Mr HARDGRAVE (11:49 AM) —One never looks a gift-horse in the mouth, and the member for Wills certainly has proved to be a gift-horse this morning. Here we have on a number of different fronts yet again a perpetuation of that consistent same old scheme, that consistent same old theme of the Australian Labor Party—the big scare. The big scare was played out yet again in the closing comments of the member for Wills with regard to pensioners under tax reform.

What the Australian Labor Party cannot fathom is that this government is `the government' that brought about a nexus between male average weekly earnings and pensions. By doing so, it has ensured that pensions are maintained at a figure at or above 25 per cent of male average weekly earnings and, as well, has tied into its tax reform package the fact that pensions will remain 1.5 per cent above the CPI increases.

In fact, Madam Deputy Speaker, you and other learned people in this place who have read this document and understand these matters far more clearly than they are understood by the member for Wills and the Labor Party clearly understand that, under the tax reform proposals, this government essentially is providing a pay rise in advance for pensioners. Rather than perpetuating the ongoing Labor legacy of every six months, as the CPI figures are announced, pensioners having to hope they can catch up to price increases they have had to endure with the wage or income situation effective from the previous pension rise, this government is saying, `You are going to stay 1.5 per cent above'. With inflation running so low, that constantly means that pensioners will be getting more money in their hand before more price rises have to be contended with.

Another matter I would like to refute quickly as well is the notion of the Prime Minister's role in the Menzies Research Centre foundation. If you listen to the protestations of those opposite, you cannot help but ask: when did members of the Australian Labor Party frontbench—those who sit in the shadow cabinet or those who sat in the cabinets of the failed Hawke and Keating governments—ever consider resigning their position when they deliberated on matters relating to unions?

As is well known right throughout Australia, those opposite take their marching orders from various unions. For instance, when there is an issue that has to be raised, the education unions and the student unions will ring the education spokesman and get them to ask questions about this, that or the other. At the end of the day, with matters having been raised relating to unions and benefits obtained by unions, or perhaps even contracts to sign up 10-year rental arrangements for a Labor Party owned building not very far from this place—the Australian National Audit Office is in Centenary House based on a contract deal signed by the Australian Labor Party; the building is named for Labor's centenary—one has to wonder why members of the Labor cabinet in the Keating government did not offer to resign their position because of a conflict of interest arising from their union membership. It is a ridiculous argument, and the people of Australia see through it.

I would invite the member for Wills, the member for Rankin, the member for Brisbane and anybody else opposite who wants to hop up today and contribute to this great scare, this great negative about taxation reform to keep it up, because it is playing very well from my political point of view in the electorate of Moreton. People are sick to death of the negative. They are sick to death of the big obstruction—the no, no, no instead of the yes, yes, yes. This is the yes, yes, yes team. We are the proactive team; Labor are the protractive team. We are in the business of doing something to improve the lot of the people of Australia, something we have been elected twice overwhelmingly by the people of Australia to do.

I welcome the Australian Labor Party's support on the anti-avoidance measures contained in the bill directly before us. But, again, while this government is thinking, acting and constantly looking to be proactive in the area of taxation reform—reform of the basic systems that encourage investment, enterprise and therefore the growth of jobs and the prospect of greater prosperity for all Australians—those opposite are on the big political no. It is just not good enough.

The Treasurer just half an hour ago introduced yet again another series of reforms to the taxation system which deliver on the government's word. Those opposite cannot get used to the fact that this government have set about doing what they said they would do. Things that are promised before elections are introduced after elections.

Mr Slipper —We keep our word.

Mr HARDGRAVE —We keep our word, as the member for Fisher rightly interjects. Those opposite have had a dreadful track record over too many years of arrogant government and of not keeping their word, saying one thing before an election and doing another immediately after. Where were the big compensation packages for people when they put up wholesale sales taxes after the 1993 election? Yet here they are bemoaning the fact that the government is keeping its word, offering the compensation, offering the understandable dealings on a straight basis with the people of Australia, doing what we said we would do. This government is all about today and into tomorrow, improving our prospects as a nation. The Australian Labor Party are tied to the past. And what a past! They were a government of high debt, high interest rates, high inflation and high unemployment. That is the Labor legacy that this government for the last three years has set about undoing and undoing extremely well. We did not create the problem; we are in the business of fixing it.

