Ken O'Dowd (Flynn, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Will the Deputy Prime Minister update the House on how the government's tax measures help create jobs and grow business confidence in regional communities? How would different approaches hurt Australian hard workers in the small and medium business range?

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Flynn for his question. He is a hardworking member. Before coming to this place, he was a hardworking businessman. He'd started businesses from scratch. He wasn't frightened to get a bit of dirt under his fingernails. He wasn't frightened to back himself. He wasn't frightened to take risks. He wasn't frightened to employ people. He had a go just like all of those small and medium family enterprises which those opposite want to cruel, want to cripple by taking away the tax relief that this government is providing them.

He comes from Gladstone, and Gladstone is home to some of the best economic potential and the best economic drivers in this nation. It is one of this nation's economic powerhouses. It's home to Northern Oil Refinery. It's also home to Corfield's Electrical Service, a little medium-size company that employs 60 people. It's a fine business. It's having a go. Its owner, Ken Corfield, told the member for Flynn, 'Obviously, with extra cash to inject into the business, we can employ more staff and develop our companies to run more efficiently and forward plan, knowing we will have more funds to do business.' That's the sort of enterprise, that's the sort of endeavour that we want to foster on this side of the House. That's the sort of enterprise and endeavour that those opposite want to take away, want to steal away.

We are also investing, as Liberals and Nationals, in Central Queensland, making roads such as the Bruce Highway safer through an investment of $10 million. The Northern Australia Roads Program has $59 million for the Capricorn Highway, the beef roads program has $20 million for road train access and the Bridges Renewal Program includes $5 million for the Three Moon Creek replacement. We're connecting country communities. We're making sure that those regional communities can connect to ports such as Gladstone.

But confidence is not something that you see opposite. There's no Labor confidence in businesses to back themselves. We've got some by-elections coming up, and people can get behind the candidates that this government is putting up or they can just be antibusiness as usual. That's what they'll get in Braddon. That's what they'll get in Longman. That's what they'll get in Mayo if they don't back the government candidates, who are going to provide a voice around the table of influence, a voice around that ministerial table to actually get things done. Labor has no confidence in Burnie, no confidence in Ulverstone, and I know that because I visited Ulverstone on my small business roadshow with Roger Jaensch last year, and we heard from small businesses there. They were backing the government. They were backing themselves, moreover. They were backing the lowest tax rate in 77 years. They were backing the instant asset write-off. But I tell you what they don't need down in Tasmania. I tell you what they don't need in Longman, and that's Labor's antibusiness policies. (Time expired)

Ged Kearney (Batman, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Today Senator Hanson said the price of One Nation supporting the Prime Minister's $80 billion big business handout was a new coal-fired power station. Will the Prime Minister rule out building a new coal-fired power station, or is nothing off limits when it comes to teaming up with One Nation?

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Labor Party should know that when, in Victoria, they tripled the coal royalties and oversaw the closure of Hazelwood, the people of Victoria saw their wholesale prices increase by 80 per cent. The Labor Party should know that when Jay Weatherill oversaw the closure of Northern Power Station, the people of South Australia saw their wholesale prices go up by another 80 per cent. They told him what they thought of it at the state election.

When it comes to coal, under the National Energy Guarantee, it will continue to be an important part of the energy mix. I say to the member for Batman, don't believe the Leader of the Opposition when he comes down and tells the baristas in the member's seat that coal has no future in Australia, because when he goes to Mackay and speaks to the miners, he says coal has a future. We all know that the Labor Party is not up-front with the workers. They've abandoned the blue-collar workers. When will they go down to the seat of Gippsland and tell the 300-plus workers at Yallourn Power Station that they won't have a job under Labor's policy? When will they go to the electorate of Flynn and tell those 230 workers at Gladstone Power Station that, under Labor's policy, they won't have a job? When will they go to the member for Shortland's electorate and tell the 300 workers at Vales Point that, under Labor's policy, they will not have a job?

When it comes to the Labor Party's policy, we know they won't listen to business. We know the Leader of the Opposition no longer listens to BHP, no longer listens to BlueScope and no longer listens to the Business Council of Australia, but now he doesn't even listen to the unions. Ben Davis, the Victorian secretary of the AWU, his former union—and the Leader of the Opposition should listen carefully—said:

… the rush away from coal … is … unseemly in its haste because we are potentially crucifying hundreds of thousands of manufacturing workers.

That's the Leader of the Opposition's own union. Then the CFMEU President, Tony Maher, said:

[A] … Renewable Energy Target of 50% by 2030—

Labor's own policy—

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

The minister will resume his seat for a second. The member for Batman, on a point of order.

Ged Kearney (Batman, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He hasn't mentioned One Nation once. A point of order on relevance.

