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

One of the central planks of our national economic plan for jobs and growth is a tax cut that benefits 87 per cent of Australian workers working for private sector businesses—a tax cut which the Labor Party is opposing. They used to support it, but now that they've gone back to their socialist past—to a time when your Labor government of the past wanted less opportunity for people to get ahead and was quite happy for less growth, less investment, fewer jobs and lower wages—they are now against a business tax cut to benefit 87 per cent of Australian workers working for a private sector business, even though they would know these tax cuts help protect jobs, help to create more jobs and help to drive increases in real wages over time. We also, unlike those opposite, have a commitment to keep the tax burden on the economy below 23.9 per cent. (Time expired)