Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister to the Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I say to the honourable member: it's pretty easy to get your hands on one of these. They're only a couple of bucks, just in the bargain bin at the front of bookstores. They're not that hard to find.

'Promoting growth through cutting company tax'. What has happened between then and now? I think I know what's happened between then and now. Bill Shorten's become leader of the party, and the Left is large and in charge of the Labor Party. What is sad is that someone like the shadow Treasurer has not been able to stand up to them—someone like the shadow Treasurer, who evokes the memories of Hawke and Keating, who cut company taxes, is now someone who wants higher company taxes and higher taxes on small family businesses. This is a man who wants small businesses with a turnover between $2 million and $10 million to be denied tax cuts and be denied the ability to access concessions like the instant asset write-off. They are not rich people. They are not Apple and Google. They are small businesses that might have one, two or three employees; small businesses that treat their employees more like family members than employees. But he wants to deny them a tax cut. He hurts not only those small businesses but also their employees, because, if those small businesses are doing it tough, then it's harder to provide the opportunities for inclusive growth that he talks about.

Speaking of growth, in the last quarter we had growth at 0.8 per cent in one quarter. It must be hard, it must be tough, as someone in the role of shadow Treasurer. Every time some good economic data comes out, he is torn. I'm sure that, as a patriot, he thinks this is great for the country—good on the coalition government for delivering 0.8 per cent growth—but he's torn. He can't say it. It must be a very difficult position to be in.

We've also seen the dividends for the government, and we've seen dividends for the country due to the encouragement of growth under this government. We saw the final budget figures come in at $4.4 billion better than expected. This is very important. This is the first time since the last Costello budget, the last coalition government budget before the rabble of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government, where we've exceeded expectations, and this was delivered under Treasurer Morrison's watch. We have exceeded expectations. It's very important because, unlike the Labor Party, we underpromise and overdeliver. That is what that shows.

Opposition members interjecting—

The Labor Party might think that $4.4 billion is a trifling amount worth laughing at, but we think that is extraordinarily important and absolutely telling. The economy is seeing growth and strength in a way that we have not seen since the Howard and Costello government. But we've got a lot more to do and we cannot take it for granted. The Labor Party thinks we can take it for granted and thinks that we can tax our way to prosperity. It's false. I say to the shadow Treasurer: we don't want you bringing what you brought to the immigration portfolio in government to this debate. (Time expired)

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