Bruce Billson (Dunkley, Liberal Party, Minister for Small Business) Share this | Hansard source

We are reducing red tape to take the compliance burden out of the economy. We are creating the economic ecosystem to let small enterprises thrive and prosper. Part of that picture is our $5.5 billion Jobs and Small Business package. Why is that a priority? We have to recover 519,000 jobs, while you guys were on small business ni-nights and while you had a revolving door of small-business ministers—five in 15 months. The only small business to benefit under Labor was the printer. You had to keep printing new business cards. Five in 15 months! It was a printer-led recovery! I think it is time Labor fessed up to the fact that small business found the environment and the economy a harsh and hard place under Labor. We are turning that around to energise enterprise. It is a great small business package—the best this country has ever seen.

I tell you what, Member for Oxley, if you ever get to be a small business minister—oh, that's right, you are retiring, aren't you? You are being bounced out. If you ever got to be a small business minister, do you know what you would like to do? You would like to get the support of a great Prime Minister, a great Treasurer, a great bench of government MPs that are all about having small business running through their veins. Gee, I bet you wish you had that opportunity. Good luck with your retirement, Bernie.

Government members interjecting—

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