Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

Firstly, Senator Carr again is trying to confuse the chamber. If he knows anything at all about this particular topic, he knows that this legislation has absolutely nothing to do with the budget measure that he has just referred to. This legislation before us seeks to implement a measure in the 2013-14 budget that was initiated and banked by the former Gillard Labor government when Mr Swan was the treasurer and Senator Wong was the finance minister. That is what this government is seeking to do: implement a Labor budget measure. The measure that Senator Carr has just read out is of course included in our budget—it is not reflected in this legislation but is included in our budget. What we have said in relation to the company tax rate is that there will be a company tax cut, that large companies will not pay any more tax and that small and medium sized companies will pay less tax as a result of the package that is about to be released in the not-too-distant future. The detail of all of that will be released at the appropriate time.