Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for La Trobe for his question. The Liberal and National parties are for lower taxes. That's what we're for: we're for lower taxes. We're for lower personal taxes; we're for lower business taxes. We believe that you should not suffocate the economy with higher taxes. We believe that we should be providing that tax relief to all working Australians—not just some, but those on lower and middle income and all Australians out there working—because we believe all Australians work hard and we believe they all deserve tax relief. And we believe businesses should have competitive tax rates. We do not believe that businesses should be shackled to the second-highest tax rates in the world when they're out there trying to invest and employ people and grow their businesses and get the return back on the big investments they've made in their businesses, putting their own houses and their own livelihoods on the line to ensure that other people can have jobs and enjoy the prosperity that is achievable in this country. That is our plan. That's part of our strong plan, our plan for a stronger economy, because we understand that you cannot guarantee the essential services Australians rely on unless you have a stronger economy.

The Labor Party wants to put more than $200 billion of additional taxes on the Australian economy. That's why Australians cannot afford Labor. They cannot afford a Labor government that would put on more than $200 billion in additional taxes. The way Australians will pay for that is not just in the higher taxes that they'll pay but in the threat to the services that they rely on. If we're looking at Tasmania and infrastructure, the $60 million for the Bass Highway comes from a stronger economy. That's where that comes from. The $1½ billion for boosting the Bruce Highway, up near the member for Petrie and in the Longman electorate, comes from a stronger economy. The $10 million for the chemotherapy treatment unit in Caboolture Hospital comes from a government that understands why a stronger economy is important to guarantee the essential services that Australians rely on.

Our personal tax plan is responsible, it's comprehensive and it deals with real problems in the tax system to ensure that 94 per cent of Australians will not face a marginal tax rate higher than 32½c in the dollar. That's a real plan and that's what we're delivering. Our enterprise tax plan will ensure that the businesses that currently employ more than one in two Australians will be joined by all businesses in having competitive tax rates so they can employ more Australians. It's under this government since we were first elected that a million jobs have been created. It's under this government that we've seen unemployment coming down. It's under this government that we've seen 80,000 young people get a job. Jobs and growth: that's what we've delivered; that's what we'll continue to deliver.

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