Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Gilmore for that outstanding question, and I readily recognise that she has been doorknocking her electorate and the overwhelming message that she has been getting is that there is a great deal of optimism about what has come out of the budget. There is a great deal of optimism about what is in it for small business, and of course that is reflected in some of the confidence indexes that have been released today. The ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence Index came out today:

The bounce in employment numbers and the fall in the unemployment rate seems to have sent a positive signal, which is being reflected in consumers view towards future financial and economic conditions.

So that is good news. Commsec's Craig James said:

If you take a longer term perspective, confidence is up on a year ago, up on the short-term average reading and up on the long-term average.

That is all good news, and it is reflected in the Reserve Bank minutes that were released today, where the Reserve Bank noted:

Measures of consumer sentiment had picked up noticeably in May to be a bit above average. Much of this had been attributed to the Australian Government Budget and, in particular, the announcement of tax concessions for small businesses.

So that is all good news as well. So the good news is building. We are getting better employment numbers, we are getting better growth numbers and business is going out and having a go.

In fact, the member for Gilmore said the mood in the electorate amongst small business is electric. She identified a cafe owner in Nowra who now, as a result of the $20,000 instant asset write-off, wants to buy a new high-volume kitchen oven. A local tourism operator in the Kangaroo Valley is going to go out and buy a new coffee machine for the business. A local beef farmer just outside Minnamurra is going to buy a new water tank. And the list goes on. In fact, there are facilitators for this as well. TCC Accounting Services, which is based in the village of Milton near Ulladulla, is run by a Mr Peter Campbell, and he says, 'We're running seminars for small business so they don't miss the opportunity associated with the budget.'

There is no doubt that the budget has made a difference to small business confidence and to consumer confidence. There is still much work to be done, but Australia is on track. The economic plan that the Prime Minister was talking about a few moments ago is on track. We are getting rid of the regulation and red tape that has been strangling small business, we are cutting the taxes, we are opening up the free trade agreements, we are building record levels of infrastructure, and as a result of all that Tony's tradies are going out and having a go.

See this speech in context