Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Attorney-General (Senator Brandis) to a question without notice asked by Senator Farrell today relating to company tax cuts.

I rise to take note of the answers given by Senator Brandis to questions asked by Senator Farrell in question time today which go to the government's declared commitment to cut taxes to the tune of $50 billion—the company tax cuts. I want to turn back the Turnbull clock to the moment on 9 September when Prime Minister Turnbull was asked what the greatest achievement he had secured since deposing Prime Minister Abbott was. In what we could perhaps put down to another thought-bubble moment—though he seemed sincere at the time—he said his greatest achievement was the reforms to business tax.

Well, I do not know what is going on over there—and that is clearly the case for the government. We have had three days of Treasurer Morrison saying he will not commit to giving those tax cuts to big business. We have had a breakdown in communication, it would seem, because Senator Brandis got up and said, 'Yes, they're all going ahead.' That chaotic nature of the government is a typical example of how this government simply cannot be trusted. Its actions cannot be trusted. Its actions belie its comments time after time. The question is there in community: will the government stick with the promise that it took to the election or are we seeing the beginning of a backflip, at least in the other place? Senator Brandis clearly missed the memo.

From the very first day, Labor has not supported these Turnbull tax cuts. However, I do want to put on the record that it was Labor who, in its period of governance under Rudd and Gillard, instituted the small business tax cuts. Those opposite decried the instant asset write-off as a rort. They said it was something small business should never have. Indeed, Mr Abbott was completely opposed to it. It did make some resurrection, though, and come back into play. I would support genuine tax cuts to small businesses, which are the engine room of our regional communities and our regional economies, but the scale of what this government wants to do is all wrong.

This government's record is replete with management failures. Its plan for this has been a case study in fiscal and economic mismanagement and clearly defines the lack of leadership displayed by the current Prime Minister and the current Treasurer of Australia. In the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook, which was released just a few days before Christmas, they showed how bad they are at managing the economy by having the deficit blow out by another $10 million over the forward estimates since the budget, and the deficit for this financial year since the government's first budget more than tripling. This is a government with a terrible economic record, and its decision to back in $50 billion worth of tax cuts, with $7.4 billion of that going to the biggest banks in this country, shows how completely out of touch they are.

We have net debt for this financial year blowing out by $100 billion since this government took office, which is more than $4,000 for every Australian. That is what they have done. But that is not good enough. On top of that, they want to take $77 away from ordinary Australians. That is, 700,000 Australians stand to lose $77 a week in their payments. They are happy to go ahead with a cut to the pay for ordinary Australians whilst going ahead with a $50 billion tax benefit to big businesses.

In the time that is remaining to me this afternoon, I want to indicate the concern that Australians have about this Prime Minister and his inability to honour his commitments or even show any solid line of commitment to the commitments he does make. It is of great concern. It is no surprise we had this conflicted answer from the minister today because this is a rudderless government being led by the quintessential hollow man. Mr Turnbull is a man who used to pop the collar of his leather jacket and find warm comfort in the plush chairs of the Q&A studios in Ultimo, promising a more centrist brand of politics. He now finds himself wanting to hand over $7.4 billion to the banks, and he will not lift a finger to stop the cuts to ordinary Australians. I can see that Mr Turnbull, the Prime Minister, is a political chameleon. His colours have all but run out and we will see in the coming days how strong his commitment is to that great reform his said was the mark of his prime ministership— (Time expired)