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) (17:32): I seek leave to provide an update to the Senate about the government's progress in relation to our Ten Year Enterprise Tax Plan. Leave granted. Senator CORMANN: I thank the Senate. We believe that: … cutting the company income tax rate increases domestic productivity and domestic investment. More capital means higher productivity and economic growth and leads to more jobs and higher wages. We also believe that: … lowering the corporate tax rate for smaller businesses only— as the Greens used to propose— creates an artificial incentive for Australian businesses to downsize. In worse case scenarios some businesses might actually lay people off to get smaller—and the size-based different tax treatment would create a glass ceiling on business workforce growth. Instead we want a level playing field regardless of the size of the company. We also believe that the burden of a higher company tax rate falls hardest on workers rather than wealthy shareholders. We believe that it is in Australia's national interest that 'the nation should be aiming for a 25 per cent corporate tax rate' over time, and we do understand that 'that is not an easy thing to do'. If all of these comments I have just made sound familiar, that is because I have shamelessly plagiarised them from Mr Bill Shorten and Mr Chris Bowen—literally. The truth is that the big businesses of today were the small businesses of yesteryear. Small businesses today want to become bigger businesses. We want small businesses today to become bigger businesses. We want there to be small businesses across Australia today that will be become the big champion businesses of Australia in the future, operating as a global champion for Australia in a globally competitive environment. That is what we want. We want small businesses in Australia today to aspire to become the BHP, the Qantas, the FMG and the Woodside—you name it—of tomorrow. That's what all of us should aspire to. We should all want that because we all know that big businesses and small businesses together create the jobs that help Australian families get ahead. We don't want bigger businesses to become smaller businesses. If we put our bigger businesses at a competitive disadvantage by forcing them to pay higher taxes than that which is paid by businesses that compete in other parts of the world, they will become smaller than they otherwise would be. A smaller business will hire fewer people than they otherwise would; a smaller business will pay less in wages than they otherwise would, because if they hire fewer people and, if lots of businesses across Australia end up hiring fewer people, there'll be less competition for workers and, as there's less competition for workers, there would be less pressure on wages moving forward. We want more investment, we want more jobs, we want higher wages, but more jobs and higher wages don't grow on trees. They are created and paid for by successful, profitable businesses. If we can get more businesses to be more successful and more profitable, they will, as they grow and expand—as small businesses of the past have done in years gone by—hire more people and they will have to pay them higher wages. In fact, having more businesses being more successful and more profitable is the only sustainable way to create more jobs and deliver higher wages. This is basic common sense and a basic economic truth, yet, for some reason in Australia today, it is a contested proposition. It never used to be. It used to be a bipartisan consensus that, if we wanted more investment into the Australian economy and if we wanted more investment into future business growth, then, of course, we needed to have a globally competitive business tax rate. Surely, everyone can accept that, if you make it harder for business to be successful and profitable, they will only hire fewer people and, hence, create fewer jobs. Surely, that is basic common sense. How can a business which is less successful in selling its products and services in Australia or around the world hire more people and pay them more? I mean, it just doesn't add up. So that is the case that we have been making as a government over the last two years. The Senate is aware that this time last year we passed the first three years of our Ten Year Enterprise Tax Plan successfully through the Senate and, of course, we thank the Senate for having supported the first three years of our Ten Year Enterprise Tax Plan, which reduced the corporate tax rate for all businesses with a turnover of up to $50 million down to 25 per cent. That was a hotly contested proposition last year, too. It was hotly contested by the Labor Party, yet, if you look at what has happened in Australia over the last 12 months, more than 420,000 new jobs have been created. Wages growth is picking up; wages growth today is stronger than it was last year. We want wages growth to continue to strengthen and that is why we will continue to make the case as to why it is so critically important that Australia has a globally competitive business tax rate, not just for some businesses, but for all businesses—because, in the end, we are all in this together. Big business does not only employ a lot of people directly; it also buys goods and services from the many thousands and thousands of small and medium sized businesses. The more successful a big business is the more people they'll be able to hire directly, and the more they'll be able to pay them in wages, the more they'll be able to invest in their future growth and expansion, the more goods and services they can buy from small and medium sized businesses, and the more profitable they are the more tax they will pay. Look at what has happened to corporate tax