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Mathias Cormann
Mathias Corman says Bill Shorten’s decision to oppose tax cuts for big companies was ‘wilfully reckless and destructive’. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
Mathias Corman says Bill Shorten’s decision to oppose tax cuts for big companies was ‘wilfully reckless and destructive’. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Mathias Cormann says tax cut for big business becoming more urgent

This article is more than 6 years old

Finance minister counters speculation the prime minister floated personal tax cuts as a prelude to dumping company tax promise

The finance minister, Mathias Cormann, says a tax cut for big business has become more urgent, countering internal speculation that the prime minister floated personal tax cuts as a prelude to dumping the company tax promise.

Cormann used a speech to the Business Council of Australia on Thursday night to try and switch the focus back on the government’s economic agenda after another day of contention about cabinet leaks and a persistent insurgency from Nationals over a commission of inquiry into the banks.

The finance minister told the BCA the government was pressing ahead with the commitment to cut the company tax rate to 25% because the tax relief would “help business attract more investment, to invest more, to innovate, to boost productivity, to expand, to pursue new opportunities – to create more jobs and, over time, pay higher wages”.

Earlier this week Malcolm Turnbull floated personal income tax cuts to a business dinner, which prompted some in the government to suspect a transition was being set up to dump the big business tax relief, which is politically unpopular and faces parliamentary resistance.

Cormann declared on Thursday evening that the Coalition was unashamedly pro-business, a position he contrasted with the Labor leader Bill Shorten’s “wilfully reckless and destructive” decision to oppose tax cuts for big firms.

The finance minister said the government was pursuing its “pro-business, pro-opportunity plan for jobs and growth” but he conceded it was possible the public was missing improvements in the economy “in the middle of all the continuous political noise”.

Cormann’s speech came as ministers continued to face questions about ill-discipline within the government because of a spate of recent cabinet leaks, including a leak this week that cabinet discussed reversing the government’s opposition to an inquiry into the banks.

The foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, who some MPs believe is positioning for a potential tilt at the top job given the persistent instability, issued a statement saying she was not the source of the story and supporting a formal investigation into the unauthorised disclosure.

Turnbull pointedly declined to endorse Bishop’s call for an inquiry. “I would just say I don’t comment on gossip or this kind of thing ... I don’t comment on cabinet discussions let alone gossip about them.

“But I can assure you I take the security of cabinet discussions very, very seriously indeed.”

Later, on ABC’s 7.30, Bishop noted it was a serious criminal offence to leak from cabinet but said it was a matter for the prime minister whether to launch an investigation.

Asked for her advice to the leader, she replied: “Clearly a strong message has to be sent to whomever thinks it’s being helpful to leak cabinet material that it’s not, it’s unacceptable.”

With controversy continuing to overshadow the government’s agenda, the immigration minister, Peter Dutton, issued a public signal that he was not interested in fomenting any leadership talk.

Dutton declared he had been “very clear about my support for Malcolm Turnbull”. He told 2GB on Thursday leakers “don’t do anybody any good. There’s no good that comes of it.”

The immigration minister said that, during internal conversations within the government, he offered “frank advice”. He acknowledged Turnbull sometimes argued with him behind the scenes but said, “I support him 100% because I believe Bill Shorten would be a disaster for this country.”

He later told Sky News: “I’ve been very clear about my support for Malcolm Turnbull.

“There is a lot of good the government is doing. There’s a lot of white noise around citizenship and same-sex marriage and other issues at the moment. I think once we get our way through that I think the government can demonstrate what we want to do for families on cutting their electricity prices, what we want to help families on in relation to cutting taxes and making sure they’ve got more money in their pockets so they can support their family.”

MPs are bracing themselves for further trouble on the citizenship front, with senators gathering personal information to comply with the new disclosure regime which requires public declarations about their ancestry.

Nationals on Thursday also continued to position themselves for a rebellion on the banks once the Senate resumes next week and the Liberal John Alexander ran into trouble with a video from 20 years ago that recorded him making a rape joke.

Alexander, who is attempting to hold his Sydney seat of Bennelong in a ferociously contested byelection that will determine whether the government retains a lower-house majority, was rebuked by Turnbull and apologised.

Shorten, who campaigned with Labor’s candidate, Kristina Keneally, in Bennelong on Thursday, said Alexander’s comments were “crass, stupid and wrong”.

“The apology has probably been waiting for 22 years and I suspect we’ve only heard an apology because this video has now been reported,” Shorten said.

Shorten declared the Turnbull cabinet was now “eating itself”.

“Julie Bishop has said she doesn’t have confidence in her cabinet colleagues, so why should Australians have confidence in the Turnbull cabinet?”

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