Eric Hutchinson (Lyons, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As the member for Lyons, I am proud to be part of a government that is working for every Australian. The Turnbull Liberal coalition government is dedicated to managing and facilitating the growth of our economy and to boosting it. Everything that we have done since coming to government has been about jobs. My state of Tasmania is a shining example.

Only this week we saw the Brotherhood of St Laurence's report about youth unemployment. Yes, we have more work to do but, yes, we are making real progress on addressing youth unemployment within our state. More broadly, unemployment in the state of Tasmania, when we came to government, had an eight in front of it; today it has a six in front of it. Is it too high? Yes, it is. Do we have plans to address it further? Yes, we do.

Innovation, investment, infrastructure and opening markets are at the heart of the government's agenda. In December we launched our $1.1 billion National Innovation and Science Agenda to bring more Australian ideas to the marketplace, to incentivise entrepreneurs and to invest more in education and research—and I note that the member next to me is passionate about this. We have launched the defence white paper, investing $1.6 billion over the next 10 years in programs to build industry skills and drive competitiveness, whilst harnessing the innovation that we know lies within small business in Australia. I was particularly pleased last week to see a small to medium business be successful in attracting a $4 million grant from Defence to develop a buoyancy system for our Navy and Army helicopters. We have passed legislation to ban excessive credit card surcharges, and we have been working with our trade partners with great success—for instance, culminating in the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement and, prior to that, the Japan-Australia Economic Partnership Agreement and the Korea-Australian partnership agreement. These are opportunities, and Tasmania has been the beneficiary of the opportunities that we are seeing, of course, in commodities. But also the opportunities are sweet in respect of services. We invested in water infrastructure to support our agricultural sector. Tasmania, again, was the beneficiary, with $60 million in the tranche 2 Tasmanian Irrigation schemes that will open up areas of the state to production of a greater variety of food and fibre. We are supporting record levels of infrastructure investment through our $50 billion infrastructure package—nowhere more evident than in the expansion of the Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme to include exports. We have clamped down on multinational tax avoidance—I know you are very passionate about that, Deputy Speaker—which was, extraordinarily, opposed by those on the other side. We have implemented the Harper review's recommendations to amend section 46 of the Competition and Consumer Act—the misuse of market power provision. An effects test will be introduced to limit the potential misuse of market power. The current provision for the misuse of market power is simply not reliable enough or enforceable enough and risks permitting anticompetitive conduct.

Misuse of market power slows the entry and expansion of new and innovative firms, delays the entry of new technologies and potentially impedes economic growth over the long term. Competition reforms will ensure a better deal for consumers and encourage innovative businesses. We are sticking up for entrepreneurs who are prepared to back themselves and take a risk, knowing that they have a government that supports innovative businesses, big or small, within our economy. Indeed, small businesses are critical to our economy, to our nation's growth and to job creation. There are two million Australian small businesses, employing 3½ million Australians and annually contributing $340 billion to the nation's economy. But this is not just about small business; it is about increasing competition, helping innovative businesses whatever their size, helping consumers and ultimately, therefore, helping every Australian.

I was very pleased this week to hear the announcement from Minister Colbeck that there will be a review of proposed taxation arrangements for people on working holiday visas. I have seen firsthand the concerns that business owners in regional and rural Tasmania have about the proposed changes. I think we are a government that is delivering for Australians and Tasmanians in spades.