Lindsay Tanner (Melbourne, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Blair for his question. The presentation of costed and detailed policies is crucial for Australia’s longer term prosperity. That is why the government has put out detailed policies—detailed, costed plans—for long-term sustainable growth for Australia’s future, including investment in infrastructure, skills, health reform, deregulation, regulatory reform, the National Broadband Network and of course tax reform. All of these are components of a wider, detailed plan to build long-term sustainable growth for the Australian economy.

Unfortunately, we have not heard a great deal from the opposition by way of detailed, costed policies. We have heard an awful lot from the Leader of the Opposition about what they would undo but very little about what they would do, were they to be elected. We have heard that they would cancel the computers in schools program, they would scrap the trades training centres. They would stop reforms to private health insurance, they would get rid of GP superclinics, they would abandon reforms to e-health that would make our health system more efficient. They would scrap the tax reforms that would deliver a lower company tax rate for Australian businesses, better superannuation, more infrastructure and better tax breaks for our small businesses. It is long overdue that we heard from the Leader of the Opposition what his economic strategy is, what his health reform strategy is, what his education reform strategy is, what his national security policy is. It is long overdue that we actually got some policy.

I do confess that this area is not a complete void; there have one or two things announced—for example, the opposition’s great big new tax to fund its Rolls Royce paid parental leave scheme for people on up to $150,000 a year. Interestingly enough, this tax means that company tax for larger businesses in Australia would go to almost 32 per cent, in contrast to the government’s proposal, which is that it would go to 28 per cent.

Mr Speaker, if you have been watching the media over the last 24 hours, you would have noted that the United Kingdom, under the new coalition government headed by the Conservatives, have just decided to drop their company tax rate from 28 per cent to 24 per cent. What that indicates is that we as a nation do not have the luxury of time in responding to the pressures—that have been there for some time and that were put on hold for a period because of the global financial crisis—about the headline rate of company tax. It is a very important reform to reduce the headline rate of company tax. This government is doing that. The opposition proposes to increase that rate. That is just one item.

The second item I noticed over the past 24 hours was the Leader of the Opposition announcing the creation of a parliamentary budget office. This triggered some vague memories in the back of my mind, and I discovered that it was remarkably reminiscent of some very interesting email exchanges that occurred last year between Godwin Grech and various Liberal luminaries. It would appear that Godwin’s ghost lives on! He is still drafting strategy for the opposition. Also, the Leader of the Opposition is out there making commitments for the period after the forward estimates end. Whether it is about road projects or pension indexation, he is out there saying to people, ‘Look, we’ll do something about that beyond the forward estimates.’ That is 2014. So what he is effectively saying is, ‘You’ve got to elect us twice before we deliver on our promises.’ These are policies on lay-by. You front up and commit initially and then you have to be voted in again before people actually get delivery! I am sorry, but this simply is not good enough. This is not good enough. We are within months of a national election. The Australian people are entitled to serious, detailed, costed positions from the opposition that they can form a view about and so they can make a decision about whether or not they want to take the risk of this erratic opposition leader running the Australian nation and our economy. That is a risk they cannot afford to take.

See this speech in context