Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Forrest for her question about the economy, because we don't get any from those opposite. The member for Forrest works hard for the people from Bunbury to Busselton, down to Margaret River, for the people of the vineyards, for the people on the dairy farms, and she is working hard to support the tourism operators across her electorate, like many on this side of the House. We have brought into the House a bill that will reduce the taxes for around three million Australian businesses that employ some seven million people. Our legislation will provide tax relief to these businesses five years earlier than first anticipated. So, when you go and see the butcher or the baker, the florist or the fishmonger, the cafe or the chemist, you can tell them that the Morrison government is reducing their taxes.

This builds on the legislation, which passed the parliament only a few weeks ago, to extend the $20,000 instant asset write-off for another year. As the former Treasurer, now Prime Minister, knows, in the most recent data the instant asset write-off was used by some 300,000 Australian businesses. That is what is happening out there in the real world, in the economy, as a result of the measures that this side of parliament has taken.

I'm asked if there are any risks to this approach? We know that the Leader of the Opposition has a five-point plan to increase your taxes: increasing taxes on your income, increasing taxes on your business, increasing taxes on your property, increasing taxes on your savings and increasing taxes on your electricity bill. That is the Labor Party's five-point plan. When it comes to small businesses, the Leader of the Opposition has had four different positions. His first position was to support tax relief only for businesses up to $2 million. Then he went to CEDA in June and said he was going to repeal the tax relief for those businesses with a turnover between $10 million and $50 million. Now he says he supports the tax relief for businesses with turnovers up to $50 million. As the Prime Minister said, he's got a fourth position. That fourth position is to increase taxes on family businesses by $25 billion. Until they come into this place and walk back from that increase in tax, the Labor Party will never be a friend of small business like the coalition is. (Time expired)

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