The bill before us today is about improving the lot of all Australians. There are a number of measures here relating to all sorts of technical matters which I will not delay the House in attempting to go over because they have been explained well by the minister. At the end of the day, the most important measure contained in this bill is that we are keeping faith with the `Investing for Growth' statement announced on 8 December 1997 by the Prime Minister. I believe the amendments to various taxation bills will bring about a further enhancement of Australia's credentials as a world financial centre. In particular, measures which are included in the `Australia: A regional financial centre' component of that statement from December 1997 are aimed at making Australia a far more attractive regional financial centre by building on our existing advantages to ensure our ongoing participation in an increasingly global trade in financial services.

This government is all about encouraging people to put money here, and therefore create jobs and secure a position of great strength for this nation. The natural advantage we have at the moment is that, while the rest of the Asian region is crashing and burning, Australia is maintaining its own, standing on its own two feet. We are strongly and proudly looking into the future, despite the very worst that has been thrown at us by those opposite. Additional measures are also contained in this bill which result from consultation with industry to further develop the corporate debt market. Those measures were announced on 13 August last year by the Treasurer.

Essentially, the measures contained in this bill include the widening of the interest withholding tax exemption provided for under section 128F of the income tax laws. Since this particular measure was introduced, it has been amended to allow the issue of bearer debentures in Australia to residents of Australia without denying the interest withholding exemption on the issue of debentures as a whole. It also allows companies acting in the capacity of trustees to issue debentures under section 128F and still obtain an exemption. As well, the thin capitalisation changes benefit various foreign banks operating in Australia by giving them greater access to debenture funds raised under that particular 128F exemption. As well, the exemption from the foreign investment fund measures are intended to make Australia collective investment funds more efficient. Why? Because they will expose them to greater competition from US investment funds. Essentially, all the offshore banking unit concessions are expanded to extend the range of entities eligible to register as offshore banking units.

It has been suggested to me that in a lot of ways Australia could become the Switzerland of the South Pacific—a place where, because of capital flows, because of involvement in those capital flows and foreign investment through the banking sector, we have great advantages for all our citizenry. Our economic performance has currently showed that we are far better than Switzerland already. We have a great growth rate of 4.6 per cent. What a fantastic result! While the rest of Asia is suffering, we are standing on our own two feet. Second in line would be Taiwan, with three and a bit per cent growth. Nevertheless, it is doing very well. I will say a little more about Taiwan in a moment.

There are those who would like to see us lower the capital gains tax regime. Some would like to see it at zero, but I think that is probably too bold a move. Some would like to see capital gains tax lowered; some would like to see company tax lowered. These are all matters that will not simply boost the profits for companies for the sake of profits alone. If you listen to some opposite, you would swear that, just as the Scrooge McDuck cartoon character used to swim in olympic size swimming pools filled with money, those who invest in capital in this nation to create jobs and to create a good country are themselves hoarding great wads of money and swimming in it on a daily basis. There are no pools of money that will come out of this sort of legislation. What comes out of it will be a benefit for all Australians.

The sorts of measures that the government has put in this bill, the sorts of measures that are contained in taxation reform in general as being promoted by this government and the other measures which the government will always consider all have the capacity to flood this nation with additional capital, have the capacity to bring this nation up to even greater speed and, for everyday Australians, have the capacity to increase our living standard. Our living standard is already so good, but there is so much more we could do.

Those opposite talk about tax avoidance, saying that perhaps not enough is being done. But, at the end of the day, if you have a simpler and more transparent taxation system, you will have more people willing to comply with it. What is this government in the business of doing? Having a simpler and more transparent taxation system. So the question of non-compliance should start to devolve.

