Senator the Hon Mathias Cormann

Tonight, Bill Shorten needs to get serious about building a stronger economy.

Bill Shorten does not have a single policy to strengthen our economy and create jobs. Labor only has a series of tax grabs.

Labor needs to drop their over $200 billion of higher taxes – on electricity, small and family business, incomes, housing, investment and retirees.

Because Labor’s $200 billion of tax grabs will hurt our economy, hurt families and cost jobs.

Labor needs to reverse their plan to increase tax for small and medium businesses. They need to back our entire plan for income tax relief to encourage and reward working Australians.

Bracket creep reduces the rewards for effort, undermines the returns to quality education, and blunts the incentive to work hard, take risks, and succeed. Our plan also delivers a tax system that encourages aspirational Australians to get ahead, to take on additional work and keep more of their extra income.

Labor needs to own up to the fact that when Bill Shorten and Chris Bowen were last in Government they left behind a weakening economy, rising unemployment and a rapidly deteriorating budget position.

Their anti-growth and anti-jobs agenda now would take Australia back to where Labor left off in 2013.

Labor has not delivered a surplus since 1989. They need to show how they will keep spending under control, because Australia can’t afford Labor’s economic mismanagement.

We are turning the corner on Labor’s debt and deficit disaster. We have a plan to return the Budget to a modest balance by 2019-20, increasing to projected surpluses in 2020-21 and 2021-22. We are no longer borrowing to fund recurrent expenditure.