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

Yes, I was aware that the BCA would be writing to senators. The precise dates and times I would have to take on notice. But let me confirm again that, yes, I do take the view that that was a very significant intervention by the most senior of business leaders in Australia, the biggest employers in Australia, because what they were clearly indicating was that if the Senate were to pass those business tax cuts in full it would lead to more investment, more jobs and higher wages as the tax cuts took effect. Do you know why that is? It is because if we stop putting Australian business at a disadvantage we stop putting Australian workers at a disadvantage. Right now, by putting Australian businesses at a disadvantage by forcing them to pay higher taxes than businesses in other parts of the world, the people that we are putting at a disadvantage are their employees and the employees of the small and medium-sized businesses providing goods and services to them.

Look at a business like Qantas. Qantas is an Australian business success story. It started with three employees in Longreach in the great state of Queensland. Today, it employs 30,000 people and operates in a fiercely competitive international, global, industry. If you put Qantas at a competitive disadvantage you lower the job security of the 30,000 people working for Qantas and you lower the job security of the many Australians working for the 3,000 small and medium-sized businesses supplying goods and services to Qantas. That is what we understand. We understand that putting Australian businesses, big and small, at a disadvantage to businesses in other parts of the world puts Australian workers at a serious disadvantage. It puts their jobs at risk. It puts their future wage increases at risk. We want families in Australia to have the best possible opportunity to get ahead. That is why we want the businesses that employ them to have the best possible opportunity to be successful and more profitable into the future.