As the member for Wills said, the call to lower taxes on business has been made by business since Federation. It is an understandable call because it is being made by people who have a desire, at the absolute core of their being, to grow their business. The consequences which flow from the growth of business are always more jobs. One would have thought those opposite, with all the strong links they have with the trade union movement, would have wanted more jobs because people in jobs may actually join unions. People out of jobs have little or no use for a trade union and people out of jobs know that a lot of trade unions have delivered fewer jobs in this country.

This government has the political will to do something about the problems that confront us as a nation and, moreover, to do something about the challenges presented to us these days as the world continues to evolve and gets closer and closer on matters such as financial dealings. We have the will; those opposite do not. We have the will displayed clearly in the taxation reform measures that have been introduced through so many bills that have been before this parliament, including those that were introduced again by the Treasurer today. Those opposite offer nothing but ill will.

I fear that the Australian Labor Party are so cemented on the claims of Paul Keating in the 1980s about a banana republic that they are trying to fulfil the prophecies of Keating and bring about a banana republic kind of approach in this nation. I would challenge yet again those opposite who believe there is so much wrong with the government's proposals for taxation reform to pass all the government's measures in the other place.

We have had 100 weeks of inquiries from Senate committees looking at the taxation measures. There have never been so many inquiries conducted into any other matter. We have subjected Australian citizens to atomic testing and we have sent them off to war, but on this measure, which is all about being proactive, all about being positive, all about building a bigger economy, a better Australia and improving living standards, the Australian Labor Party have done their very worst to bring about as many delays as possible.

If the bills are so bad, why won't those opposite pass them? If they are bad and they pass them, the Australian Labor Party could then expect a landslide result at the next election because, once in place, they would be able to campaign against the government's own results. But they know in their heart of hearts that what the government has proposed is going to work. They know that it is going to bring about so many positive improvements to the living standards of everyday Australians—be they pensioners or be they Packer, all the way through. The full range of Australians are going to benefit as a result of the government's tax reform measures. They will know that the big lie of the last election campaign will have been exposed. They will know that the basis on which they scored votes and defeated very good local coalition candidates in a number of seats around this country will have been exposed.

They know that the government's agenda does work. The last thing the Labor Party want is to expose themselves to a generation who will never ever again trust the Australian Labor Party, because they will be certain of the fact that the Labor Party will say and do anything to win a vote and they will say and do anything to destroy the prospects of a very good government doing a lot of very good work. Again I challenge those opposite to pass the bill.

Mr Slipper —And we have a mandate for it.

Mr HARDGRAVE —We do have a mandate—the member for Fisher is correct. I am looking forward to more international banks investing in Australia. I am optimistic that, as a result of the measures contained in this bill today, we will see more international banks wanting to be here in Australia.

I would like to mention in particular something that is happening in the next couple of weeks: the International Commercial Bank of China are officially opening their branch at Sunnybank in my electorate. The ICBC is a Taiwanese based company. I am delighted that they are doing this in the Sunnybank area of my electorate, which is an area with a lot of Taiwanese born residents.

This bank has an A plus rating from Standard and Poors. They are therefore a very long-term prospect. They have been acknowledging the changing economic conditions in the Asian region. Management, employees, shareholders and customers have been working very hard together and growing business deposits in the last couple of years by over 10 per cent. So they are a good prospect for Australia.

What they offer all Australians is access to greater efficiency, improvements in quality of service and establishment of new business lines. The ICBC have successfully introduced various innovative products in the fields of credit cards, deposits, electronic banking, lending and trusts to meet the needs of various customers. Those new products have been going for the last couple of years.

I think this bank should be applauded for their decision to open up their branch in Sunnybank. They already have a branch in Sydney. It makes very good sense when it comes to south-east Queensland that that particular area has been seen to be the place to base themselves. The ICBC are welcome, and more ICBCs will come to Australia as a result of this government's measures. As I said, this government is being proactive and is being aggressive in the desire to build a better and stronger economy. I commend the bill to the House.