Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

There's nothing more delicious than a pregnant pause before one speaks, to make sure that everybody is paying full attention, and there's no-one, of course, whom we want to pay more attention than those in the opposition. Why? It's because, unfortunately, we have a perpetual problem where they won't recognise or understand basic truths about what this government is seeking to achieve, what it is delivering for the Australian people and how we are putting Australia in the best competitive position to fruitfully deliver for the people that we are elected to represent and serve.

Yes, all right; we know the economy continues to grow strongly and that that bucks against the trend of so many other advanced and developed countries around the world. We can't be complacent about that. Yes, we have some of the fastest economic growth in the OECD and across the world and, of course, we're in the 27th year of uninterrupted economic growth. Why? It's because we understand the foundations of where an economy comes from—primary industries and extractive industries that build up the capital base that supports manufacturing and value-adds to our goods and then helps to build the service based economy to export to the world. We are part of the global supply chain. We are competitive and we should be enormously proud of it.

We should be enormously proud that we're now at a full employment rate, as we used to say in the old economic terms, where if you want to get a job in Australia you should be able to get a job in Australia. There are opportunities, whether it's part-time or full-time work. A record number of women have been able to secure employment—record-breaking full-time employment but also flexible workplace arrangement where people get the support they need to manage the different challenges they face in their stage of life.

I always have this real struggle with people who say, 'It's not real employment unless it's full-time employment.' Well, talk to those who are seeking to retire and graduating their way out of the workforce but still want to participate. Speak to the mums and the dads who might take on maternal or paternal leave who want to be able to work part time to support their families while also being engaged in the workforce because they don't want to lose their skills or opportunities. Speak to the people who are consultants who work as part of small businesses that want to transact across the world. Full-time work is a wonderful thing if you seek it, and it's the basis on which many people can build a successful life, but do not dismiss part-time work either because it may very well be what people want and seek to balance out work-life pressures. We always talk rhetorically about work-life balance, but when people actually deliver it apparently it's a bad thing.

And, of course, we want the government to continue to work constructively with all parts of the economy to be able to deliver the economy that the Australian people need. But nothing will deliver that more than tax reform. This is one of my pet subjects. I yearn for it when I wake up in the morning and I think about it the last thing at night. I know I get a wry smile for that! I'm saying it because it's tragic but true! Tax reform is absolutely essential for this country's future prosperity and opportunity. We have to radically reform the tax system. I have said this many times—from my first speech to today. Tax reform is the basis on which we can make sure that we can deliver the economy that Australians need to drive the economic opportunity that we seek. If we rebase the tax system, we'll see multinationals no longer able to avoid tax and contributing their fair share of tax. We have done what we can to close the loopholes, but we can go further. A rebasing of the tax system will create the opportunity where people can invest in job creation, not tax avoidance. The people who might lose their jobs are those accountants and lawyers who spend all their time fiddling around with taxes and taking advantage for themselves and for other people to minimise their tax. Sorry, but I want that wealth to go to productive sectors. I really, really do, because I see the potential and the opportunity that sits at the heart of it.

I know the opposition is mocking me for my passion on this, but it is unrelenting and it will not relent. It is the great political challenge of my parliamentary career for so long as it goes on. That's why I won't back down. It will deliver jobs that Australians need. It will drive economic growth when people pay the tax that this country needs to support the social and human services that people want as the dividend from the economy. An economy is not the end; it is the beginning of the proud, more successful and more united nation that we can be, one where the economy delivers for people so they can stand on their own two feet and make their maximum contribution to their own lives in the world.

Debate adjourned.

See this speech in context