Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker—

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Members on my left and on my right, the member for Petrie has the call.

Mr Pyne interjecting—

Mr Bowen interjecting—

Leader of the House and Member for McMahon, the member for Petrie has the call.

Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. My question is to the Treasurer. There are many businesses in my electorate and in the region that employ many people. Would the Treasurer please explain to the House how the government took to the last election a policy to cut company tax rates for small and medium businesses, and how extending the instant asset tax write-off will ensure there are more well-paid jobs on Petrie and right around Australia?

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

I thank the member for Petrie for his question because, like so many other people on this side of the House who have run a small business, the member for Petrie has employed people and given them jobs off the back of his investment and his wife's investment. They are working together in a small family business, making sure that they can give jobs to young Australians living in Queensland in their pest control business. I want to thank the member for Petrie for the contribution that he and his wife and his family have made in running that business, along with the hundred and thousands of other small businesses around the country which this government recognised in the budget. There are some 100,000 of them, who will be able to benefit from the lifting of the small-business threshold from $2 million to $10 million, to give them access to a 27½ per cent tax rate, the instant asset write-off, the depreciation pool provision and a range of other measures which ensure those small businesses can support the employees that work for them and ensure that they can give them more hours and they can make more investments.

Those opposite jeer and sneer at the member for Petrie, as they did when he asked his question. He knows more about employing people than any of the union hacks on that side do. The member for Petrie knows about employing people. Those opposite just recognise the rights of union bosses and union thugs and bikies, who do their dirty work, turning up to the immigration minister's office, standing there with their signs. But we are going to represent those small businesses who want to give Australians a job. The member for Fenner says, 'Certainly you want to be looking around the world for your company tax rate.' That is what the member for Fenner says, and the shadow Treasurer has said on any number of occasions that our company tax rate needs to be competitive. The United States will be going to 15, the United Kingdom is going to 17, Malaysia is at 24, Korea is at 24.2 and New Zealand is at 28. Maybe they are looking to France, where it is 33 per cent, or Italy, where it is 31.3. They seem to know how much tax foreign workers pay in New Zealand, but they do not know what small businesses pay in New Zealand. They do not want to ensure that there is a competitive tax rate for small businesses in this country, but they want to make sure that there is a lower rate of tax for foreign workers.

We are pursuing these reforms despite the opposition of those opposite and despite the fact that those opposite think small businesses should pay higher rates of tax and should be frustrated in their efforts to continue to provide jobs for Australians. As they demonstrated when the small-business man the member for Petrie asked the question, they jeered and they sneered because they just do not get small business.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

After 23 questions and answers, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.