Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is with a heavy heart that I come to the Senate this afternoon. Nothing demonstrates the parlous state of economic literacy or understanding in this country, or indeed in this Senate chamber, more than the debate about the company tax cuts. That's for a couple of reasons. The company tax cut initiative of this government sits as a measure in the broader pursuit of wider economic reform and therefore greater future prosperity—yes, for Australian companies and businesses but also for Australian workers. The second point is that the politics of this, I agree, are very simple in the electorate. I absolutely accept that, for many Australians, understanding how the economy works in its minutiae is not top of mind for them, nor should it be. But that doesn't mean that the Labor Party and others can use politics to deny Australians this very important economic reform initiative, because it sits in a basket of other reforms.

Why can the coalition be trusted on this issue, when it comes to economic reform and management? It's because the coalition's management of the economy over the last few years has demonstrated that the coalition have been wise, prudent economic managers. The evidence speaks for itself. We have seen extraordinary job growth. When the issue of job growth gets mentioned in this place, no-one in the opposition denies the remarkable success that the coalition have enjoyed in generating jobs. Everyone knows that government doesn't generate jobs, but government does have a high degree of influence over economic management, and we see the success of that economic management in strong jobs growth. We have seen consumer confidence increasing in this country, not decreasing. Indeed, consumers are more confident now than they have been in the last four years. In addition to that, we've seen a strengthening of non-mining business investment. We have seen solid growth of five per cent in 2017-18, and it is expected to be seen in 2018-19. And we've seen strengthening new private investment. These are demonstrations that the coalition's economic management to date has been successful, and Australian families and Australian workers will enjoy that over time.

The corporate tax cut is an important initiative as part of this wider basket of economic reform initiatives. People need to ask themselves: why was it that the Labor Party, just a few years ago, could agree with the virtues of company tax cuts, and particularly agree with the benefits they deliver for Australian workers—and I'll come to that in a moment—but they can't agree to that in 2018? What is it that has changed in the laws of economics in just those last five years? What is it? I put to you that nothing has changed in the laws of economics. Everything has changed in the politics.

If former Senator Dastyari were here, he would remind me how I like to talk about the Hawke-Keating economic period. It is true to say that Keating did bring important economic reform to this country, and he did so because he had the bipartisan support, for many measures, of the coalition. The absence of proper bipartisanship on significant economic reform initiatives like this is hurting Australian workers. So I ask Senator Kitching, Senator Brown and Senator Urquhart: what was it that you could see in corporate tax cuts four or five years ago that led your leadership to endorse them, to speak in favour of them, when today, in 2018, you don't endorse them? What has changed? I put it to you that it's political expediency, the opportunity for politics. In the process of pursuing that opportunity for politics, you are actually undermining the very people that you come to this parliament and say you represent, because Australian workers will pay the price for a lack of company tax cuts in this country. Senator Kitching, you are absolutely right, but the problem is: it's not good enough to welcome international business to Australia; the conditions in the Australian economy must be such that it is an attractive place for them to invest. You know as well as I do that rising American interest rates, the company tax cuts in the United States— (Time expired)