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

My question is to the Treasurer. If the government drops its plan for a big business tax cut which costs the budget $50 billion, will it be more or less likely that the budget will be in balance in 2021?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I do not intend to engage in the hypotheticals of the member opposite. The mid-year statement will come out on 19 December, it will take account of the various datasets that will be available at that time, and the member opposite will be in a position to observe what the outcomes are at that point.

I do know that back in 2013 he looked to his mentor and said this:

… Keating knew that the corporate tax rate needed to be cut to make Australia competitive, that capital and investment would flow to tax-competitive nations and that this was an important job-creation move.

That is what the member opposite said. Today he has walked away, as he has now for many months, from the deep convictions that he once held about the importance of having a competitive tax rate, not just for all businesses but for small businesses as well. A business with a $2½ million turnover employing 15 people—the shadow Treasurer thinks that sort of business should have a higher tax burden than what the government is proposing.

He asked about what the impact on the budget would be if we were to follow the path of those opposite, who would seek to impose higher taxes on small businesses. I ask him: what does he think the impact on the budget is going to be if they continue in their approach of blocking $19 billion in budget savings measures?

Yes, they got dragged kicking and screaming to support $6 billion in measures that they actually put in their own estimates before the budget, but $19 billion—and that's just over four years. No wonder they took to the last election an increase in deficit of $16½ billion that has now increased to $16.8 billion.

So, if those opposite are deadly serious about dealing with issues on the fiscal scene, they need to get serious about passing the savings that the rating agencies—the IMF and others—have made very clear are measures that need to be passed to ensure that Australia's fiscal position is as resilient and as strong as it can be. The only party standing in the way of that are those opposite—those opposite who want to continue to run up expenditure, run up taxes, run up debt and run up deficits. They learnt nothing from their six wasted years in office and they have learnt nothing now from the four years of wasted time in a policy desert in opposition.