Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Importantly, I remind the House—and I think the member for McMahon should listen carefully to this—that the second highest tax threshold kicks in at $80,000 and the rate is 37c. So, obviously, within a couple of years it is entirely possible that someone working in Australia earning average wages would be in the second highest tax threshold. That starts to detract from growth in the economy because the more we tax individuals the slower the economy ends up being.

We want to give Australians more money and more jobs, and that is one of the reasons why we are so pleased with the announcement today from Qantas that they are not only back in profit but they have made a very good profit. They have turned around $619 million in one year, and they have been able to do that on the back of a more prosperous economy but also getting rid of the carbon tax, which is $59 million. It is not just Qantas. McMillan Shakespeare—Australia's largest provider of salary packaging and novated leasing, employing 850 Australians—announced that they were back in profit. There has been a 62 per cent increase in their profit despite the fact that the previous Labor government wanted to close down the leasing industry when it was last in government. We are the party for jobs; we are the party for prosperity.

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