Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Sherry for his question and his ongoing interest in the strong economic position of the country.

Australia's economy is continuing to grow despite the difficult global conditions, and we are keeping our economy strong. That means more people are staying in work. We know what is happening overseas and we have the situation in Australia where the economy remains strong and people remain in jobs. But we also know that to grow our economy we need to continue to support Australian businesses. That is why we are committed to company tax reform so that businesses can be even more confident to continue to invest in Australia and can continue to be confident in employing Australians.

We are committed to delivering a one per cent tax cut as part of business and company tax reform. We will fund that one per cent cut from the revenue from the superprofits which flow from this once-in-a-generation minerals boom. Australians understand that mining companies are making record profits from mining our resources. They want to make sure, as this government does, that the benefits of that flow through our community. This government will be using the profits from those resources to benefit business in Australia—to provide them with some taxation reform that will allow them to grow their businesses and allow them to employ Australians.

We are determined to provide business tax reform. We are determined to see lower rates of business and company tax. We are determined to make sure those companies doing it tough also benefit from the mining boom. We would encourage the Liberal Party to come to their senses and recognise the importance of business tax reform, recognise the views of business around Australia that support this reform, examine the mess they have got themselves into, and come on board and support Australian business.