Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Finance (Senator Cormann) and the Minister for International Development and the Pacific (Senator Fierravanti-Wells) to questions without notice asked by opposition senators today relating to proposed company tax cuts.

I rise to note the answers given by Senator Cormann and the pathetic, bumbling effort by Senator Fierravanti-Wells. Imagine if the whole of Australia had nothing better to do than sit and listen to the stupid debate going on here today, you would think that for some strange reason the government can't wait to throw $65 billion tax cuts around to those who deserve it. I want to speak as an ex-small-business person as opposed to a multinational foreign invader. I know how hard it is to turn a quid in Australia when times are tough, but I also know the benefits that can flow from hard work. But I cannot believe that this government can mislead the Australian public into thinking that the $65 billion tax cut is going to help all Australians. I'll tell you why I say that. One only has to go to the Financial Reviewthis morning. We all know that there was a secret survey done by the Business Council of Australia. They surveyed the top end of town, make no mistake. This is not the battlers; this is not the men and women who have fought like heck to rise up from the shop floor, invest in a truck or invest in a little shop, work their way through and put everything on the line. This is the top end of the town—the corporations. The top 130 CEOs—these are not my words; these are the words used by The AustralianFinancial Reviewwere surveyed in a secret survey back in January, I think it was. The Fin Review said:

The chief executives were asked which of four options they would nominate as their preferred response to the company tax cut in Australia.

I'll explain the four options to the Senate and those listening: (1) returning funds to shareholders; (2) more investment; (3) increasing the wages of their existing workforce—a pretty honourable thing to do; or (4) increasing employment. We've heard the government going on and on about increased wages and increased employment opportunities. Surprise, surprise! More than 80 per cent of the top 130 CEOs who are members of the Business Council of Australia nominated one of the first two options—not improving employment and not improving wages, but one of the first two. Why should we be so shocked? Only 16 to 17 per cent nominated higher wages or employment. How many employees does that translate to from 16 or 17 per cent of the top 130 companies in Australia?

You see, I'm all for raising wages. On this side of the chamber, all we talk about is raising wages. We also talk about raising opportunity. I'm an ex-small-business man, which is more than half of that mob over there could claim. My wife and I did it hard. We reaped the rewards. We built our little business, we built our home and we raised our kids. We value the work ethic that was instilled into both of us by our parents when we were young: 'Work hard, get paid properly, keep working hard, bring up the kids and do the right thing.' But listen to the nonsense coming from over there! To think that international raiders like ExxonMobil did a filthy, dirty, grubby deal with five casuals in a different state to create an enterprise agreement so they could go back and undermine their workforce in Longford, where there were 280 people employed! I'm not from Longford; I'm from the west. There were 280 people employed in Longford. It's a community. There are sporting communities, the kids go to school together and the workers have barbecues together. They're friends and neighbours and they have been for many, many years. Meanwhile, ExxonMobil, who have enjoyed massive profits in oil and gas coming from the Bass Strait, decided they would use this grubby deal to undermine the 280 workers at the Longford plant. That mob over there, led by Senator Cormann, don't talk about this but they're happy to deliver tax cuts to ExxonMobil who will give you a job while the 280 long-suffering employees trying to negotiate an enterprise agreement are locked out. If you want to go and undermine the 280 workers you can walk straight through the gate and ExxonMobil will welcome you. Senator Cormann, I would love to hear how much taxation ExxonMobil will get back in your cuts. This is disgracefully misleading to the Australian people. It is an absolute insult, and this mob are nothing short of a disgrace.