Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will, thank you, Senator Whish-Wilson. I have a few points I want to make with reference to your contributions a little later on.

We should never forget we are just one option for international investors and we have to make sure we offer the most compelling value. That is exactly right. What has changed? The world still has a global market, where people are choosing where they invest their money. Why has that changed, in Labor's opinion? I do not know. Why Senator Whish-Wilson does not believe that is the case, I do not know. Someone who has a stronger background in finance than me, I would think, would have accepted this.

At the same ACOSS conference in March 2011 that Bob Brown addressed, Mr Shorten argued against the Greens' proposal to spend the expected proceeds from the mining tax on a national dental care scheme or an increase to welfare payments rather than a company tax cut. Mr Shorten said:

What this proposal, as well meaning as it might seem, what it fails to recognise is that we need to encourage employment participation, not greater welfare dependency.

Friends, corporate tax reform helps Australia's private sector grow and it creates jobs right up and down the income ladder.

Then, in August 2011, Mr Shorten told parliament:

Cutting the company income tax rate increases domestic productivity and domestic investment. More capital means higher productivity and economic growth and leads to more jobs and higher wages.

That was a bit of a snapshot of where Labor have been on this issue over a number of years, and it is a real contrast to where they are today. It just begs the question: is this nothing more than political opportunism, opposition for opposition's sake? Australia deserves better than this.