17/08/2016
“If we aren’t prepared to make the tough choices today - younger Australians, future generations, will be forced to pay back the debt through a combination of higher taxes and a lower quantity or diminished quality of government services. In short, through lower living standards than they would otherwise have enjoyed,” he said.
“In the upcoming sittings, we will introduce an Omnibus Bill that puts together all the Government’s savings measures that we understand from the election campaign the Labor Party is prepared to support.
“We will work constructively with Labor and the crossbenches to pass those measures.
“A genuine commitment by Mr Shorten to bipartisan support for a responsible approach to the budget can help deliver positive results for the broader Australian community. We will take him up on that.
“We are ready to reach across the aisle. But Labor must be prepared to bring an open mind and some fiscal rationality to any discussions, as well as a commitment to support spending reductions that they have already said they will back.
“The time for posturing is over. The reform challenges for Australia are significant and urgent.”
Mr Turnbull also discussed the importance of international trade in domestic economic growth as well as the impact of Brexit on Australia’s trading activity.
“In a rapidly changing world, the keys to a successful 21st century economy are investment, technology, innovation, good infrastructure and open markets,” he said.
“The Coalition continues to work hard on free trade agreements with India and Indonesia. We continue to seek to open new doors to trade and investment, because expanding exports to the large markets in our region or globally will deliver massive new opportunities for stronger economic growth and jobs here in Australia.
“It is in that regard vitally important that we keep an unrelenting focus on the policies to re-energise global economic growth.
“We have to work even harder to maintain the momentum behind open markets and free trade, which is why we will press hard for ratification and implementation of the Trans Pacific Partnership of 12 of the world’s leading trading nations.
“Britain’s vote to leave the European Union creates the need for Australia to renegotiate important trade deals with the United Kingdom.
“Following my discussion with the new British Prime Minister, Theresa May, our respective Trade Ministers have begun exploring avenues and arrangements to increase trade and investment in preparation for Britain’s exit from the EU.”
Mr Turnbull said that despite a challenging economic transition, Australia has been resilient but for continued growth every area of government economic policy needed to encourage investment.
“Everything our Government does is focused on powering economic growth – more investment, a strong and vibrant business sector and hence more jobs,” he said.
“That's why we took to the election, and set out in our budget, business tax cuts. If you reduce the tax rate on businesses, the return on their investment increases, business will invest more, and you will get more jobs and higher wages.
“That is the right policy response for the conditions we face.
“I want to emphasise however, that while we believe in lower taxes, paying them is not optional.
“That's why we introduced the diverted profits tax so that firms who shift their profits overseas will have a 33 per cent increase in their tax bill.
“We want to reduce the tax burden for businesses that do the right things and pay their share, and ensure there are strong penalties for those that do not.
“A stronger economy – a tax system with integrity, means we can afford to support world-class education and health services, including guaranteed funding for Medicare, without weighing down our children and grandchildren with a mountain of debt.”