Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

Well, Senator Gallagher clearly wasn't listening when the last budget was handed down, because there is an enormous amount of support, stimulus and activity still going into the Australian economy even past the end of March. All of the measures put in place to stimulate investment across the Australian economy—the HomeBuilder program that is providing a huge wave of activity in the construction sector, the tax cuts that we have legislated that are providing for an additional $1 billion-plus going into the pockets of Australian households each and every month going forward, and the fact that we have in place the loss carry back provisions for Australian businesses to be able to sustain themselves—are ongoing. All of these measures are ongoing past the end of March.

We on this side do not shy away from the fact there are difficult times for certain businesses. We are working through consultation with them. We will look at targeted approaches. (Time expired)