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

My question is to the Prime Minister. In the answer to the same question, the government has given five different answers to the full updated cost of its big business handout. Why didn't any of these numbers appear in the budget papers or the Treasurer's speech on Tuesday night?

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

The Leader of the Opposition thinks he can get away with this consistent misrepresentation of everything. He will not stick to a promise. There is not a word that he will not break. There is not a statement that he will not misrepresent. The Treasurer and I have accurately described the 10 year cost of the Enterprise Tax Plan from 2016, which is when it began, and then the Treasurer updated that for a decade from 1 July 2017. It is a ten-year Enterprise Tax Plan which is in operation and began on 1 July last year. So the answer I gave was absolutely accurate and consistent with what the government has produced. The Leader of the Opposition's pathetic attempt to misrepresent this is pathetic. It is so desperate.

The real issue here is, do you want Australia to be competitive or not? Do you want Australian businesses to invest? And do you want foreign investors to invest in Australia? Because we are a massive importer of capital and if we do not have a competitive tax rate then we will not see investment in Australia. We will lose jobs and we will lose opportunities. The sheer hypocrisy of the Labor Party on this point and the attempt by the Leader of the Opposition to deny everything he has stood for in the past—this is a man who said in 2011:

Cutting the company income tax rate increases domestic productivity and domestic investment. More capital means higher productivity and economic growth and leads to more jobs and higher wages.

Well, what has changed in the last six years?

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

The Leader of the Opposition on a point of order. He will simply state the point of order.

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

My point of order is on relevance. I simply asked, 'Where does the $65.4 billion or any figure appear in the budget?'

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

The Prime Minister is completely in order. I caution the Leader of the Opposition. He has latitude as a leader, he knows that, but I have said to him on a number of occasions that it is not an opportunity to repeat the question.

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

The budget is presented with both the four-year forward estimates and the medium-term projections, consistent with the practice of many years. The honourable member understands that. The fact is that the honourable member, the Leader of the Opposition, is attempting now to eat every single word he has ever uttered when he was in government about company tax. This is a man who said:

Friends, corporate tax reform helps Australia's private sector grow and it creates jobs right up and down the income ladder.

Of course, his colleague, the member for McMahon, said:

It's a Labor thing to have the ambition of reducing company tax because it promotes investment, creates jobs and drives growth.

And, he said in 2013, 'Our company tax rate is now above the OECD average at 30 per cent. It is how the rate compares to that of our competitors that counts.' That was true in 2013, it is even more true in 2017 and it will be even more true in the years to come. The truth is, we need to allow our businesses to compete and they need a competitive tax rate— (Time expired)