Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will not continue on with this past this question. I acknowledge that Senator Dastyari has allowed me to finish my line of questioning, which I appreciate. Minister, thank you for that, but, with the very greatest of respect, can I just say that the arguments you raise really do not make sense. You said, 'If we were to increase company tax it would impact on our desire to build a stronger economy through additional investment.' Well, sorry, Minister—you are increasing the income tax on companies; you are increasing the company tax. As the coalition promised before the election, we were reducing company tax by 1½ per cent—a great initiative, to do everything you said, Minister. That is, we are going to build a stronger economy by encouraging investment. Yes, the 1½ per cent reduction was great for that. I supported that. So everyone gets a 1½ per cent reduction. But, hang on—for the top 3,000 companies the tax goes back. If it applies on one side it must apply on the other. So, by increasing the tax on those top 3,000 companies, you must be impacting on your desire to build a stronger economy through encouraging investment.

You also talked about falling terms of trade and ageing of populations. I am not quite sure what that has to do with the matter I am discussing. And, whilst I accept that women in the workforce do need encouragement to have their children and go back to work, there is already a scheme in place. It is a Labor scheme, so it cannot be particularly good, but it is there; it is in place.