Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

We stand on the side of Australian workers. Nine out of 10 Australian workers work for private sector business, and we don't want the businesses that employ them to be disadvantaged compared to businesses in other parts of the world who pay substantially less tax. We want Australians to have the best possible opportunity to get ahead and be successful. We understand that, for that to happen, the businesses that employ them have to have the best possible opportunity to be successful and profitable in the years and decades to come.

Now, Labor may think this is a joke. That is actually what the Labor Party used to think. That is what Bill Shorten used to say, that is what Chris Bowen used to say and, indeed, that is what Senator Wong very succinctly and eloquently argued for in years gone by. If we want Australians today and into the future to be the most successful they can be and to get ahead, we need the businesses that employ them and that pay their wages to be more profitable into the future. That is why we don't want our businesses to be disadvantaged compared to businesses in other parts of the world.