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

I thank the honourable member for his question. The honourable member for Brisbane represents a metropolitan electorate with thousands of small and medium businesses and family owned businesses. His electorate, like every electorate in this House, is full of enterprising Australians for whom aspiration is not a mystery, as it is to the Deputy Leader of the Labor Party.

We have been able to reduce taxes for millions of Australian businesses—for 3.3 million small and medium businesses which collectively employ over half of the Australian private sector workforce. While we believe in lower taxes, we also believe that paying tax is not optional; it's compulsory. We've introduced and passed through this parliament, in the teeth of opposition from the Labor Party, the toughest multinational tax avoidance laws in the OECD. We've taken on that challenge and we've delivered it, and it has returned over $7 billion of revenue to the Commonwealth's tax net as a result. It is a signal achievement of the Treasurer to be able to get that through the parliament, and it's one of the reasons our revenues are stronger. It's one of the reasons we're able to afford personal income tax for millions of Australians. Over four million Australians will get $530 back this current financial year. Over the whole period to 2024-25, we'll see a reform that will eliminate bracket creep for 94 per cent of Australians.

We're also taking action to ensure that families have less burden of expense in respect of child care. One million Australian families will be better off by up to $1,300 per year per child as a result of our reforms. It's why we've been able to fully fund the NDIS, it's why we're able to spend record amounts on health and schools and it's why we're able to bring 1,700 new lifesaving drugs onto the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme—because we have a strong economy and the revenues to pay for it. What did Labor do? They deferred the listing of lifesaving drugs on the PBS because they didn't have the money. They lost control of the budget and, as a consequence, essential services were put at risk.

We're spending record amounts on all of those vital areas of health, education and infrastructure. On top of that, we are starting to see our energy policies deliver lower energy prices. We're looking after Australian families. The Labor Party has long abandoned them.

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