Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

to 28.5 per cent, the lowest company tax rate since 1967, the lowest for almost half a century. That is going to provide great incentive to those many small businesses throughout my electorate of Riverina and, indeed, dare I say, those small businesses throughout the electorate of the Assistant Minister for Employment, the member for Cowper, who joins me here at the table. Whilst I mention him, I should also talk about the great work he is doing in the employment sector to create jobs, particularly for the engine room of our economy and that, we all know, is small business.

The Superannuation Guarantee Administration (Amendment) Bill 2015 is another example of the coalition's commitment to small business. The new instant asset write-off provides an incentive for small business to invest in new equipment, to back small-business ingenuity and vision and as the Treasurer, the member for North Sydney, has said many times at this spot, to have a go. It will benefit small businesses regardless of whether they have employees or not. I heard the member for Oxley talk about those small businesses which in fact do not employ people and the encouragement they ought to be given to hire staff. I thoroughly concur with him in that respect. There is no doubt that employing staff is a significant step for any small business. It can help a business expand but it also brings with it new obligations, new complexities.

Big business will typically have a human resources department. It can justify the expense of having a corporate area dedicated to activities such as payroll, workplace health and safety, and superannuation compliance. As someone who ran a small business for eight years, I know what it is like to be your own HR manager, your own chief financial officer, your own chief information officer and chief executive officer all rolled into one.

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