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

The biggest risk is that the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Shorten, continues to put political opportunism, the politics of envy and an increasingly socialist agenda ahead of the best interests of the Australian people. The Australian people need businesses across Australia to be as successful and as profitable as possible so they can hire more Australians and pay better wages. Mr Shorten clearly doesn't understand that nine out of 10 working Australians work for a private sector business. By Mr Shorten standing in the way of their future success and profitability, he is essentially being a serious risk to our future economic growth and jobs. We've got the United States reducing the corporate tax rate to 21 per cent, the United Kingdom going down to 17 per cent and even France talking about taking it down to 25 per cent. If we don't ensure that our tax settings are internationally competitive, we are sending jobs and investment overseas.