Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It won't come as any surprise to you, Mr Acting Deputy President Williams, that, whilst I agree with Senator Watt that there is a vast difference between the parties, I disagree with pretty much everything else he said. As I've said in this place a number of times, this is a government getting on with the job, and it's the Labor Party who wants to play politics. I've spoken in the last few weeks of parliament on three MPIs, and each of them has been Labor trying to pivot to a more positive agenda; but in doing so they just reveal so many positive things that this government has achieved over the last few years.

What does this MPI talk about? 'An economy that works for all'. I was lucky enough to be out in the electorate of Fremantle late last week with our recently endorsed candidate for Fremantle, Nicole Robins. It's a great story, and she's a great person. She's 29 years of age and has been on the local government in the electorate of Fremantle for a decade. In going out and about, we met with some small businesses, the first of which, in answer to the question, 'What's the most important thing government can do?' said, 'Keep getting taxes as low as possible.' They gave extraordinary credit to this government for driving particular taxes on small and family businesses down as much as possible. Taxation remains a great area of concern for small business, but they acknowledge that this government has led the way in reform of our tax system, particularly for those small and medium-sized enterprises, and they trust us to continue to do so.

The MPI also talks about multinational tax avoidance and tax in general. This is a government that has followed through on multinational tax avoidance, has made significant inroads into making sure that things like transfer pricing and phoenixing activity are reduced as much as possible, for the very simple reason that if a company is not paying its fair share of tax that puts increased burden on others. Tax needs to be as fair as possible and as low as possible. This is a government that's been following through on that.

The difference with those opposite is pretty stark. Senator Reynolds would certainly be aware of the front page story in The West Australian this morning, 'Franking losers revealed'. Labor's proposed changes to franking credits will hurt many tens of thousands of individuals from our home state of Western Australia. In fact, up to 85,000 Western Australians would lose significant amounts of money under Labor's plan to double tax franking credits—on average, $12,000 a year under the ALP's policy. In the electorate of O'Connor, which is the large regional electorate in the south-west and south-east of Western Australia, more than 6,000 people would be affected by Labor's double taxation arrangements, including an example I've talked about before, a self-funded retiree in Albany. Glenn Diggins is his name, and he has said it's okay for me to use his name in this place. He is someone who has funded his own retirement, is not deriving a pension and is of very modest means. He doesn't have a large superannuation balance by anyone's estimation. He would have his income slashed by a third under Labor's policy. He would lose $10,000 out of around $30,000. That is an extraordinary thing for a party that claims to be champion of the underdog to propose. It's an absolutely shocking set of circumstances that we have with a potential Labor government coming to power. Nationally 900,000 people would be affected by this double taxation change. Around 200,000 self-managed super funds will be affected by the changes, 96 per cent of which have a taxable income of less than $87,000. This is like Mr Diggins from Albany. It's someone with a very modest income from their superannuation fund who is going to be hit significantly by this proposed change. This is not an abstract set of figures. This is someone's real income in retirement—someone who has done the right thing by this country, who has done the right thing by putting money away under a certain set of rules. They expect to be able to look after themselves into their old age and they want to be able to look after themselves into their old age, and they risk having one-third of their income taken from them. It's quite remarkable that we could ever see that.

What could be more important in 'an economy that works for all', as this MPI describes it, than the creation of full-time jobs? And that is where this government has succeeded so strongly—putting in place the circumstances that allow business to employ. The latest ABS job figures that came out just last week show that the economy has added more than 300,000 jobs in the past year, including 238,800 new full-time jobs. That is 238,800 people who are now in full-time work, who can support their families, save for the future and create a life for themselves in this country, which is the Lucky Country. This government is very proud that it has put in place the preconditions which enable full-time employment to stand at a record high of over 8.7 million people. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was steady at five per cent. This is the equal lowest rate since 2011. Again, the unemployment rate is such a positive reflection of (a) where the economy is currently at and (b) the positive result that is for individual Australians and individual Australian families. We should never underestimate or in any way downplay the importance of a job and what it adds to a person's life. It is a significant achievement, and this government is very proud that, since coming into office in 2013, 1.18 million jobs have been created.

I think everyone listening would acknowledge that higher taxes, which are what those opposite are proposing, will only have a dampening effect. They will have a dampening effect on the economy; they will have a dampening effect on the chance of more people getting jobs. When I was out and about with Nicole Robins in Fremantle, those small businesses were saying, 'We would love to employ more people, but we are concerned about a Labor government coming into power.' So we need to generate confidence for people to invest in their own business and their own lives, to employ people and to create those jobs of the future. In building the economy that we have today, that is exactly what this government has done, and the runs are on the board. We see it in terms of the growth figures for the economy. We see it in terms of the unemployment rate. We see it in terms of the number of jobs that have been created in the economy over the last five years. I think that it's very important that all Australians reflect on that as they consider where this country is heading into the future.