Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak in favour of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Enterprise Tax Plan No. 2) Bill 2017. It is with great pride that I rise to speak in favour of an extension to the reduction of company tax for all businesses, not just those with turnovers below $50 million. This bill delivers on the remainder of the government's enterprise tax plan, introduced in the 2016-17 budget. The enterprise tax plan is the centrepiece of the coalition's economic agenda. We took this agenda to the 2016 election and we won, which gave the coalition a mandate to govern and the imprimatur of the Australian people to legislate the policies we presented to them. I will come back to this later.

The first element of that plan, legislated almost a year ago for firms earning less than $50 million turnover each year, was a watershed change for businesses around the country and particularly for small businesses earning between $2 million and $10 million in turnover each year, because it not only reduced the company tax rate for those businesses but also provided those businesses with a turnover of up to $10 million access to the small-business tax incentives, the instant asset write-off, pool depreciation and GST on a cash-flow basis. That position was fiercely resisted by those opposite, but we have already seen just how well it was received. It was a game-changing moment for many small businesses and allowed them the confidence to invest, grow and employ. I thank my crossbench colleagues who gave the government their open minds and the people of Australia their goodwill and good wishes when they supported that first tranche of company tax cuts.

Now we find ourselves at another watershed moment, and once again we ask for the open minds of the crossbench and call upon them to demonstrate their goodwill and good wishes towards the Australian people. It's the Australian people who are the beneficiaries of the economic growth that comes from cutting the costs of doing business. It's the Australian people who are the beneficiaries of increased competitiveness with our overseas counterparts. It's the Australian people who are the beneficiaries of the increased overseas investment in Australia. It's the Australian people who are the beneficiaries of the greater number of jobs created because companies can afford to invest and employ. And it's the Australian people who, with the demand for employment rising, will see a corresponding rise in real wages—a genuine sustainable and organic rise in wages, not a confected one through ambit claims for exorbitant minimum wage rises. History shows us that those, by causing sudden inflation and pricing workers out of the market, do more harm—do the most harm—to the very people they attempt to protect.

The crossbench has indeed demonstrated that good faith and goodwill. Senators Bernardi, Anning, Leyonhjelm and Martin have already committed their support for the enterprise tax plan, and I thank them sincerely. So, too, do I acknowledge our colleagues from One Nation, my fellow senator from Victoria, Senator Hinch, and our new colleague, Senator Storer, for approaching this policy change with an open mind, intellectual curiosity and a desire for evidence of cause and effect.

The vast majority of Australians don't know what goes on in the deliberations of the crossbench. Many of them came to this place in my cohort of 2016 and together we have grown into this chamber. I think it's important to acknowledge how seriously they take their jobs. Over the years, crossbenchers, whether they be Independent or minor party aligned, have put up with their fair share of political grandstanding, ideological bellyaching and the ugliest part of this job, which is bloody-minded opposition only for the sake of political expedience. And haven't we seen plenty of that in this debate!

I think that the crossbench knows that the evidence is in. Growth can be achieved through cutting company taxes, and we've already seen that demonstrated in the first 12 months since the first tranche of the enterprise tax plan. Jobs numbers do increase in response to companies investing back into their businesses. We've heard an awful lot about economics 101 in this debate. Ironically, the people who mention it most often have never sat in an economics lecture in their lives!