Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

Peter Costello is indeed a great Australian. He was a fine Treasurer for Australia over nearly 12 years. But let me just say that I disagree with him on this, because, of course, this is a government which is committed to lower, simpler, fairer taxes. This is a government which has brought taxes down over the forward estimates compared to what they would have been under Labor. There is absolutely no doubt that, under this government, taxes are now lower than they would have been under Labor. We got rid of the carbon tax. We got rid of the mining tax. On Tuesday, we delivered a small business tax cut. We delivered immediate asset write-offs for small business up to $20,000. This is a government that does tax lower than Labor any day.

Would we like to do more? Of course we would. Of course we would like to bring down taxes by more. We have brought down a budget which is measured, which is responsible, which is fair, and which puts the budget back onto a credible path to surplus on the same timetable as last year's budget. Our budget repair effort is predominantly focused on the spending side of the budget. We have kept spending growth under control, much better than the previous government. We inherited spending growth of 3.6 per cent above inflation, on average, per annum, from the previous government. We have brought that down to 1.5 per cent spending growth, on average, over the forward estimates.

Senator Conroy interjecting—