Tony Smith (Casey, Liberal Party, Deputy Chairman , Coalition Policy Development Committee) Share this | Hansard source

I withdraw. It took the Assistant Treasurer four occasions, in a government dealing with a tax bill, to answer a question on an amendment that he moved. The shadow Treasurer asked him on three occasions to justify why this amendment has been moved. The shadow minister for finance had to ask him. But the default position of this Assistant Treasurer is to sit there at the dispatch box in this parliament and say nothing. That speaks volumes about the Assistant Treasurer's incompetence and the incompetence of this government on tax policy generally.

The government made a great fanfare four years ago of the fact that they had cut this tax rate to 7½ per cent. They were like a band of brothers, they were better than anyone else, and the reason they did that was they wanted to send a signal to the international community that Australia would be a financial services hub and this is where they wanted people to invest.

They also made the point that they needed to take that step to show that we were different. They made the point that you could not tinker around or muck around with this. As the shadow minister for finance rightly pointed out—and nothing illustrates it more than their conduct and their actions on this issue—the signal this government has sent time after time on tax policy is uncertainty. They have sent uncertainty right around the globe. Even when they change their minds, they cannot explain it.

The Assistant Treasurer sits at that dispatch box with the shadow Treasurer asking him for a simple explanation of why they have moved an amendment to delete an entire schedule from their bill, an entire schedule that was a major budget announcement just six weeks ago. And the Assistant Treasurer in this government says nothing for three occasions. That was his default position; like a battery operated kid's toy run out of batteries. Maybe the parliamentary secretary at the table changed the batteries. Sitting there with a glum look on his face. There might be an explanation. Let's give him a break. Perhaps the shadow finance minister has been too hard on him. Perhaps he does not know why the amendment has been moved in his name.

The one thing this Assistant Treasurer can do is go around Australia on this issue and he can say, 'Whatever your position is, I have adopted it at some point in time.' He came into this House four years ago, and proudly advocated the 7½ per cent and said why that was important and he introduced the legislation to double it.

As I said earlier in the debate, this is an important part of the government's budget, as the shadow finance minister pointed out. I do not think you will find it in the Treasurer's budget speech, though. That is the best indication of any significant measure the government is moving that they think might be unpopular; just like the time the Treasurer forgot to mention the debt and deficit. It was only when the shadow finance minister spoke after the shadow Treasurer had spoken three times that the Assistant Treasurer was prompted to get up in the debate—not to tell us, but to tell the public and the parliament. Here in the House of Representatives we have an Assistant Treasurer who will not explain and will not talk. I will tell you why: it is because he is not sure that it will not change again. And he meekly says that they will be introducing separate legislation. Finally, when pushed, he talked about 15 per cent being competitive. I would like him to confirm that the separate legislation will be 15 per cent. I think the international community would like to know from the Assistant Treasurer what today's policy position is.

As the shadow minister pointed out, uncertainty is toxic in the international community. The Assistant Treasurer will not take the word of the shadow finance minister—I know that—but he ought to take the word of international investors: people like David Denison, the President and CEO of the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board. Mr Denison said:

... in fact, Australia’s budget that was tabled last week effectively doubled the tax burden on our real estate and infrastructure holdings in that country.

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