David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Those opposite have a plan to take Australians' money, they have a plan to spend Australians' money, but they have absolutely no plans to help Australians make money. They are channelling the failed ideology of Bernie Sanders and others, while attacking small business people who are central to our economic growth. Just today the NAB business conditions index came out, and it reports the strongest conditions for business since 2008. And business confidence is double the long-run average. One of the reasons why business conditions and business confidence are strong is the policies of this government in relation to the taxation of small business. Without the help of the opposition—but with the help of some sensible crossbenchers—earlier in the year we passed legislation to reduce the tax burden on businesses with revenue of between $2 million and $50 million.

Those opposite say a business with $2.1 million of revenue is some sort of evil multinational corporation that is not entitled to tax relief. But of course a business with $2 million in Australia, which typically has a profit margin of five or six per cent, is probably making not much more than the average wage. Those opposite say those people are not entitled to tax relief. We say they are. We will back those small business people every step of the way because they are the backbone of our economy, and we will always support them. (Time expired)