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senate vote 2018-08-22#2
Edited by
mackay staff
on
2023-06-09 10:15:38
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Title
Bills — Treasury Laws Amendment (Enterprise Tax Plan No. 2) Bill 2017; in Committee- Treasury Laws Amendment (Enterprise Tax Plan No. 2) Bill 2017 - in Committee - Keep bill unchanged
Description
<p class="speaker">Mathias Cormann</p><p>I want to make sure everybody understands what just happened. The Labor Party just voted to keep tax cuts for the big banks inside the Ten Year Enterprise Tax Plan. The Labor Party just voted in favour of tax cuts for the big banks. The Labor Party just voted against carving the big banks out of our Ten Year Enterprise Tax Plan. That is what just happened. The Labor Party, One Nation, Centre Alliance, Senator Storer and the Greens all voted for tax cuts for the big banks. That is what the Australian people need to understand. Only the Liberal and National parties, Senator Anning, Senator Burston, Senator Leyonhjelm and Senator Hinch—</p> <p class="speaker">Opposition Senators</p><p>Opposition senators interjecting—</p><p>The CHAIR: Order! The minister has the right to be heard in silence.</p> <p class="speaker">Mathias Cormann</p><p>I think it is very important for the Austrian people to understand that the Labor Party in the Senate today voted in favour of tax cuts for the big banks. To the eternal credit of Senator Hinch, who has been consistent with his publicly stated position all the way through, he voted in favour of this amendment put forward by the government. To the eternal credit of Senator Leyonhjelm, who I know had policy reservations for good reasons in relation to this particular amendment, because he saw the bigger picture he voted for better opportunities for working Australians to get ahead by helping businesses around Australia be internationally competitive and so supporting our economy, supporting jobs and supporting opportunities for families to get ahead. He voted for this amendment. Senator Burston and Senator Anning are senators who are men of their word, and they voted in favour of this particular amendment. Of course, all of the Liberal Party and National Party senators in this chamber voted in favour of carving out the big banks from these corporate tax cuts, because we thought it was so important to secure a lower globally more competitive business tax rate for all of the other businesses around Australia that employ millions of Australians. Those who voted on this side of the chamber care about the opportunity for working families to get ahead, because we understand that their future job opportunities, future job security, future career prospects and future wage increases depend on the future viability, competitiveness and profitability of the businesses that employ them. That is why we voted in support of this amendment.</p><p>The Labor Party has lost all credibility. Mr Shorten actually knows that a lower globally more competitive business tax rate is in our national interest. Mr Shorten knows that a lower globally more competitive business tax rate will actually be in the best interests of workers—none other than Dr Ken Henry, as Treasury secretary to Treasurer Swan, said so, none other than Mr Shorten himself said so, and none other than Mr Bowen said so, until we decided to put this proposal into a budget. The only reason the Labor Party is opposed to business tax cuts now is that they believe that is going to be the pathway for Bill Shorten into the Lodge.</p><p>My message to the Australian people is: if Bill Shorten is elected Prime Minister on his antibusiness, anti-opportunity politics-of-envy socialist high-taxing agenda it will hurt the economy, it will cost jobs and it will hurt working families around Australia, who will end up with less opportunity to get ahead. We will continue to fight for the best interests of working families around Australia. The Labor Party can continue to play politics. They voted, just now, in favour of tax cuts for the big banks. It shows how completely bereft you are of any credibility and any integrity. It is absolutely unbelievable. After the campaign that Mr Shorten has been running in Longman and everywhere else around Australia, the latest Bill Shorten lie is that he's opposed to tax cuts for the big banks.</p><p>Let me say this again very clearly and very slowly: every Labor senator in this chamber just voted in favour of tax cuts for the big banks. So you are now in favour of tax cuts for the big banks, instead of more money for hospitals, more money for schools. That is the position of the Labor Party. You are absolutely all over the place. Nobody can trust a single word that Bill Shorten has to say on anything. He lied about 'Mediscare'. He lied about the citizenship status of his own MPs and, of course, he lies when he says—</p><p>The CHAIR: Minister, resume your seat. I do remind you it is unparliamentary, firstly, to refer to those in the other place by their first names and, secondly, to directly accuse someone of being a liar. I would ask you to withdraw those comments.</p><p>I withdraw. Mr Shorten clearly misled the Australian people in relation to 'Mediscare', he clearly misled the Australian people in relation to the rolled-gold guarantee that he gave to the Australian people that there was 'nothing to see here' in terms of the citizenship status of his MPs, and he misled the Australian people when he said he actually cared about jobs. If Mr Shorten cared about jobs, he would help ensure that businesses around Australia have the best possible opportunity to be viable, competitive and profitable into the future.</p><p>Today, the Labor Party has failed a test of character. With the Labor Party having campaigned, supposedly, against tax cuts for the big banks, every single Labor senator today voted in favour of tax cuts for the big banks. The people of Australia can form their own judgements.