08:11

Malcolm Turnbull has spoken about the company tax impasse at a Business Council of Australia event in Parliament House.





Turnbull said the government started the week with 33 votes in favour of the company tax cut, and by this point had now got to 37 votes. He said the Coalition was “not giving up” although he conceded it would not come to a vote this week.





“My government will continue fighting to give you the tools you need, the legislation you need ... [to create] more jobs, better jobs and better paid jobs.”





Turnbull encouraged businesses to keep talking to the crossbench – even Labor and the Greens (though he warned “it’ll be a slog” in their case).





The prime minister said the government was not fighting for bigger dividends or CEO pay cheques, but rather the competitiveness of the Australian economy. He warned that Australia is a small open market economy that could not seriously contemplate the situation where it has the highest company tax rate in the OECD.