QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE: TAKE NOTE OF ANSWERS

Senator COLLINS (New South Wales—Deputy Opposition Whip in the Senate) (15:04): I move: That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to questions without notice asked by Opposition senators today. Ladies and gentlemen, it wasn't once. It wasn't twice.

It was more than 50 times that our prime minister lied straight to the Australian people about changes to capital gains and negative gearing. Last year, the Prime Minister stated: The only tax policy we're implementing is the one we took to the election. 'My word is my bond,' he said. At the last election, the Prime Minister stated changes to negative gearing were 'off the table', but, today, as we have all heard, the Prime Minister has gone and done a dirty deal with the Australian Greens to get these tax changes on the table.

At the last election, the Prime Minister repeatedly ruled out changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax. 'I rule out,' he said. But, today, he has done a dirty deal to get these changes on the table. He broke his promise to the Australian people, and I was reminded today by an Australian constituent of a quote from Jean-Baptiste Colbert in the 17th century, the finance minister to King Louis XIV.

He said, 'The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest possible number of feathers with the smallest possible amount of hissing.' Let me tell you, Labor, there is not just hissing out there across Australia; there is absolute outrage. Had you done the consultations with the Australian people, with business owners, with startups, with innovators and with investors, you would have known that this is a destructive tax bill and one that the Australian people would never have voted for.

We have seen that there's not just been a dirty deal done with the Greens, but there are backflips and carve-outs, and one of those carve-outs was for innovative startups. There's one set of capital gains tax rules for small businesses and another set of rules for so-called innovative businesses. For two days, we've asked this government what that actually means.

What is the difference between a small business and an innovative small business? No idea. They can't tell us.

There is no detail backing up this carve-out. They just don't know. We asked: who will determine whether a business satisfies those tests, and what objective criteria will be applied?

I think these are very sensible questions to be asking. There were no details and no answers. They don't know.

All we got was a rear-view answer. They talked about the coalition's time in government, which was two terms ago. What the Australian people want are hope and vision.

They want certainty and confidence, and this tax bill gives them absolutely none of that. They will be absolutely stymieing high-risk, high-growth businesses, and we will be fighting this every single step of the way. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Collins, I would just remind you—and it wasn't raised by anyone in the chamber, but it was raised with me.

You used a certain word in relation to an individual, in which case that is a breach of 193(3). I ask you to withdraw. Senator COLLINS: I withdraw.