Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Would the Treasurer inform the House how the government is encouraging jobs growth in the nation and, in particular, in my electorate of Wannon?

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Wannon for his question. He has a huge electorate—32,000 square kilometres in south-western Victoria. It is a beautiful part of the world. There are a lot of great farmers in that part of the country.

As the Minister for Small Business, who has done an excellent job in helping with this budget, and as the Minister for Agriculture, who has been an enormous help and done a great job in this budget, know we have also focused on the farmers of Australia in helping to lay down a plan that is going to deliver greater growth for agriculture. We have focused on them not only as farmers but also as small business people—because a lot of them have a turnover of less than $2 million. In fact, the member for Wannon has 13,800 small businesses in his electorate that are going to benefit from the accelerated depreciation and the tax cuts. But he also has 4,000 farmers.

In the path of developing the budget we have made a proper appropriation for the upcoming agriculture white paper, which is going to lay down a plan for the future of agricultural production in Australia. There are a number of initiatives that I announced last night which are going to be of enduring benefit for farmers—for example, , instant asset write-off in relation to fencing. At the moment, farmers have to depreciate fencing over a long period of time. There are not many farmers who suddenly have new fencing; everything seems to be fencing repairs for tax purposes which they can write-off immediately. Well, we are dealing with that. If they put up a new fence, it can make a real difference particularly in relation to things like cell farming, which means you have more intensive farming, better management of the land and more productive management of the land and also in terms of the environment, as the Minister for the Environment would be aware.

When farmers fence off new plantings to prevent cattle from going into that area it is expensive for a farmer. Now there is an opportunity for them to instantly get a tax write-off associated with that new fencing, which does make it a hugely beneficial environmental matter. Also, wild dogs and a range of other pests are a big problem for farmers and fencing can help in that regard. So this is common sense, as are our initiatives to improve the accelerated depreciation for drought preparations associated with water management and also with fodder storage, which is hugely important.

I say to the member for Wannon that no-one summarises it better than Jeff Cane, a farmer in Strathdownie, who wrote to him this morning. He said, 'Agriculture—excellent. Three-year deductibility for fodder conservation infrastructure, accelerated depreciation for water facilities and for fencing—good, good, good. I'll make use of them all.' (Time expired)

Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to the Prime Minister's promise, and I quote: 'There will be no overall increase in the tax burden whatsoever.' Why is the government increasing tax as a percentage of the economy every year under this budget?

Mr Champion interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Wakefield is warned!

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We are reducing tax by some $5.4 billion. But it is interesting, is it not, that members opposite are obsessed by the tax burden—because they live on 'planet tax'. That is where they live; they all live on 'planet tax'. There is their carbon tax; there is their mining tax; there are all the superannuation taxes that they inflicted in government and that they want to inflict again on the retirees of Australia; and then there is the Leader of the Opposition's own special tax—the piggy bank tax. Do you remember that? Do you remember the piggy bank tax? This was about all the retirees and all the kids who did not have very active bank accounts, and the Leader of the Opposition's clammy hand went into their pockets and he trousered the money. The Leader of the Opposition's stealthy fingers reached for the hammer and he smashed open the piggy bank and he trousered the money. This man is the taxing expert of our county.

Ms Owens interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Parramatta will leave under 94(a) for one hour.

The member for Parramatta then left the chamber.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

By contrast, last year we scrapped the carbon tax and we scrapped the mining tax. This year, there is a 1.5 per cent tax cut for incorporated small business, there is a five per cent tax discount for unincorporated small business and there is instant asset write-off for all small business. As far as I am concerned, every coalition budget should be a tax-cutting budget.

We think that the more money we save for the people of Australia—the more of your money that stays in your pockets—the better for everyone. No-one knows how to spend money more wisely than the people who made it. No-one knows better how to spend money wisely than the people who earned it in the first place by the sweat of their brow and by the ingenuity of their minds. It belongs to the people who made it; it does not belong to the stealthy tax-grabbers opposite—the sneaks who will come in in the middle of the night and take money from inactive bank accounts.

The pensioners, the kids and the small business people of Australia deserve more money in their pockets and they deserve less tax, and that is what they have under this government. That is in contrast to members opposite. If the Leader of the Opposition ever became Prime Minister, the carbon tax would be back, the mining tax would be back, there would be more raids on your superannuation accounts—and of course Swannie would be back, because he is now running the election policies.

Ewen Jones (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer inform the House how the budget will better manage the economy and our taxpayers' money? How will the budget unlock the immense potential of our future, including Northern Australia?

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Herbert for the question. He knows—as I know and as every Australian knows—that you have to live within your means. You have to do everything you can to ensure that you are not passing a debt burden on to the next generation.

I am intrigued with the questioning of the Prime Minister from the Labor Party today. They are basically saying they want to have less tax, they want to have more spending, they want to have smaller deficits and they want to have less debt. They want a magic pudding. Imagine what a magic pudding that would be—if you could tax less, spend more, have smaller deficits and have less debt. That is a magical formula, but it is not real. That is why we are dealing with the legacy from the other mob. That is why, when we make commitments, we ensure that we do it within a framework consistent with our economic plan.

The member for Herbert knows that Northern Australia has enormous potential. The member for Leichhardt, the member for Solomon, the member for Durack in particular, and even the member for Lingiari—I will give him credit here—and other members know that Northern Australia has enormous potential. It is a growth region for Australia. Darwin is closer to cities in Asia than it is to Sydney or Melbourne. Northern Australia receives 60 per cent of Australia's rainfall.

There is huge opportunity for us to develop the north. So we have announced as an interim step, as part of the Northern Australia white paper, that we are making available a $5 billion major loan facility for infrastructure in Northern Australia. There is vast opportunity in the north; it needs ports, railways, transport corridors and pipelines. These are the things that are going to build opportunity in Northern Australia, and they in turn are going to give us better access to those resources and better access to export markets. And, importantly, they are going to be key drivers of the north.

I want to take this opportunity to pay credit to Warren Entsch, the member for Leichhardt, who chaired the Northern Australia working group and travelled with a number of others around Northern Australia to identify how we could specifically deal with some of the issues and some of the challenges, but also some of the vast opportunities, associated with the development of the north. This is something Australians have talked about for a very long period of time, and it is only the Abbott government that is getting on with it.