Craig Emerson (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Finance Minister on Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Corangamite for his question. The Rudd government have supported Australia’s small businesses through the global recession, and we continue to support small businesses during the economic recovery phase. They need our support because they are still struggling. We recognise that and we want to support them in a number of important ways. But at every turn the coalition in opposition have tried to undermine the support that this government has been providing for small business. The coalition voted against our stimulus package designed to help our tradies and the small businesses that supply them. The coalition have indicated that, if elected, they would scrap the small business tax breaks. Why would you do that? They say they are the party of small business, but they would scrap our small business tax breaks. The coalition have said that they would pull the plug on the National Broadband Network, which would be so important to our small business community.

Australia’s 2.4 million small businesses are required to follow the rules, and we are helping them to do that. We are helping them to follow the rules with Standard Business Reporting, which will start on 1 July, enabling small businesses to meet their compliance obligations with the Commonwealth through the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and to meet their tax obligations with a real reduction in red tape. We are helping small business comply with their superannuation obligations through the superannuation clearing house that will come into force on 1 July again, in just a couple of weeks time. The Rudd government is creating a national business names registration system so that those small businesses that operate across state boundaries do not have to register their business name in each and every state and territory and make those renewals every couple of years.

Small business owners, like all Australians, are expected to comply with these basic rules of disclosure and accountability, and parliamentarians are among those Australians who are expected to comply with their obligations of disclosure and accountability. Yet of course the Leader of the Opposition failed for two years to disclose a $700,000—

See this speech in context