Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Leyonhjelm for his question. May I say on behalf of the government that we have thoroughly enjoyed working with him in advancing the public interest and making sure the Australian economy is as strong and successful as possible into the future.

Obviously, this is a somewhat unconventional question. It seems to be timed conspicuously around Senator Leyonhjelm's imminent departure! Some more will be said about that a bit later. The thing about Senator Leyonhjelm is that, compared with some others, it was always entirely predictable where he would come from. He was always against increasing taxes and in favour of cutting taxes.

That is, of course, why we were very grateful for his support in scrapping Labor's disastrous mining and carbon taxes. It's why we were very grateful when he and other key crossbenchers supported the government's business tax cuts to create more growth and more jobs. And of course there was our landmark personal income tax relief for the hardworking families across Australia. That is a package which legislated tax relief for 10 million working Australians. At its end, it will abolish an entire income tax bracket and ensure that 94 per cent of Australians pay no more than 32.5 per cent in the dollar in tax.

Senator Leyonhjelm also joined us, along with the remainder of the Senate, in supporting the government's landmark GST reform bill for which we, from the great state of Western Australia, are very grateful indeed. Senator Leyonhjelm supported the government's budget repair effort. Indeed, he was one of the key supporters of our omnibus savings bill after the last election, for which we are very grateful.

More than many in this place, he was aware of the need to balance the books, which is, of course, a reason why, along with the hard work of the government over the last 5½ years, we are able to deliver a surplus budget on 2 April. That is why we will be in a position to pay down the massive debts that Labor left behind. (Time expired)