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

I did find one. It surprised me that I found one. I read it and then I realised why it was there. It was in a chapter that said China might slow down and that that might have problems for our economy. But good news: the Chinese government has taken action to support small business in China, to try and keep its economic growth going! So the Chinese have set the example about how crucial small business is.

But I read on, and there was nothing at all in that document about the challenges small businesses were facing. The only positive statement was about what the Chinese government was doing. But then I read on further and found that there was another $380 million being allocated to the Taxation Office to continue its jihad against small business—to try and get every last dollar—and even where the dollar is not justified, to go after small business with the weight, the power and the resources of the tax office. According to the Inspector-General of Taxation the enforcement program of the ATO that targeted small businesses was going to be extended and enhanced by $380 million, and that 5,800 small businesses simply paid default tax assessments because they could not afford to fight or correct them.

That is the kind of message we hear as we travel around. It is a message of failure. Small-business owners talk to me and say, 'Bruce, it'd be nice if they left us alone. It'd be great if they were our allies and our advocates but if that can't be managed at least let there be ambivalence that has no harm attached to it.' Instead, Australian small businesses see, in this Gillard-Rudd government and whatever follows, an adversary—someone who is not on their side. This is a crucial part of our community that does not know quite what the government is doing to help them. They are just wondering what is going to be done to them next.

So, in this leave-of-absence period that we are debating, and which the coalition is supporting, I hope government ministers, whomever they might be—including, possibly, small business minister possibly No. 5 in 15 months, whoever that might be—might spend some time with the small businesses in their communities and realise that the courage and the risk, the efforts and the application, that small-business people apply to create opportunities and wealth, is understood and recognised by the government.

Last time Kevin Rudd was Prime Minister he went on that pre-election charm offensive, but nothing much came of it. We had Grocery Choice that was supposed to help consumers, but it did not. FuelWatch was supposed to help with cost-of-living pressures, but it did not work. We had a petrol commissioner, who wore that shingle around his neck, but had no new tools or powers to do anything about it. We had failed environmental programs like the pink batts and solar hot-water programs. They were unilaterally stopped while small businesses around the country were left with stock and financial obligations that no-one in the cabinet seemed to understand. We had a promise of 'one in, one out' as an approach to regulation, yet we have seen more than 20,000 new or amended regulations introduced by this government over a period where 105 have been repealed. That is hardly one in, one out.

There was a commitment to implement BAS Easy, but that just drained away. There was a broken promise about providing unfair contract protections for small business. That disappeared as well. We then saw a promise not to introduce a carbon tax, yet here we have one. It is a tax that, at his heart and in its design, has no greater victim in mind than the small businesses of Australia. Small businesses got none of the carve-outs, none of the compensation, and none of the hush money that was thrown around. They were told to either suck it up or pass it on. Suck it up! It was another cost so that margins got squeezed. That will be okay! Won't that work for a long time!

Small businesses are already struggling in this difficult economic climate where customers are cost conscious. Small businesses have upward cost pressures and overseas competitors who do not have the burdens that the Australian owners have to contend with. 'Just suck it up,' is the advice of the government, 'or pass it on to the consumers.' Then, after providing the advice to pass it on to the consumers, the government sent out the ACCC as a carbon cop, with small businesses that were contending with the carbon tax as their primary target.

This is a dismal record. You would remember that small business was promised a company tax. I remember the member for Deakin shot out a newsletter—a number of others did too—to small businesses in his electorate saying that it had been delivered. It has not been delivered. It has not even made it to this parliament—yet another broken promise.

And the government talk about instant asset write-offs as if that is some tax cut when it is simply a rephasing of tax obligations. And small business is smart enough to know they are not getting much from that. Contrast that with our plan and real solutions. Do you know what the centrefold of this document is? It is our plan for small business. I think it is the best couple of pages in this document. It is our plan for real solutions for Australia, helping small businesses grow stronger—

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