Mr HOGAN (Page) (15:48): Budgets certainly highlight values. That was demonstrated again last night and by the conversation that we are having in this chamber today. The main highlighted value for me in the budget last night was our respect for and acknowledgement of the importance of small business in our communities and our country. I understand, and I know this side of politics understands, the importance of unions and the importance of worker protections. That plays a role in business and in private enterprise in looking after those rights. But what those opposite do not understand is that the important thing in all of this is a healthy private sector. As you know, Deputy Speaker Vasta, small business is the biggest employer in this country by the proverbial country mile. It employs more Australians than big business and it employs more Australians than the public service. Let us add to that that the public servants in this country are paid for by the taxes from the private sector. What do we as a government have to do? Our primary role to have a strong economy is to have a strong private sector. This tax cut is about that. Not only do we need to have small businesses employing and growing, we need them to be competitive in a global world. I know everyone on our side of politics understands that taxation is competitive. There are some businesses that may have to operate in a physical location, but in this increasingly digital world, in this increasingly global world, taxation is competitive. If we were to have our business tax rates at a higher level than those of our competitors it would discourage people from setting up business. That is an absolute fact. I recall the example of Ireland. Labor would have been proud of Ireland in the early eighties; it was a high-taxing, high-spending government. Then the Irish worked out they were going broke, so they lowered the company tax rate from what was something like 60 per cent to 10 per cent. What happened almost instantly, over a period of about three years, they started collecting more money. They started collecting more money at a 10 per cent tax rate than they were at 60 per cent. Opposition members interjecting— Mr HOGAN: Those opposite do not fathom this; that is why I am getting interjections. They do not get that what happened after that was that Ireland became the IT centre of Europe. It became the IT centre of Europe because that was the emerging business, the emerging industry, of the time. Those businesses said, 'Let's move somewhere where there is a business friendly environment.' What happened then of course is that there was much more employment, and things were going very well in the private sector. Another thing that I am very proud that our government has done is clamp down on multinational tax avoidance. It is something that the other side has talked about. They were in for six years and did nothing about it; we have been in for two and are now doing a lot on it. While we believe in competitive tax rates, we certainly believe that businesses and multinationals should pay their fair share. So it was great to see in the budget that the government I am very proud to be a part of has brought in a diverted profits tax. We, by reinforcing the ATO and giving them more resources to do this, are budgeting to collect nearly $4 billion over four years to make sure that multinationals pay their fair share—because, if you are making profits in Australia, you should be paying tax in Australia, and that is what this measure will ensure. I am running out of time, so I will touch on a couple of things that I am really happy about. In our youth employment package of over $800 million, business will be working with government. Businesses take a big risk. Those opposite would not know that, but I have employed people. When you employ people, it is a big commitment. You know that they are not going to be productive at the start and that you will have to train them. There is a big expense when you take someone on. Again, those opposite would not know that, but we do because most of us here have employed people. We are going to work with small business and, together, put in place internships, skills training and a bonus wage subsidy to encourage small business to employ people. On infrastructure, employment and competitive taxation it is a great budget and I am very happy to be part of the government that brought it down.