Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

The spread is getting wider and the challenge is getting greater. The government stands up here and says it cares about small business; yet what we are seeing is the challenge for small business getting greater. The challenge is getting harder. For so many small businesses, that overdraft matters. They often go so far as to secure their own home to try and keep their business afloat. And this indifferent Labor Party does not care.

It does not care about its own Fair Work laws and their impact on small business. It does not care about the fact that inconsistency in regulations makes it harder for small business. It does not care about the fact that there is inconsistency in its interest rate message—it sends a confusing signal when people start the week with an interest rate cut and finish the week with an interest rate rise. It sends an inconsistent message to small business when the government says it is fiscally responsible and it is careful with taxpayers' money and then goes and sends $900 cheques to dead people, or it goes and wastes money on pink batts, school halls or on billiard table references committees. It wastes money right across the nation. This is becoming symbolic of what the Labor Party really is—a party that does not understand the aspirations of Australians. It does not understand the aspirations of small business. It does not care about the workers and it does not care about the economy.

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