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

The other thing wrong in the good senator's question is when she references an $80 billion tax giveaway to big business or the big end of town—or whatever she said. Unless she thinks that a business generating more than $10 million in revenue—which is going to be hit for a six by Mr Shorten, as a result of his captain's call, imposing higher taxes on small business—is part of the big end of town then her question is simply another attempt to mislead the Australian people.

Let me just explain some basics of free market economics. If you get more investment in the generation of products and services that consumers want, businesses generating those products and services will hire more people in order to generate those products and services that people want. And if they are successful in selling those products and services that people want to those people, not only does that deliver a higher quality of life to consumers; it also means that, as businesses around Australia hire more people, there's more competition for workers across the Australian economy. Do you know what happens when there's more competition? Business has to pay more to secure their services, not because they want to out of the goodness of their hearts but because they have to. That is the fundamental law of supply and demand: if there is stronger demand for workers then people have to—