Chris Hayes (Fowler, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

As my colleague says, not much. Not much thought went into it. And not much thought went into how this will be perceived by the hundreds of thousands of small businesses out there who maybe do not tune in to parliament as regularly as some. But certainly they will get the message that this was not high on the list of priorities of those opposite, who just wanted the opportunity to have a bit of a talkfest, play around with this, and get to it when they felt like it.

That is basically the difference here. We came to the table with a very clear view that we wanted to hasten the passage of this legislation through the parliament. We had the position very clearly laid out, and they trundled in here and walked to the other side simply so other colleagues could spend their time waxing lyrically about small business. And they say they are the friends of small business! I have to say, with friends like that you do not need enemies. And do not forget: last year's budget, which I think would go down candidly as a ruthless budget, saw some $5 billion cut away from tax assistance from micro and small businesses. That included the abolition of the instant asset write-off, which this government is now bringing back, and we actually welcome that. But they abolished that last year. Labor increased the instant asset write-off threshold for small business to $6,500, with an unlimited number of eligible assets. Together with the changes of accelerated deductions for motor vehicles and the introduction of the loss carry-back for companies, small business saw a boost of more than $5 billion while Labor was in power.

These measures were put in place to help small business improve its cash flow and to make it easier to invest in the business. The big question here is why those measures were abolished in the first place. They cannot quite bring themselves to say that Labor was right that we should support small business. They have been taken to this position screaming and kicking, faced with reality, and that is why they have had to reintroduce those measures that Labor had already introduced.

The Abbott government is already on record. It does not have a very good record when it comes to small business. Their first action in coming to power was to cut the instant asset write-off. They knocked out that tax loss carry-back as well as the accelerated depreciation on motor vehicles. They stripped that. That was their first action in coming to power. It is not difficult to see that the turnaround in the government's attitude is about jobs. But it is not about the jobs of people in small business or their employees, it is about the jobs of those opposite—in particular, the Prime Minister's job.

The justification for these cuts was supposedly the dire economic situation—a budget emergency, as they put it. Twelve months down the track, what happened to that? In terms of all the negative speeches they made for 12 months following that budget they managed to drive down business and consumer confidence. If you tick that up on their track record, I think they get to own that. The deficit has gone up. Net debt is just a tad over 17 per cent of GDP, for 2015 2016, and both look like they are continuing to climb.

So what happened to that budget emergency they used to justify stripping all those benefits that Labor brought in for small business? Clearly, creating an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty about the future did not instil confidence in people, certainly not confidence in business to help drive and fuel our economic performance. The truth is, small business contributes about $330 billion to Australia's GDP and employs more than half of all private-sector employees.

There is no doubt, Mr Deputy Speaker Kelly, in your electorate—like mine—small business is at the front of our local economies, any research will show that small business sits front and centre of our country's economic activity as well. It deserves not only to have a plan laid out for the next two years but also to have a long-term plan for assistance and growth. We need to assist with the driving of small business. We need to help people make it easier to reinvest in their businesses, not simply lay a plan out for two years. This government has only put forward measures to assist small business over that two-year period. There is no plan to go beyond the 1½ per cent tax cut for small business.

It has been said on numerous occasions, and this morning the Leader of the Opposition outlined it, that we on this side of the House are quite prepared to work at ways of even further lowering tax on small business. As the Leader of the Opposition said, he would like to see it get down to 25 per cent. So there is a real opportunity in this place to work on a fair and reasonable plan to reduce the taxes of small businesses down from 30 per cent—sure, but it should not stop at 28.5 per cent. Let us see what we can do together if we are serious about doing something for small businesses, in helping them drive the economy and bringing that figure down as far as possible—hopefully, eventually landing at 25 per cent.

The sentiments on the approach of this government have been echoed from some very prominent business leaders. I will reflect on a couple of them. The CEO of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, Lee White, described the government's 'fair go' budget as 'healthy housekeeping but isolated from the long-term plan needed for Australia's future success'. He went on to say, 'Tonight's budget provides welcome relief for small businesses, but it fails to provide an adequate road map for the years ahead.'

The chief executive of CPA Australia, Alex Malley, said 'The small-business package was one of the only high points in the budget, where it was evident the government had been spooked by the negative reception it got for its 2014 budget.' That is probably a fair comment. Despite the lack of long-term vision, the measures before us do represent a positive step. There are approximately 7,600 small businesses in my electorate of Fowler, and I would expect that the vast majority of them would benefit from these measures.

The proposed measures have the support of various leading bodies in our electorates that look after or support small businesses. For instance, I recently attended a meeting of the Cabramatta Chamber of Commerce. The meeting was chaired by the secretary, Ken Chapman, a very good friend of mine. The president, John Medich, is still recovering from surgery. This is a chamber that works very hard in our community to assist and support the high number of small businesses in the Cabramatta region. They welcomed the small-business measures that flowed from the budget, as did the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, through its president, Harry Hunt OAM. He does a very good job in reflecting and advocating for businesses of Liverpool.

Another group looking after the interests of small business—not simply advocating for them but helping establish the mechanisms supporting small businesses—is the South West Sydney Business Enterprise Centre, formerly known as the Macarthur BEC. I know very well the group's chairman, Bruce Hanrahan AM, a local solicitor in Campbelltown, and David Waudby, the CEO. I know they have both worked very hard not only in advocating for businesses in their area but also in laying down the foundation and advice for people wanting to start and grow a business. I commend them for the work they do on behalf of our community.

In the few moments I have left I will reflect on a couple of the 7½ thousand local small businesses I have operating in my area. These are people who have started business ventures from nothing and who now employ a great number of people, contributing to our local economy. For instance, there is a business run by a friend of mine, Jensen Tran. He established and manages the Roseland Import and Export company. He does a tremendous job in our local community. Hung Ly established and now manages Dragon Home Loans. He is certainly very significant in the financial areas of Cabramatta and Canley Vale

Thay Lim OAM, a refugee who came to this country some years back, established and now manages the Janbay Home Timber and Hardware business in Canley Heights. Simon Grima established and manages the Bonnyrigg Tyres & Mechanical business and Sam Rigoli owns and manages the franchise of Crust Gourmet Pizza at Bonnyrigg. These people have all taken on a certain amount of commercial risk in establishing their businesses and have worked very, very hard, together with their families. We should be proud of what they have been able to achieve within our local community not only through creating jobs but adding to our local economy.

In concluding, Labor supports all the small business measures before us, particularly the accelerated depreciation measure—and I might reiterate that it was Labor who originally introduced it. Small business across Australia deserves our support. They deserve every piece of assistance that we can offer, because we look to them to help grow our economy and to generate employment. Labor clearly is not on the side of standing in the way of these matters being delivered.

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