House debates
Thursday, 28 May 2015
Questions without Notice
Budget
2:10 pm
Ann Sudmalis (Gilmore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer outline to the House how the budget helps build a stronger Australia and a stronger economy?
Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
It is your happiest day, isn't it?
Opposition members: It is! It is!
It is!
Dr Chalmers interjecting—
I know you have very low expectations about yourself, but just keep doing the numbers for old Swanee over there. I am watching you!
Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Madam Speaker, on a point of order—
Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
The Manager of Opposition Business will resume his seat. The Treasurer will refer to people by their correct terms.
Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
A bit of Thursday bonhomie!
Mr Perrett interjecting—
Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
The member for Moreton is warned!
Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
The member for Gilmore is absolutely right. We have to build a stronger economy. When I came back to parliament a couple of days ago for this budget session, the member for Gilmore said to me that she had personally doorknocked as many small businesses as she could and taken around a brochure explaining to them the instant asset write-off in particular but also the 1½ per cent tax cut for those that are incorporated and the five per cent tax discount to those small businesses who are not incorporated. She went around doorknocking those small businesses all over her electorate of Gilmore and explained to them the benefits of the government's budget—and got a fantastic reception. She has 8,600 small businesses in her electorate. I know she was not able to do all of those in a week, but I have high expectations she will finish them off in the next couple of weeks.
The reason it is important that we focus on small business is that, as the Prime Minister said, small business is the engine room of the Australian economy. Small businesses are now the big disrupters of the global economy. They are the ones at home on a computer, or perhaps in the garage, working away at some innovative development that is going to get to market in a more substantial way than anything that has ever got to market previously in the history of modern humanity. As such, because of the development of the internet and the breakdown of trade barriers, our small businesses have greater opportunities than ever before to access the global market. We are doing our best as a government to help them along the way. We are not only opening up new trade agreements with China, Korea, Japan and, potentially, India—even as we speak, the Minister for Trade is working away at these sorts of things—but, significantly, we are getting rid of the red tape. We have removed 50,000 pages of regulation in just 18 months. We are opening the doors to a fairer employee share scheme arrangement.
Mr Perrett interjecting—
Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
The member for Moreton will leave under 94(a).
Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
Unlike Labor, who introduced change after change on employee share schemes, we are saying employees should not have to pay tax on shares when they have not realised any benefit from those shares. Importantly, we are looking at ways we can help small business to fund their growth. Our new initiatives in relation to crowd funding are going to help those public companies to lift with the amount of capital they need to access new markets. Everything we are doing is about growing business, growing opportunity and growing jobs for more Australians.
2:14 pm
Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Payments) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
My question is to the Prime Minister—
Mr Pyne interjecting—
I am the shadow minister! Sorry, I should not respond to interjections. My question is to the Prime Minister. Theresa Sutton is a grandparent carer in the electorate of Swan who is raising her 12- and 14-year-old grandchildren. Theresa will lose around $100 a fortnight because of this government's cuts to family tax benefit part B. Why does the Prime Minister think it is fair to cut $100 a fortnight from grandparent carers like Theresa?
Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source
No-one likes to see anyone worse off; no-one does. No-one likes to see anyone worse off, but it is very important that we prioritise our spending to try to get people into work, and that is exactly what the government have done. Let me be absolutely crystal clear. When the member for Jagajaga was the Minister for Family and Community Services she realised that, sometimes, she had to make savings in the area of family tax benefits. She realised that. When she was the minister Labor cut $15 billion from family tax benefits. I have to say that on the vast majority of occasions we supported it, reluctantly, because no-one wants to see anything cut. Sometimes it is necessary for the long-term best interests of our country to reprioritise spending.
In 2013 when the member for Jagajaga was the minister she forced 84,000 single mums onto Newstart as part of a budget cut to save $738 million over four years. These were savings that Labor made in government that were largely supported by us in opposition because this coalition in opposition believed that when the government was doing the right and responsible thing—it did not often happen when members opposite were in government—oppositions should support it.
I understand that members opposite do not like the changes that we have made. Well, tell us what changes you would make. Tell us how you would fund the $58.6 billion budget black hole. Tell us exactly how you would fund the $58.6 billion worth of unfunded commitments that you have made. This is exactly what members opposite have to do. If they do not like what we are doing, tell us what they would do. It is just not good enough to support every spend, to oppose every save, to call for more spending up hill and down dale—$58.6 billion of extra spending—without telling us how it is funded.
We want to encourage people to move from welfare to work, because that is the best form of welfare. Smart Labor people realise that and so do we.