Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I saw the comments the industry minister made at the Fin Review gathering earlier today, and they are entirely consistent with the sorts of things we have been saying for some time. He said that the corporate tax system has a role to play in incentivising manufacturing capital. It might just have dawned on those opposite that that was a central feature of the budget two weeks ago—to use the tax system to incentivise the kind of investment and production we want to see, to power the good, secure, well-paid jobs of the future in industries like manufacturing.

I say, in addition to that, that the industry minister and I, the energy minister, the resources minister, the Prime Minister, the infrastructure minister and others have worked very closely to put together a tax package in this budget that we're very proud of. We're very proud of it because it recognises we can use the tax system and tax breaks for corporate Australia to incentivise a future made in Australia. A large proportion—indeed, most—of the $23 billion of the Future Made in Australia package that I announced from this dispatch box almost exactly two weeks ago was about company tax reform in the form of production tax credits. In addition to that—and here I pay tribute to the small business minister—we're also extending the instant asset write-off for small business, also in the company tax system. I think it says something about the absolute bin fire of incoherence and incompetence on that side of the House that at the same time as the—

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