Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Banking and Financial Services) Share this | Hansard source

I am sure that is part of the explanation, Senator Murray—you are quite right. The Treasurer, Mr Costello, has ruled out tax cuts for individuals and has expressed no interest in providing tax relief to small business, but he has found $300 million for tax breaks for foreign companies. We query the priorities of this government and they do not accord with Labor priorities. This is not the measure we would have chosen to advance at this time. However, given that this has been announced for two years—albeit continually botched and costings having been refused—and there are a number of investment proposals awaiting passage of this bill, Labor considers on balance in terms of being a responsible opposition that we will not seek to oppose the bill at this stage.