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

Thank you, Mr Speaker. My question is to the Prime Minister. Every member of this government today voted five times to give big business a $65 billion tax cut. Why is the Prime Minister increasing taxes on millions of working Australians by $300 every year to pay for his $65 billion big business tax cut?

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

Mr Speaker, this from the honourable member who was one of the more eloquent and, indeed, extensive advocates for cutting company tax! He actually wrote a book about it. He wasn't content with some well-chosen words at the dispatch box. No, he went out and wrote a whole book about the need for following in the footsteps of his mentor, Paul Keating, and cutting company tax—precisely for the purpose of being competitive with the rest of the world. He thought we were uncompetitive a few years back when he wrote the book. How does he think we are now, when the US has a company tax rate of 21 per cent and we're sitting at 30 per cent for larger companies? Our reform plan is heading to 25 per cent, but the US is at 21. Does he seriously think Australian jobs will be protected with such an uncompetitive tax rate? The member for McMahon, who wrote that book, knows we are not competitive at that rate. But now, of course, he's changed his spots and he wants to impersonate some sort of job-destroying, business-hating populist.

Let's get back to some of the other things the Labor Party is doing to undermine jobs. Not only are they opposing business tax cuts, not only are they threatening to increase the tax on the very companies that had employed most of the 403,000 additional people who got new jobs last year, not only are they opposing the childcare reforms and the school reforms; they opposed every step of the way our energy measures which are putting downward pressure on energy prices. They ridiculed the efforts with the retailers which are saving families hundreds of dollars right now. They ridiculed our efforts with the gas companies that have brought down the wholesale price of gas, saving thousands of jobs in energy intensive industries and, again, putting downward pressure on energy prices. They opposed the National Energy Guarantee, which has received support from across industry and which we know, from independent modelling, will reduce wholesale energy costs by 23 per cent.

There is not one policy that the Labor Party has that will encourage one business to invest one dollar or employ one worker. When we make that challenge to them, they cannot volunteer one. They do not have one business-supporting, investment-creating, job-creating policy. Every job and every business would be at grave risk if the Labor Party were to occupy the benches on this side of the House.