Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Of course the Leader of the Opposition used to say precisely that point—I practically paraphrased him—a few years ago. The shadow Treasurer wrote a book about it, he was so committed to it. That's what the Labor Party used to be in favour of. But now we hear that the national left faction of the Labor Party wants to increase taxes. It wants to have a kinder refugee policy. We know what that means: it means being kinder to people smugglers. What they want to do is jack taxes up. We know that the member for Scullin and the member for Shortland presented a paper outlining their priorities. The paper quotes them saying, 'We will be perceived, and rightly so, as just a pale imitation of the Liberals if we support the tax cuts for large corporations but just say, "Let's wait a few years".' I wonder who they're referring to? Could it be the member for McMahon, as he goes from one board room to another to say, 'I haven't lost my passion for lower business taxes that I wrote about in my book'?

Of that, by the way, copies can be found anywhere where remaindering occurs. It's available right around the country. He goes and says, 'It's just not the right time to have business tax cuts.' Well, the Left are after him and they're after the Leader of the Opposition, and it is the Left that is threatening the economy of our future. (Time expired)

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