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

The member for Batman can resume her seat. When a question talks about an $80 billion handout that doesn't have any reference to anything else, it kind of opens it up to the world.

Government members interjecting—

Members on my right!

Mr Rob Mitchell interjecting—

The Second Deputy Speaker will resume his seat. The Second Deputy Speaker is well aware that only one point of order can be taken on relevance. The matter will not be debated. I've ruled on the matter. The minister has the call.

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The final word goes to the CFMEU president, passing judgement on Labor's 50 per cent Renewable Energy Target. He says that the 50 per cent target:

... will increase the cost of electricity for manufacturing and ordinary households …

Only the coalition can be trusted to deliver more affordable and reliable power.

Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Will the minister update the House on how an internationally competitive tax system can help both retain and attract aspirational talent to Australia? What are the risks of alternative approaches?

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for O'Connor for his question and congratulate him on the great work that he does for his electorate. There is a global competition—

Mr Bowen interjecting—

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

Member for McMahon, the moment has passed; let's move on.

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is a global competition for capital, skills and talent. That's why Australian businesses must be able to compete globally to attract these resources from overseas and provide jobs and opportunities for our best and brightest talent here in Australia. I couldn't put it more succinctly than members of Labor's front bench. The member for McMahon, the shadow Treasurer, said on 11 July 2013:

I think we should have the ambition of lowering company tax. … because it does improve our international competitiveness.

He got it then. The Leader of the Opposition as Assistant Treasurer said to the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Melbourne:

The Government's tax reform agenda has a strong focus on ensuring that Australia remains an attractive place to invest.

...      …   …

Cutting the company tax rate is an important step along this road.

We couldn't agree more. But yesterday the Leader of the Opposition went rogue. He went off the reservation when he turned around and said completely the opposite and committed Labor to increasing taxes on Australian businesses, thus putting at risk the livelihoods of millions of Australians across the country employed in small and medium-sized businesses. This was no brain snap. Upon reflection, the Labor Party and its major benefactor, the ACTU, have committed to a war on business. Comrade Sally McManus has often accused business of wage theft. She says that businesses act against the interests of their staff.

Last week I reminded the House of the most egregious example of a nation that has declared war on business, and yes, it's Venezuela. You will recall that the CFMEU is campaigning to have Australia embrace the policies of that brutal dictatorship. It seems that solidarity with Venezuela runs deep in the veins of the ALP. It was not so long ago that the ALP was urging for a guest-of-government invitation to be extended to Hugo Chavez, saying:

… we feel that our shared ideals of social justice and democracy bring us close together … what Venezuela has been able to achieve in so little time will be a source of inspiration and ideas for many in Australia.

I tell you what they've achieved: the wholesale destruction of their economy and the mass exodus of their talent. That's what the Leader of the Opposition offers Australia. (Time expired)

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

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to revelations at the banking royal commission about misconduct by AMP. Is the Prime Minister telling victims of that company that AMP deserves a big business tax cut?

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

The Leader of the Opposition has declared war on businesses of every size in Australia. He stands here and wants to portray himself as the enemy of multinationals, big banks and insurance companies, but the businesses he's taking on are to be found in every town, in every suburb, in every electorate represented here in this House. They represent millions and millions of jobs. More than half the private sector workforce work for businesses with a turnover of $50 million or less. Whether it be a business like Stubbs Constructions in Burnie, Universal Trusses in Hume or Kennedy's Timbers in Brisbane, on the border between Petrie and Longman, these are businesses that have many employees—50, 60, 70 employees—all of whom depend on the owners of the business investing in the business and buying the best and latest technology.

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

The Leader of the Opposition on a point of order.

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

In my question the only business I referred to was AMP. The Prime Minister should be directly relevant to it.

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

The question mentioned AMP and tax.

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

The Leader of the Opposition wants to talk about AMP today, but the businesses he's going after are numbered in the hundreds of thousands, right around Australia. As the member for Bass understands very well, there are dozens of them in Launceston, and he knows that those businesses are going to be threatened and the jobs of their workers threatened. In that interview, as Brian Carlton pressed him, he refused to endorse the reckless antibusiness agenda of the Leader of the Opposition. And we well understand why he would not tie himself to that catastrophic captain's call.

Mr Shorten interjecting—

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

Leader of the Opposition, I ruled on the point of order. I'm not going to have these matters debated by way of interjection. The question asked about AMP and it asked about tax. You mightn't like the way in which the Prime Minister has answered the question, but I can copiously and at great length go over my previous rulings about the policy topic. The member for Tangney has the call.

Ben Morton (Tangney, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Revenue and Financial Services. Will the minister update the House on how the government is encouraging small and medium-sized enterprises to grow and invest, including in my electorate of Tangney? Is the minister aware of any threats to this goal?

Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party, Minister for Revenue and Financial Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Tangney for his question, and what a great and passionate advocate he is for the small and medium-sized businesses in his electorate. I know because I've been able to walk around with him in his electorate and meet so many of those people.

I know he's particularly keen on small and family-sized enterprises like Joyce Kitchens—who, for over 20 years, have been building custom kitchens in his electorate and beyond, to help those people who want a new kitchen but also to employ many people in his electorate. This is the sort of business that is going to be impacted by Labor's hike on small and medium-sized enterprises and on those family businesses. In fact, 97 per cent of all businesses in this country are small and medium-sized businesses. That's why, on this side of the chamber, we are delivering tax relief for those businesses—for the more than 15,000 businesses in the seat of Tangney and the millions of other businesses throughout the country and the people that they employ.

But, of course, this would all change under the Leader of the Opposition, if he had his way, because the Leader of the Opposition has finally revealed his hand: he wants to punish those businesses. In his wacky captain's call yesterday, he said that Labor would roll back those tax cuts for small and medium-sized enterprises. He said that he would punish those businesses that to seek to employ, to invest, to grow and to hire more Australians. He has promised before that his tax policies simply focus on the top end of town. He has said that he is focused on the millionaires. But let me ask the Leader of the Opposition: how are small, medium-sized and family businesses the top end of town? How are the people that they employ millionaires? Of course, they are not. In a prepared speech, he had the audacity to say that he was going to back small business. In his prepared speech he said he would 'hug' small and medium-sized enterprises. He walks out the door, and then he mugs them. It is the 'hug and mug' that the Leader of the Opposition is so famous for. You only need to ask the workers that he represented—

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party, Minister for Revenue and Financial Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The hug and the mug—they know that the Leader of the Opposition cannot be trusted. They know that he is not trustworthy. They know that he is so shifty when it comes to representing their interests— (Time expired)

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

I've made my point on language very clearly. I made it very clearly last week. I asked members to reflect on that. It's fair to say that those on my left have reflected and responded. I'm not prepared to see the House, having improved a little in this regard, slip back. The Minister for Revenue and Financial Services will resume her seat. I'm calling the Leader of the Opposition. The Leader of the Opposition has the call.

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

My question is to the Prime Minister. Should AMP receive a tax cut?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's our policy that all businesses in this country should be competitive. They should all have competitive tax rates. That's what they should all have because Australians work for all of those businesses, and they all deserve to work for businesses that have a competitive rate of tax so their jobs are more secure. What is very clear is that, under the leader of the Labor Party, Australians' jobs would not be secure. They would not be secure because it is his policy to jack up the taxes on small businesses, medium-sized businesses and large businesses. Yesterday, we had a small shard of truth from the Leader of the Opposition as he fessed up to the fact that the Labor Party would increase taxes again for businesses of more than $10 million.

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

The Treasurer will resume his seat. The Manager of Opposition Business on a point of order.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business (House)) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On this question, there is no preamble. There is no broad policy that then refers to AMP. It only deals with whether that company should receive a tax cut. I am raising that what's happening now is not directly relevant.

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

The Manager of Opposition Business raises a valid point of order. I've been listening to the Treasurer in a preamble. While this may seem very similar to the previous question that was asked by the Leader of the Opposition, it does have an important qualitative difference. It is far more specific, so the Treasurer needs to address himself to the—

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm happy to.

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

It's irrelevant whether he's happy to. He needs to address himself to the question. His preamble is over. He's not compelled, as I always point out, to go for the entire three minutes if he doesn't wish to.

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I stated, I'm asked about a particular company, and I have said 'all companies', in which all companies are included. I'm referring to all companies in the economy, and that means all of them. That includes companies that are between $2 million and $10 million in turnover as well. The member for Sydney has said, 'We've said that we support tax cuts up to $2 million but, beyond that, we really can't afford them.' That's what she said. The leader of the Labor Party has said, 'We have opposed the full 10-year tax giveaway.' The full! The shadow Treasurer seems to be in hibernation at the moment, after yesterday. That's where he has been.

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

The Treasurer will resume his seat. I understand the Treasurer has outlined how he has answered the question, which he has done. He's now moving beyond the question to answer questions he wasn't asked. That's the problem; that was what I was trying to subtly get at. The Treasurer has a minute to go. He can stay in his seat and go to the next question. If he wishes to be relevant to the question that he was asked—and, as he has pointed out, he has already answered it—he's entitled to, but he can't go to other questions that he hasn't been asked.

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

All businesses should have more competitive tax rates. That's our policy. The leader of the Labor Party needs to come clean and tell small businesses between $2 million and $10 million if he well rip-off their tax cut.