Ben Morton (Tangney, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Jobs and Industrial Relations and Minister for Women. I note that next year our government will hand down a surplus budget that is a product of a strong economy. This means that we can support small businesses in industries Australians rely on, without increasing taxes. How would a higher taxing approach hurt small-business owners, including in my electorate of Tangney?

Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party, Minister for Jobs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Tangney for his question and I thank him for his strong and passionate advocacy on behalf of the more than 15,000 small and family businesses in his electorate. I got to see that firsthand when I visited him last week and he was able to advocate with me the government's plan to reduce taxes for small, medium-sized and family enterprises. Since coming into government, we have reduced the tax rate for them from 30 per cent down to 25 per cent for 2020-21. This is great news for the more than 3.3 million small, medium-sized and family enterprises. We have a sustained commitment to them, because we understand that they are the engine room of the Australian economy. Whether we are extending the $20,000 instant asset write-off, slashing red tape to ease their compliance costs or establishing the $2 billion Australian Business Securitisation Fund to lower the cost of funding, we know that it is important for small business to be able to get on with their business, to be able to invest in their business, so that they can employ more Australians. More than seven million Australians are currently employed by small and medium-sized businesses.

We are not resting on our laurels. The Prime Minister announced last night more support for these businesses right around the country, making it easier for them to be able to settle tax disputes with the Australian Taxation Office, making it cheaper and quicker. We do that because we recognise we must make it easier for small business to get on with employing other Australians. Of course, those opposite would make it harder for them, because they have a reckless approach, a high-taxing approach, to small, medium-sized and family enterprises. Those opposite would in fact make it much more difficult for them to employ Australians, because they have a plan to increase tax with the more than $200 billion worth of new taxes that they would hammer the economy with. This would hurt their suppliers, their employees, their customers and their families with taxes on investments, on saving and on superannuation, and let us not forget the mega retiree tax.

Australians can trust that the coalition will continue to deliver a stronger economy, budget surpluses and record jobs growth. We can do that without raising taxes. The only thing that the Leader of the Opposition can be trusted to do is put his hand in your pocket and take more money out.