</p> <p class="speaker">Doug Cameron</p><p>We know it's not been a good week for the coalition, but this really puts the icing on the cake. This is a leader in this place who has actually argued for tax cuts for the banks, has argued against a royal commission into the banks and has supported the banks all the way along. And now this government is in so much trouble and in terminal decline. We understand that Senator Cormann is committed. This is Senator Cormann's signature economic policy down the drain, like this government is down the drain. This is a bad week for the Australian public because this government is collapsing, and we need a government that can actually get decent economic policies, decent financial policies and look after working people. And that performance we've just seen from Senator Cormann demonstrates how much trouble this government is in.</p><p>It is only a few weeks ago that Ross Greenwood said to Senator Cormann:</p><p class="italic">The question is, really, if the public does not, with a Royal Commission on, like the idea of handing out big tax cuts to banks and others, why on earth would the Government persist with this?</p><p>What did Senator Cormann say? What did the Leader of the Government in the Senate say? He said, 'Because it's the right thing to do.' Talk about wibble-wobble. He said:</p><p class="italic">Because it is the right thing to do by working families around Australia. If we put businesses in Australia at a competitive disadvantage with businesses in other parts of the world by imposing significantly higher—</p><p>taxes—</p><p class="italic">then that puts workers here in Australia at a competitive disadvantage with workers in other parts of the world.</p><p>So it was the right thing to do; then it was changed. This is a government that just cannot keep a policy for two hours. After two hours, their policies are changing, like the front bench is changing. We don't even know who's on the front bench in this government. We don't know what—</p> <p class="speaker">Mathias Cormann</p><p>I'm here!</p> <p class="speaker">Doug Cameron</p><p>You're here! How long are you going to be here, Senator Cormann? The question is: when is Senator Cormann going to join his great mate, Peter Dutton? When is he going to join him? And when is the end of this government going to actually happen? I hear that it's today. I hear that it's on again today. What we really should be doing is concentrating on the issues that are important for working people, not handing $80 billion to the big end of town while working people in this country need access to decent health systems and decent education systems. We want to rebuild the TAFE system in this country. That's where the money should be going—looking after working families, not $80 billion to the big end of town.</p><p>What do these amendments do? It would have kept Goldman Sachs in there. Why do we want Goldman Sachs in there? You've got the answer to that. You've only to got to look at the linkages between Goldman Sachs and this government. This is a government that really is dead. This government is dead. What we need is a government that can actually look after the best interests of Australians. The performance that Senator Cormann just put on demonstrates how bad this government is and how desperate it is. They're at each other's throats. We don't even know who's on the front bench. We don't even know if Senator Cormann will be there this afternoon. This is the correct decision. The big dummy spit that we've just seen from you, Senator Cormann, does you absolutely no justice. And I suppose you're sitting there looking at your phone now, seeing where the numbers are. They're falling away from Prime Minister Turnbull. We know that. We know this government is in such a bad state.</p><p>What Labor and Bill Shorten in government will focus on is health, education, the TAFE system and making sure that we look after working families in this country, that workers in this country can bargain with their employers and that we stop wage stagnation. These are the issues that are important for working people in this country, not your internal disputes, not your fights, not your squabbles and arguments that have destroyed this government. We understand how important unity is. What we stand for is a unified government, a unified Labor Party that can deal with the issues, not handing $80 billion of taxpayers' money to the big end of town on some crazy ideological theory that trickle-down economics will work. You guys have lost the plot. You opposed the banking Royal Commission. You want to cuddle up to Goldman Sachs. You want to cuddle up to all those big businesses that hand over money to you guys for your election campaign. I think you're going to be about a million and a half dollars down, because I don't think this Prime Minister, when he has been knifed completely, will be handing any money over to the coalition.</p><p>This is a desperate government. This is a government that has gone. This is a government that shouldn't be there any longer. We need a change of government in this country, because the performance we've seen at the highest levels of this government is that they've lost the plot. They've lost the plot completely. This was the best decision today for the Australian public, the best decision economically, the best decision so that when we are in government we can continue to look after the working people in this country and make sure that the big end of town pay their fair share of taxes and that they make a contribution to building a better society in this country, not a divided society. We've got a divided society under you lot. We've got a divided government. We've got a government incapable of governing. And the performance that Senator Cormann just put on demonstrates how desperate and how bad they are.</p> <p class="speaker">Derryn Hinch</p><p>Senator Cormann deserves his moment in the sun. He did today. When it comes to performances, Senator Cameron, you just voted in favour of the banks getting a tax cut if this bill goes through. I know it was a tactical deal, but you were there blustering away in your Scottish brogue at Senator Cormann—</p> <p class="speaker">Honourable Senator</p><p>An honourable senator interjecting—</p> <p class='motion-notice motion-notice-truncated'>Long debate text truncated.</p>-
- The majority voted in favour of a [motion](https://www.openaustralia.org.au/senate/?gid=2018-08-22.14.9) "*that the bill stand as printed.*" In other words, they voted to keep the bill unchanged.
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