Senator CORMANN (Western Australia—Leader of the Government in the Senate, Minister for Finance, Special Minister of State and Vice-President of the Executive Council) (14:00): What I can confirm is that the government proposed and the parliament passed the major bank levy, which was, of course, introduced by the government after the 2017-18 budget. What I can also confirm is that, if the Senate does not take steps to ensure that all Australian businesses are in the best possible position to be successful and profitable into the future, it will harm our economy. If we continue to put our businesses at a competitive disadvantage—and, may I say, in particular the bigger business across Australia—it will cost investment and jobs. That's what will happen. I know that the Labor Party likes to bash the banks, but the truth is that the banks are a central part of our economy, and strong and profitable banks— The PRESIDENT: Order, Senator Cormann. Senator McAllister, on a point of order? Senator McAllister: Mr President, my point of order is on relevance. I asked a specific question about how much the banks would expect to save. The PRESIDENT: I note that the minister was addressing the issue of banks then and I note that he has a minute remaining to answer the question. Senator Cormann. Senator CORMANN: Thank you very much, Mr President. The truth is that the government believes that it's in our interest to have one uniform corporate tax rate across all businesses, as has been the case under previous Labor administrations. The Labor Party never used to oppose a higher— The PRESIDENT: Order, Senator Cormann. Senator Wong on a point of order. Senator Wong: Thank you, Mr President. We have given the minister some time. We have asked an important question. We'd like a directly relevant answer. The question goes to the value of the benefit of the company tax cut, the government's company tax cut, to the banks. We've suggested it's $9.5 billion. If it's not that, what is it? The PRESIDENT: Thank you, Senator Wong. Senator Cormann has 49 seconds remaining to turn to that question. Senator CORMANN: Thank you very much, Mr President. I refer the Labor opposition to the analysis which was released by a number of economic and budget fiscal analysts after the last budget which showed our major bank levy and our corporate tax cuts combined effectively cancel themselves out as far as the banks are concerned. For example, the analysis by Civic that was released at the time— Senator Cameron: How about answering the question? Senator CORMANN: The Labor Party used to support business tax cuts. As recently as September 2015— Senator Wong interjecting— Senator CORMANN: No. That's actually not right. That is not right. I heard that contribution. I heard that contribution by Senator Wong earlier. The shadow treasurer, Chris Bowen, on 22 September 2015 was quoted as saying that he understands that a higher company tax rate hurts the workers— (Time expired) The PRESIDENT: Senator McAllister, a supplementary question.