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

Thank you very much, Mr President. You are indeed right: the premise of the question was completely false and, as such, I am now just contrasting our approach of engaging in an open-minded and transparent consultation and a conversation with the Australian people and with the states and territories about how our tax system can be improved. This is how Labor approached tax reform: they got Ken Henry to sit behind closed doors and write a report; they received it; they sat on it; and then they tabled it at the same time as whacking a great big new tax on an important industry, spending all the money before they had raised a zack, hitting for six an industry that was already facing enough challenges. That is Labor's way. That is not the way we are doing it. (Time expired)