Andrew Laming (Bowman, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have a question to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer update the House on how the government is securing Australian jobs and lifting wages for hardworking Australians? In a globally competitive environment, what are other major economies doing to attract opportunities for small business and for families?

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

) ( ): I thank the member for his question about what the government is doing to support investment and to drive the earnings that Australians so desperately want to earn more of in this country as they move forward in a climate of great global uncertainty. The Turnbull government is providing certainty, with policies that support investment in this country and that drive the jobs and growth that are necessary to support ordinary Australian households. That includes the support that we announced in the budget for start-up investments in innovative new companies. It includes the infrastructure investments and the $50 billion of infrastructure that we continue to roll out, which includes dams and things in the north, with roads and infrastructure that are supporting investment across the country. It is the investments in science. It is the investment in defence industry. It is the investment and support of trade, opposed by those opposite. But it is also ensuring that businesses in this country can remain competitive, with a competitive tax rate.

We already know that the United Kingdom, at a time when their deficit as a share of the economy was 10 per cent, moved to cut corporate taxes, to stimulate business investment in that country. We know that the Trump administration will also be moving to cut those taxes, to support investment and to support the jobs and wages of workers in those businesses. But I learnt over the last week that the French government—indeed, the French socialist government—have also moved to reduce the French business tax rate, from 33 1/3 to 28 per cent. They have gone beyond that, and they have adopted the same approach that this government has done with the glide path to ensure that those tax cuts start with small and medium sized businesses. Indeed, President Hollande said, 'We need to adapt our regulations, including for taxes, to make Paris a more attractive financial centre.' So even a socialist government in France gets it—that, in order to remain competitive in this highly competitive global economy, you need to have a competitive tax rate. The only two leaders that I am aware of that are standing against tax cuts for businesses that want to employ people are the Leader of the Opposition and Jeremy Corbyn in the United Kingdom. They are the only two leaders of political parties in advanced economies who simply do not get it.

What we will continue to do as we work through this session of parliament is we will put it to those opposite, who have described cutting company taxes as 'a Labor thing'—that is what it said in the section on how to promote growth in the shadow Treasurer's book. How do you promote growth? He says, 'You cut the company tax rate.' Well, it is not a Labor thing. It is a Labor excuse. It is a Liberal-National government that actually does it.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I should have called the member for Mayo. I apologise for that. To keep the sequence right, I will call the opposition and then I will call the member for Mayo next time.