receipts. Senator Cameron: Oh, yeah? I've heard that before. Senator CORMANN: Senator Cameron is laughing, but, if you look at what has happened to corporate tax receipts since we cut company tax for businesses with turnovers of up to $50 million, they're actually going up. For the first two months of this year, company tax receipts are $3 billion— Senator Cameron: For two months! Senator CORMANN: In only two months company tax receipts are $3 billion higher than was forecast in the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook in December. It stands to reason that, if you have more businesses that are more successful and more profitable and that hire more Australians, they'll be able to pay them better wages. As competition for workers increases they'll have to pay them higher wages, irrespective of what it is that businesses would spontaneously feel that they should pay. Only a few short weeks ago no-one thought we had any chance of getting anywhere near the necessary support to pass the next phase of our Ten Year Enterprise Tax Plan. Everybody knows the maths in the Senate. The coalition has 30 members of its Senate party room—and they of course are a fantastic team who are strongly supporting the important need for our enterprise tax plan. We've also of course had very consistent and very reliable support from Senators Leyonhjelm, Bernardi and Anning all the way through for the good public policy of making sure that our businesses are not disadvantaged and can hire more Australians and pay them better wages, and we thank them for that. We thank Senator Martin, who last week, after having engaged in a series of discussions with the government, indicated publically that he will support the government's Ten Year Enterprise Tax Plan. I would also like to thank in particular Senator Hanson and the One Nation team of Senators Burston and Georgiou, who have engaged with us very positively and constructively and who have tested the government's assertions and propositions as to why our Ten Year Enterprise Tax Plan is so important to protect jobs and to ensure that we can have the strongest possible wages growth, because in the end nine out of 10 working Australians work in a private sector business and their future job opportunities, their future job security, their future career opportunities and their future wage increases depend on the future success and profitability of the businesses that employ those nine out of 10 working Australians. But everybody of course will want to know what is happening with our company tax cuts legislation in the Senate this week. It is a matter of public record that, as a result of the work that has gone on so far, we have been able to secure the publicly stated support of 37 senators in this chamber for our business tax cuts legislation. Everybody knows we need 39. So, given that proposition and given that that is the situation that we're in, the government have made a decision that we will need to do some more work. We are committed to these tax cuts as being in the national interest. We are committed to these tax cuts because we passionately believe that they are in the best interests of working families across Australia. That is what the Labor Party used to believe. We believe that to create more jobs and to deliver higher wages we need to ensure that the businesses that create those jobs and the businesses that have to pay those higher wages have the best possible opportunity to be successful into the future. We believe that we should not be putting our businesses at a competitive disadvantage. We don't believe we should be forcing our businesses to compete with businesses in other parts of the world that are subject to significantly lower business tax rates. Given that and given what I've just stated, we believe that there is opportunity to get there. We believe that there is opportunity for the government to persuade the majority of senators of the merits of our argument. We believe that there is an opportunity to find a consensus with the majority of senators in this chamber to ultimately support our Ten Year Enterprise Tax Plan in full. That is why the government is committed to keep working, to keep engaging. I should say that we are very grateful for the positive, courteous and very professional engagement that we've had from all non-government senators on the cross bench. We have very much appreciated the conversations so far and we believe that there is scope to have further conversations moving forward. So it's the government's intention to bring the business tax cuts legislation back to the Senate in the next sitting week. We believe it's in the interests of working families of Australia that their Senate passes our business tax cuts legislation in full because, ultimately, as I said at the beginning, jobs and higher wages don't grow on trees; jobs and higher wages are created and paid for by more successful, more profitable businesses. In the end, that is a basic economic truth. We are an open trading economy engaged in global competition. We cannot afford to put our businesses at a competitive disadvantage moving forward because it will lead to investment leaving Australia, it will lead to wealth leaving Australia and it will lead to jobs leaving Australia. That is, of course, precisely the opposite to what we need. With those few words, I say to the Senate: the government will never give up fighting for the best interests of working families across Australia; the government will never give up on making sure that businesses across Australia have the best possible opportunity to be successful and profitable into the future. That is why we will persist with this legislation and why we will bring it back to the Senate in the next sitting week.