Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is shameful, absolutely, Senator Dastyari, that it is opposition for opposition's sake.

Going to a couple of the contributions my colleagues have made in the debate so far, I want to reiterate the points I made earlier with regard to Senator Whish-Wilson's contribution. Senator Ketter made the point that it is all about foreign investment. It is about foreign investment, but it is also about Australians being able to choose whether they invest here or abroad. If it is more competitive for an Australian, a business or an individual to invest in a market where it is more competitive then we need to compete against that to attract that investment back to Australian shores. I think there was also a claim, through one of the references that Senator Whish-Wilson read out, that at a time when there was an exceptionally high tax rate there was increased foreign investment. I am not sure whether Senator Whish-Wilson was indicating that we should increase the company tax rate to stimulate foreign investment.

Senator Whish-Wilson interjecting—

I find it amazing, Senator Whish-Wilson, that you believe increasing the company tax rate would stimulate foreign investment in this country. In fact, I find that unbelievable. Moving off Senator Whish-Wilson's contributions, I want to touch on something that Senator Polley raised at length in this debate, and it is relation to the Australian Maritime College in Tasmania. While it does not directly relate to the bill at hand, I think it is important to respond at least in part to what Senator Polley said. A lot of mistruths and misrepresentations were put onto the Hansard during Senator Polley's contribution. The one correct thing Senator Polley did say was that there is a bipartisan approach on the part of the Tasmanian Labor and Liberal representatives in the federal parliament when it comes to ensuring Tasmania gets its fair share of defence spending. I would be very interested to know why Senator Polley wants to try and conflate issues. What has been announced in Adelaide is a technical college that will train shipbuilders, people who design and build ships. But what we have in Tasmania is a facility that trains seafarers. These are two quite different propositions. This commitment demonstrates that the Tasmanian AMC is part of the broad jigsaw; we have a strength, and it is part of the broader framework of defence training and capability in Australia. It is disappointing that Senator Polley has misrepresented what has actually been announced, has tried to conflate issues and has then gone on with the character assassination of the former member for Bass.

I want to briefly touch on Senator Ketter's contribution as well. He made the point that the economy is slowing down and the government needs to act. I go back to the point that I have made on a number of occasions now: to stimulate the economy you need to look at things like tax reform and cuts to tax rates to encourage investment, to encourage spending and to create more jobs. That is how you stimulate the economy. You do not stimulate the economy by investing more in government spending as Senator Ketter said. That is not stimulating the economy. It is not sustainable to just rack up more debt, tax people more and drive down the strength of the private sector in this country. To stimulate the economy, which is where Senator Ketter was going with his contribution, you need to create an environment where the private sector can thrive and create the jobs we need. I would be interested to know how many of those who have made a contribution so far, including Senator Polley and Senator Ketter, have owned and operated a small business and been responsible for the payment of salaries.

Senator Whish-Wilson interjecting—

I acknowledge that Senator Whish-Wilson has been, and may still be, an employer—I am not sure. But that is right: you have to have an understanding of how business operates. When you have never been responsible for the payment of people's wages and ensuring businesses are paying bills so that the jobs can continue and the business remains afloat it is ridiculous to come in here and tell us that tax cuts are a bad thing. I call on the opposition and those on the crossbench who are not supporting the bill to jump on board and support this good legislation. This is once-in-a generation reform that will actually go a long way to drive our economy, create jobs and create the investment that we need, particularly in regional Australia. Thank you very much for the opportunity to contribute to this debate.

Debate adjourned.