Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister refuses to provide the details of his secret deal with Senator Hanson to ensure the passage of his big business tax cuts. Given new revelations about that deal today, will the Prime Minister now tell the Australian people the details of that secret deal or is the Prime Minister so arrogant and out of touch that he considers the Australian people don't deserve to know just how far he'll go to give $80 billion to big business?

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

I thank the honourable member for her question. I refer her to my answers yesterday relating to discussions and negotiations with the crossbench. We're always filled with optimism, I'd say to the honourable member, not beset with the gloom that so attends her. We are committed to a positive and respectful approach to the crossbench to do all we can to ensure that our budget and other measures are passed through the parliament. It raises the issue of tax and it raises the issue of economic management.

I noticed the member for McMahon has proposed a matter of public importance today which is headed 'The failure of the government's economic plan'. It begs the question: has the government's economic plan failed to produce jobs? No, it actually produced record jobs growth—the greatest in any calendar year in our history. What would be the best test of whether an economic plan was delivering? I think it would be if people were getting jobs, businesses were getting started, people were having a go and investing, and new markets were being opened up by free trade agreements.

I have to say that I'm sure the MPI will be interesting and exciting, because we'll see if the member for McMahon can come up with anything to justify his rather parallel-universe MPI. But, of course, he's used to parallel universes—he really is. Last year, when asked—on my birthday, in fact, 24 October—

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

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

I know—you can always send a card this year! But, last year, the member for McMahon was shifting and slipping and sliding, refusing to say whether Labor would move to repeal the small and medium family company tax cuts that had been passed. Of course, we know they will. His final sort of intergalactic assessment was this. He said:

We have further policy announcements to make which will be in this space and not in this space.

In this space and not in this space? Well, Mr Speaker, he's a space cadet, and that's the problem for the Labor Party's economic management.