Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Reducing business tax results in more investment, more productivity, more employment and better-paid jobs, and that has been the consistent experience right around the world. The Leader of the Opposition used to say that. They're experiencing that now in the United States. The member for McMahon wrote a book about it. It is hardly rocket science. It has been the universal experience. That is why governments in the past of both the Labor persuasion and the coalition persuasion have reduced business taxes, and we've seen that result. That is how you drive jobs and jobs growth.

You have to be consistent about your policies. You have to be, as the Leader of the Opposition said in his GQ article where he was asked whether he was Clintonesque—and he didn't demur from that, of course. But what we've seen is a complete backflip by the Leader of the Opposition. He stood with the workers at Oaky North and, with the member for O'Connor, he told them that he supported them. Tony Maher stood up and said, 'Bill Shorten is very pro coalmining, and I can tell you that from personal experience.' Tony Maher said that to those workers on the picket line, while standing next to the Leader of the Opposition.

Then, after receiving thousands of dollars of generous hospitality—a reef tour with Wavelength Reef Cruises, a charter flight from Cairns to Carmichael River and Doongmabulla Springs and ending in Townsville, accommodation; it's a long list—all of which was provided by the Australian Conservation Foundation, courtesy of Geoff Cousins, the Leader of the Opposition said to Geoff Cousins, 'No media.' It was done in secret. He didn't want anyone to know, especially not those workers at Oaky North.

See this speech in context