MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE

Mr KHALIL (Wills—Assistant Minister for Defence) (15:25): 'Hyperbole'—I looked up the definition in the dictionary: 'a figure of speech or a statement that uses extreme, deliberate exaggeration to make a point, emphasise emotion or create humour'. Now, far be it from me to accuse the shadow Treasurer of hyperbole or of being a hyperbolic person, so I won't do that, because it could be unparliamentary.

But let's look at his MPI and how it stacks up against the facts. There are claims around harm; I'm going to talk about the economic support. There are claims around higher taxes; I'm going to talk about facts: there are lower taxes and cuts in taxes.

In fact, we're reforming the tax system for workers, for small businesses and for future generations through a very significant set of reforms—probably the most significant in a quarter of a century. We've delivered this because we're focusing on relief, resilience and reform. Those things make it easier for Australians.

Let's talk about the support side of things. There are tax cuts and tax relief for 13.3 million Australians. That's just a fact.

It butts up against some of the rhetorical flourishes we've just been subjected to over 10 minutes, but the fact is that there are cuts in taxes for 13 million Australian workers. In fact, the reforms also go to making it easier—that's relief, not harm; it's support, not harm—for 75,000 Australians to buy their first home. That's a fact.

All of this has been something we've been debating, and I haven't really heard many facts being put forward by the shadow Treasurer. There's been a lot of hyperbole, a lot of rhetorical flourish, but no facts. This means something to those 13 million Australian workers we've talked about.

It's relieving the tax burden for so many Australians. It's giving support to 75,000 more homeowners to get into the housing market. That's support; it's not harm.

And, to be fair, the shadow Treasurer talked a lot about small business—very passionately, very aggressively—and how much he loves small business. Well, let's have a look at the tax reforms around small business. We're delivering $3.8 billion in new business tax relief measures.

That's a fact as well. And they are designed to support resilience and investment growth, particularly among small businesses. So let's go to the facts and the numbers: 20,000 permanent instant asset write-offs to give businesses more certainty to invest.

That's going to deliver around $890 million in cashflow support over the next five years. It's going to slash compliance costs for small businesses by around $32 million a year and save them 366,600 hours on record keeping. Anyone who runs a small business knows how important cash flow is.

Cash flow is king—or queen, depending on who you are. But the point is that cash flow is critical. Having run two small businesses myself before politics, I understand that, and how difficult it is.

So, that is real relief for those small businesses. There's also a permanent two-year loss carry back for companies that have a turnover of up to $1 billion, from 1 July 2026, so that small businesses can return to profitability faster and can have the confidence to invest earlier and withstand volatility. We're introducing loss refundability to help startups grow in their first two years.

And we're expanding tax incentives for venture capital to help unlock more investment in young and expanding businesses. That one is critical. The culture here—and it has been exacerbated by changes made by previous governments, and I speak specifically of the coalition government, around what they did to some of these tax treatments—has been that it was more difficult for startups in this country to get that venture capital and that investment in those new ideas.

If you're a new business, if you're a startup, if you've got an idea and you want to transform that idea into something productive for the economy, we're making sure that we help unlock investors through those tax incentives to change that culture so people are willing and incentivised to invest in those new small businesses. We're ensuring about 1.5 million sole traders benefit from our $250 tax offset as well as part of our plan to reduce the tax burden on all working Australians.

We've very clearly included those 1.5 million sole traders, who often are small-business owners and run small businesses. I've given a couple of facts and numbers. They're not very exciting.

I haven't shouted. I haven't ranted. I haven't raved.

I haven't jumped up and down. I haven't even used hyperbole. I could do a dance.

I could get myself up on social media with a bit of a jig or whatever. I'm not going to do that. I'm sticking to the facts about what these tax reforms mean for the Australian people.

When we talk about hyperbole, one of the points of it is to create humour. It's quite funny that the MPI says 'the government's plan for higher taxes'. Actually, it's the opposite.

It's lower taxes. It's tax cuts for 13 million Australians. Let me set out the facts for you.

There's a $250 tax offset for every working Australian taxpayer. That's a fact. That goes into their pockets.

That's a fact. That's a reality. It's going to automatically reduce workers' tax liability on the income earned from working from the year 2027-28.

There's an instant tax deduction that we're introducing. It's a $1,000 instant tax deduction to allow workers to deduct up to $1,000 of their taxable income without providing receipts. That's a fact.

That's going to go into their pockets as well. These are real, tangible budget reforms that are being made that are reducing tax, that are lowering taxes, which belies the hyperbole that we've heard from those opposite. The reason it's so important to support small businesses is that we do care about their views.

As I said, there are so many opportunities for young people and people of all ages, frankly, to create small businesses, to take ideas and transform them into something special that is productive in the economy. That's why we've made these changes and have his support. Overall, the government amendments to our tax legislation will mean—and this is another fact; it might be a bit boring again—2.7 million active small businesses— Mr McCormack interjecting— Mr KHALIL: Thank you to the member from Wagga Wagga—I haven't got the same hyperbolic excitement as some of your colleagues, but I'll take that interjection.

I appreciate that it's not boring to the small-business owners. So 2.7 million small businesses and 98 per cent of all active businesses will be eligible for generous capital gains tax concessions. You wouldn't think so with all the jumping up and down that we've seen from those opposite, all of the misinformation and all of the ranting and raving, hyperbole and misinformation that's been put out there.

We're not allowed to use the other word. But the fact is that 2.7 million businesses and 98 per cent of all businesses will be eligible for generous capital gains tax concessions. Why?

Because these reforms are all about helping businesses invest, innovate and grow. That is because they are the backbone of our economy. We know that.

We need to support the incredible work and services they provide our country. In conclusion, where is the real harm? I reckon there's a fair bit of harm coming from the ranting and raving from the opposite side, because they're not dealing in facts.

That's where the real harm is coming from. They're not talking about what the actual budget measures are. There's a lot of carry-on that's going on.

But, over here, we're about making sure that we deliver these tax cuts for the vast majority of Australian workers—13.3 million. All of them are going to get a tax cut. We're about delivering tax cuts for small businesses.

We're about supporting those small businesses as well. But here's the real harm on the other side. All of those opposite voted against the tax cuts.

They voted against the tax cuts in this House, and they're likely to vote against them in the Senate. So all of the detail and facts that I've just given, they're voting against that. That's where the real harm is.

They can jump up and down all they want and create all sorts of smoke and mirrors to hide that fact, but the real harm comes from the fact that they are voting against tax cuts for the Australian people. They are voting against tax relief for small businesses. They are voting against all of the support and economic relief that we are providing in this budget, and they're likely to do so again in the other place.

That's where the real harm is. Those opposite voting against it are voting against the Australian people. They haven't really learnt anything from the last election.

This is why it's so important to lay out the facts today.