Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Deputy Speaker. It is clear, as I was saying, that it is important that our nation stays internationally competitive to attract investment. One of the risks to that is the corporate rate of tax, and the opposition are burying their heads in the sand about that. But the other danger is the sovereign risk that has been raised in the last 24 hours, where we have the Leader of the Opposition being duplicitous, saying one thing to one group of people about the Carmichael coalmine up in Northern Queensland—that he's in favour of it—but saying another thing to green, environmental activists—that he will block it; he will revoke their licence. What message does that send to foreign investors who are thinking about bringing their capital to Australia that will help create jobs and wealth and raise revenue for the government to pay for all those things that we want to pay for—for pensions, for aged care, for hospitals, for schools and for kids with disability? We've got to create that wealth and we need to attract that foreign capital.

But what would people sitting around a boardroom table overseas think when they pick up the paper today and read that the alternative leader of the Australian nation is so duplicitous that, if he comes to office, he will revoke a licence given out. Who is going to put their capital up, to take the risks, to go through the environmental approvals that take years in this nation, knowing that, if they do everything correctly and by the book, the alternative leader of the government will revoke their licence simply to appease extreme environmentalists and to win green votes in marginal electorates. We are in a competitive race against nations in the rest of the world. This is why the corporate tax rate is important for our nation. This is why everything this government does is to make sure that our nation stays competitive—because we realise that is the only way we can continue to finance our first-rate hospitals, the National Disability Insurance Scheme, our pensions and our aged care. Those things are so important to this nation and we all want to be able to afford to do that. The only way we can continue to do that is to ensure our nation is internationally competitive in attracting investment—and the greatest threat to that are those members who sit on the opposite side of the chamber.

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