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

Sadly, Senator Hume, yes, I am. The Labor Party, the alternative party of government in this parliament, went to the last election promoting higher taxes on investment, which, of course, would be bad for investment, bad for jobs and bad for growth. They also promoted policies which would have worsened our budget deficit by at least $16.5 billion over the forward estimates. Respected economists said it would threaten our triple-A credit rating, which, of course, would be bad for economic growth moving forward.

What Australia needs right now is a government that continues to focus on making Australia more competitive internationally not less. We need a government that focuses on attracting more investment not less. We need a government that is committed to ensure that businesses across Australia who are employing Australians have the best possible opportunity to be successful so that individual Australians have the best possible future and are successful. (Time expired)