Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Well, I did ask my office to send this down to me, and poor backbenchers don't have colour printers. Not to lose the point—under Labor I think there were about 200,000 jobs. This government has created 400,000 jobs—more than a 1,100 per week. Never before in history have we seen so many jobs created by some singular pieces of policy driven by the Turnbull government. It was the strongest calendar year growth on record. The Australian economy has created 1,100 economy jobs every single day.

Mr Hammond interjecting—

You should write that down, Member for Perth, and aspire, if you ever get into government, to match those contributions that we have made. We are very proud of it, and I would encourage every member of the government, whenever they walk into this chamber, to remind the Australian public of how proud we are of the work that we're doing in creating jobs and growth in this economy. The vast majority of these jobs have been full time. They're not trickery jobs like you will see in some Labor state governments. They'll just ramp up their public service and think that they're stimulating the economy. Most have been in the private sector, because we all know that the engine room of the economy is that small business sector. The number of new jobs created in this year represents nearly five times the jobs growth of the last year of the previous Labor government. That's an enormous contrast: five times the difference between our growth strategy and Labor's. Who is best set to manage the economy? Which side of the House is best set to look after your interests when you're looking at it through the prism of jobs growth and results on the ground? The decision for the Australian public is extremely clear. We are looking to build the economy with more and better paying jobs for Australians and locals in my electorate of Wright. This is why the business community is responding to the Liberal Party's policy. We have cut company taxes for 3.2 million small businesses and reduced the income tax of nearly 500,000 middle Australians.

Some of those on the other side, who have come up through the union ranks, who have never been in a business, scoff. They scoff about why you would give business a handout. Why would you give business a handout? But how is it that we're creating 400,000 jobs—1,100 every day last year, 2017? How are we creating those jobs? Because we're incentivising small business—3.2 million small businesses. We're doing it in a number of ways, and we're doing it through tax incentives. As part of the government's Enterprise Tax Plan, the company tax rate for small business has been cut to its lowest rate in 50 years, from 30 per cent down to 27.5 per cent for businesses with a turnover of up to $25 million this year, and for businesses with a turnover of up to $50 million for the years 2018-19.

What does that mean? If you have a business employing four or five or 10 people, and you reduce their company tax rate, what happens is that their net profit at the end of the year is greater. Those on the other side, as I heard when they were making contributions to this debate the other day, said, 'Business is there to make profit.' Whilst that is so true, business is also there to grow their business. The way that you grow your business, as an owner, and the way you reduce the amount of time you invest in your business, is to put more people on. As the wage pressures become greater and the staff look to move on for better opportunities, that is when wage growth comes. Both sides of the House are focused on wage growth. I will speak to that in due course. For unincorporated businesses with a turnover of less than $5 million, we've introduced a tax discount of eight per cent capped at $100,000. These changes will benefit 3.2 million businesses employing around 6.7 million Australians, including many small businesses in Wright, which will help them to invest and create more jobs.

So when we say 'jobs and growth', it is not just a slogan. The Australian public is going to hear a lot more about jobs and growth as we move into the next election phase. Labor's refusal to support lower taxes means Australian workers will be left behind on wage rises, as the jobs and the wage rises they should be getting are sent to the government in continued higher taxes and also go offshore.

We've seen in America the enthusiasm with which the markets have responded to their enthusiasm to reduce company tax rates. We have seen those in Singapore. We have seen those in the London. Their economies have flourished and prospered as a result of lower taxes.

More recently, in Sydney, we were very fortunate to host, as a nation, the Australian Economic Forum, the A50—50 being representative of 50 influential people from around the globe who have their fingerprints on the Australian economy. The Minister for Trade was there and spearheaded the message to the 20 investors from around the world, coupled with the 20 biggest companies of Australia that were in the room and 10 regulators and senior members of the Australian parliamentary landscape. There was a panel session in that room where the investors from around the world spoke wholeheartedly about the competition for their money. Australia is a net importer of finances. The investors sat in that room and said, 'If Australia does not become competitive with its tax rate, there are many other places around the planet where we can invest our money.'

Labor is holding this country to ransom. If we are looking at Australia to continue to be a net importer of finances, the way that we will remain competitive in the future is to reduce our company tax rate. Those on the other side say they will oppose that. Previously, before the legislation came before the House, virtually everyone from a financial position on the other side of the House indicated that that was a good thing and that in government that would be their policy. But, because we have come up with it, the class warfare ticket comes out from those on that side—that it's giving to the big banks and big business. If we do not, we will do not at our peril, and our nation will be poorer for it because we will not be able to attract the foreign investment that is needed. If those on the other side are suggesting that putting company tax rates down will not have a net benefit in trying to attract foreign investment, I challenge those on the other side to say to the Australian public that they are going to increase company taxes because increasing company taxes, by the same juxtaposed position, will not have an effect on company tax—and they know that is not the truth.

Each year since 2015, the coalition government has provided an instant asset write-off for small business—and hasn't that been a cracker! The small business sector has just loved it. Underpinning those 400,000 jobs—those 1,100 jobs every week—that instant asset write-off of $20,000 has been one of the valuable peak weapons in our arsenal for providing growth for the nation. In a nutshell, the instant asset write-off means that if you were to buy an asset for your business, valued at anything up to $20,000, such as office equipment—for example, new computers or new photocopiers—so that your administration can find efficiencies, historically, under the Australian Accounting Standards, you would depreciate those assets according to the depreciation schedule set for that product. I think computers are quite high. They might be 30 to 40 per cent or possibly 50 per cent. So you would amortise or depreciate that over a period of three years or the life expectancy of the product.

The instant asset tax write-off allows small businesses to claim the entire $20,000 back that year. It is an enormous stimulus to a small business. If a small business is able to reach out and claim that depreciation back in that first year, it means that business is going to reinvest that money back into their business. We are seeing firsthand that businesses are reinvesting that money back into their business, and they are reinvesting it by employing more people—and that's where those 1,100 jobs are coming from. That is where the record five times more than Labor's 400,000 jobs are coming from. They are coming from the very salient tax policies that this side of the House, the Liberal Party, has put in place—and that should never be jeopardised.

At the beginning of my speech I suggested that there will be a very clear choice as to who is best set to manage the economy as we move forward. Last year, around 300,000 small businesses accessed the instant asset write-off to invest in machinery and equipment and to help grow their businesses, including more than 2,500 in my electorate. Labor have not seen a tax that they would not run to and grasp with both hands. If Labor were to be trusted with the books, Australian households and businesses would be slapped with no less than a crushing $164 billion tax bill. Those on the other side would impose that on the Australian public with, firstly, Labor's housing tax at $20 billion. Then there's Labor's investment tax, estimated at around $13 billion—which is an increase in capital gains for assets by 50 per cent, by halving the capital gains tax discount. Then there's Labor's tax return of $1.5 billion, courtesy of Labor's proposal to slap a $3,000 cap on the amount that individuals can deduct for management; Labor's higher income tax at $22 billion; Labor's tax of $22 billion on families; Labor's tax of $25 billion on superannuation; the tradie tax, which will touch 800,000 tradies; and, finally, Labor's growth tax of $59 million. Winston Churchill once said that trying to tax the nation into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.

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