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

Firstly, I have not said that we did not assume any change in behaviour; that is, with all due respect, Senator Milne seeking to verbal my previous answer. Of course we assume that there will be an increased level of investment as a result of this measure and into the future success of small businesses across Australia—that is the whole purpose of this measure. And so of course we have assumed that there would be an increased level of investment in future growth—future small-business-driven growth—as a result of the measure that we are discussing here today; otherwise why would we do it? In terms of some of the other questions: small business always has and always will have to make their own judgements, in terms of what makes sense for them as a commercial investment—a private investment—in their future success.

Senator Milne asked me about the uptake by new businesses: well, obviously, if a new business is immediately profitable so that it makes sense for them to access this sort of opportunity, good luck to them—that is great. We want more new businesses to be successful, and we want more new businesses to take advantage of this opportunity to be even more successful into the future. But I guess the inbuilt protection in the system, and the inbuilt protection in this measure, is this requirement to be profitable and to have a liability for a level of taxable income—in order to be able to beneficially access this particular initiative. So, subject to all those conditions—whether you are a new business or an old business, as long as you fulfil all of the requirements; as long as it makes sense for you to invest in a particular asset or piece of equipment to facilitate stronger success in the future, and as long as it is an allowable deduction in relation to all of the other requirements in our tax laws—then, obviously, we encourage small businesses across Australia to take advantage of this particular measure.