 small businesses in Maranoa that took advantage of the first tranche of this, which those opposite opposed. Those opposite opposed small businesses being able to get on and reinvest in their communities and in their businesses. Those are the types of things that have a real impact. We must understand that capital flow is so important—whether it be the family farm or at the corporate level. That is where real trickle-down economics comes to the fore. Those opposite should not be scared of that, because it works. And we are seeing that transcend now.

In all the data that is coming through, our growth is starting to get to a tipping point where the decisions that this government has made are having an exponential benefit in terms of where this nation will be in 10 or 15 years time. It is about the continuing investment that this government has proudly undertaken in the business environment and infrastructure. If you do that, if you make that case for investment, you will see private investment flow.

I'll give you an example: the Toowoomba bypass, a $1.6 billion investment that's being put in place now that will get the products of Maranoa to the world quicker, has been matched by the Brisbane West Wellcamp Airport. We now have an Australian export hub on our doorstep, where we have weekly cargo flights taking Maranoa product around the world, because we are putting the connectivity in place. There has been private investment: the owners of Wellcamp, private people, made that investment in the people of Queensland and regional Queensland, because we made the initial investment in the Inland Rail and the second range crossing. That's an important step to understand: if you have faith, if you have confidence, in the Australian people, they will respond. And the Wagner family, quite proudly, did. We should be proud of Australians—proud that, when we put the environment and infrastructure around them, they respond. And when they respond, that is a good thing for our nation. Never before have we seen such investment in the electorate of Maranoa, into connectivity: $500 million into the Warrego Highway, and into Inland Rail, $8.4 billion.

This is about connecting us to the real world. I plead with those opposite to put aside the politics, understand our place in the world and understand the importance of how we can interact with the world and how we can take advantage of the competitive advantage that we have with the world's best product. But we have to have an open mind. We have to understand that there is no quick or easy fix on this. You can't spend your way out of this. You have to have sensible policy that will ensure that we empower the people of this nation to go to the next level.

I'm proud to stand here supporting a government that understands small business, that understands the economy and that understands that, if we get these economic levers right, we will make this nation the nation that it deserves to be.

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