Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. This week the Prime Minister and his Treasurer have repeatedly refused to confirm whether their centrepiece $50 billion handout to big business is still in the budget. But this policy has just been supported by government backbenchers in the House—just minutes ago. Prime Minister, will the government's centrepiece policy still be on the books in this year's budget, and what is the point of this government when it cannot hold onto its centrepiece economic strategy from one hour to the next?

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The only people who have changed their minds on the value of cutting business taxes are the Leader of the Opposition and his sidekick, the member for McMahon. He used to say cutting company tax was good for investment, productivity, employment, jobs. The member for McMahon said, 'It's a great Labor tradition.' He said, 'It's the Labor way.' He said, 'The Labor Party wants to have 25 per cent company tax.' He did. He wrote it in a book. Dr Leigh, the member for Fenner, has always been a keen enthusiast for cutting it. But now, entranced by the lure of populism—they have no integrity, no consistency—they have done another backflip. How are this mob going to look if the new American administration succeeds in reducing US company tax to 15 per cent? I mean seriously. Paul Keating had the courage to say that the need to cut company tax—and he cut it, from 36 to 33 per cent—was in order to remain internationally competitive. What the Labor Party want to sign us up to is being uncompetitive. They will not support the Australian jobs and the investment that depend upon lower business taxes. That is their inconsistency—no support for business, simply a war on business, a denial of business. If you support Australian jobs, if you support Australian businesses, then you must support the companies that employ those workers, that build those businesses. We do. Labor do not.