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

In summing up, it is wonderful to follow the member for Petrie's very eloquent contribution and I want to thank all other members for their contribution to the debate on this bill. With 3.3 million small businesses employing 5.7 million Australian workers, the small business sector contributes in many important ways to every single town, community and city and to the entire country. The government is committed to continuing to back these Australian businesses. We have legislated tax cuts as part of our 10-year enterprise tax plan to reduce their tax bill. The government has increased the unincorporated small business tax discount and lifted the small business entity turnover threshold, very importantly, to $10 million. By backing these small businesses, they can invest more, grow more, employ more Australians and, ultimately, pay higher wages.

In contrast, the opposition, sadly, doesn't have a plan for a stronger economy and delivering jobs. At every opportunity, they seek to attack these small businesses who are, in the end, the engine room of job creation in our economy more broadly. We know that the Labor Party used to believe in competitive company tax rates. The Leader of the Opposition, as the Minister for Financial Services when Labor was last in government, said in March 2012: 'Any student of Australian business and economic history knows that part of Australia's success was derived through the reduction in the company tax rate. We need to be able to make life easier for Australian business, which employs two in every three Australians.' He was dead right. In 2013, the shadow Treasury spokesperson also wanted to cut the company tax rate, saying: 'It's a Labor thing to have the ambition of reducing company tax, because it promotes investment, creates jobs and drives growth.' But that is unbelievable. The Labor thing, in the end, is not about reducing company taxes but playing politics, and this is a very, very sad class-envy approach. The problem is that because Labor can't control their spending, they won't commit to a speed limit on taxes, and this is a recipe for higher and higher taxes that in the end we know will suffocate our economy, as the Treasurer has often said, just like a snake eating its tail.

In contrast, we have a plan for a stronger economy and we have a plan to guarantee the essentials and deliver tax relief. This bill is part of a suite of measures that the government's taking to deliver on our plan for a stronger economy by backing small business. The bill will extend the instant asset write-off for a further 12 months, to 30 June 2019. It will also allow immediate deductibility for assets below the $20,000 threshold. Extending this $20,000 instant asset write-off means we're continuing to help small businesses reinvest in their business and replace or upgrade their assets, making their business, in many cases, more efficient and more productive. Small businesses with annual turnover less than $10 million will be able to immediately deduct purchases of eligible assets which cost less than $20,000, with the requirement that they are first used or installed and ready for use by 30 June 2019. Assets valued at $20,000 or more can continue to be placed into the small business simplified depreciation pool and depreciated at 15 per cent in the first income year and 30 per cent in each income year thereafter.

The $20,000 instant asset write-off is a phenomenally successful initiative that is supported by the small business sector. The extension of this measure benefits hardworking Australian small businesses, boosting their activity and their investment for another year. In this sense, the government has a plan for a stronger economy and a plan to enable and encourage small businesses to contribute to that and to keep business competitive, which grows jobs and grows wages as well. I therefore commend this bill to the House.

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