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

I thank Senator Bushby for that question. The short answer is that the Turnbull government continue to implement our national economic plan for jobs and growth, and a key feature of that plan is to ensure that Australia can again have an internationally competitive business tax rate. That is because on this side of the parliament we understand that, if we want more jobs, we need to ensure that the businesses employing Australians can be as successful and as profitable as possible.

The Labor Party talks about jobs; we actually want the economy to deliver more jobs. We want Australians to have the best possible opportunity to get ahead. Jobs do not grow on trees. Jobs are created by successful, profitable businesses. By helping ensure that we have a more growth-friendly tax system, by helping ensure that businesses can keep more of their own money, not the government's money—when Senator Cameron talks about 'government giveaways', he is assuming that this is all the government's money—we are saying that we want to allow businesses across Australia to keep more of their money so that they can reinvest it in their future success so that, as they are more successful, they can employ more Australians and pay them better wages.

In the end, the only way you can have more jobs in Australia is if the businesses of Australia can be more successful. If we want to ensure that the businesses across Australia can be as successful as possible, we need to ensure that they can compete with businesses in other parts of the world. Now, 4.4 million Australians are employed by businesses generating turnover of up to $50 million. These are not multinational businesses; these are businesses in our communities that are employing 4.4 million Australians. By supporting a more competitive business tax rate, you will help secure their jobs, and you will help ensure they get better wages over time.