Bruce Billson (Dunkley, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Small Business, Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the leave of absence motion in the hope that, in the period reflected in this leave of absence, the government realise there are people out in our community struggling under their policies. The small-business community, whom I represent, feel that the government abandoned them long ago and that they vacated their interests and any effort to understand the pressures the small-business community are facing. The government granted themselves a leave of absence long ago to show no interest whatsoever in the small-business community of Australia.

People watch this parliament and I am sure they must think it is some kind of political equivalent of Midsomer Murders. There is a death every episode, whether it is the political death of a leader, death of allegiances, death of promises, death of integrity, death of undertaking, death of policy, death of good speakers as an act of convenience, death of parliamentary process when it is convenient for the government or death of agreements with Independents when they do not matter anymore. We just wonder what is going to happen next.

In recent days, I met His Excellency the ambassador—I will not say which one—from a nation that invests heavily in our country, who was lamenting the mood in his capital about how investors in Australia with significant contributions to economic opportunity and employment are left shaking their heads. They are just wondering what is going to happen next. They are wondering whether there are any adults in charge. They wonder whether government can manage to lift its head above the huddles of people working out who is going to do over whom and who might run.

According to Twitter, right now there are at least 20 Labor MPs in Kevin Rudd's office just begging him to run. The rose petals are out and everyone who has ever said anything bad about Kevin Rudd is now thinking about voting for him after absolute character vilification 12 months ago. They are signing a blood oath that they will never say anything nasty about him again. We are inching towards 4.30, when we will learn whether Kevin Rudd is resurrected in yet another episode of Midsomer Murders.

I ask this parliament to think about what we can do well over the coming weeks. It is a respite for people from seeing this circus, this dysfunctional and divided parliament, overseen by a Prime Minister seemingly completely preoccupied with her own job and her own survival and with not a jot of interest in the success and survival of small-business people and the jobs that they depend upon and provide for this economy.

Let us have a quick look at what is going on. The recent National Australia Bank quarterly SME survey found that small-business confidence, conditions, profitability, cash flow and employment levels were all in negative territory. You then look at the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry small-business survey, where business conditions continue to deteriorate, quarter after quarter. They are falling again and have been tracking in a downward trajectory for every quarter over the last three years. There was a survey conducted by Sensis in its business index with small- and medium-sized enterprises. It asked a fairly simple question: how many of you think the Gillard government policies are actually supporting what you do? The result was that only six per cent of Australian small businesses think government policies are supportive of them—and I think I have found who that six per cent are.

In my travels around the country, I get asked, 'Who is the small-business minister today?' because there have been four small-business ministers in the last 15 months. All of them have had impressive union careers and would not know a small business unless during a threatening exchange over a cold pie. This is the concern. Depending on how today goes, we could end up with the fifth small-business minister in 15 months. Is there any wonder that there seems to be no interest in or commitment to small business? The portfolio is passed around like some kind of plaything at a kids party or, worse still, is dangled like a pinata—bright and shiny; 'Look at that'—and then everybody hops into it with a baseball bat. It seems that this is a passing interest that only gets a look in when an election is in the air. All of a sudden Labor decides it has to be more middle of the road in its policies and it realises that the most committed middle-of-the-road community we generally have are the small-business men and women. They are so embedded in our nation and our communities and see, day to day, the real-life experiences of their customers, their staff and the communities they operate in. Labor will think, 'We might need to talk about small business again.'

Let me make a couple of predictions. The last time, 12 months ago, when Kevin Rudd had a crack at becoming the Prime Minister again, all of a sudden he was saying where the Gillard government had lost its way. Which group featured prominently? He said, 'We really haven't done enough for small business, have we?' The retort I heard was, 'You've done plenty to small business, none of it good and, thank you, we don't want any more of that.' My sense is, if there is a resurrection of Rudd in the next hour or so, you will hear this all over again. After the punishment that has been meted out to the small-business community and family enterprises across Australia, there will be this flurry of interest that we have not seen since 2007, when Kevin Rudd was out there recognising that, when Labor politicians talk about the economy and seem to think it is only employees working for employers, there are millions of Australians who are not in that relationship; they are self-employed. They are independent contractors. They are courageous men and women who mortgage their houses to take a chance and apply their entrepreneurship and enterprise, not only in the hope that they will get ahead themselves but hoping to provide opportunities for people right across the country.

My prediction is that talking about small business will become the new black for Labor. They will see these harsh statistics that show that people feel that Labor have no interest in small business. Sadly, the evidence is backing that up quite clearly. I also predict that in maybe June we will have some sort of spectacle of small-business interest. Will it be a small-business statement? Will it be a small-business focus day? It will be some totemic thing that the Labor Party hope will get them some cheap headlines and that small business will think, 'All is forgiven.'

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