Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to say that this small business package has been extraordinarily well received. When we have a look at the components in this small business package—such as the instant asset write-off, the tax reduction for corporate small businesses and the tax rebate for those unincorporated entities—as usual the coalition policy covers the gamut of small business, whereas in the Leader of the Opposition's budget-in-reply speech he forgot about two-thirds of small business. He only touched on the one-third that are incorporated.

When we look at small business in this country, 96 per cent of businesses in this country employ 43 to 45 per cent of our workforce. They are the ones that take the risk every single day to open their doors. They mortgage their houses and they put their entire livelihoods on the line every single day. We should be very proud of the fact that this government has taken the opportunity and has the vision and the foresight to step out onto their playing field and to support them in what they do, because they are the ones that have the capacity to grow and develop our economy for the future. The innovators and the entrepreneurs reside in that small business sector. They start off with one or two people in partnership, or maybe a single person, with an idea. Over time, from a home based business, they grow from that home office to a small office to a larger office and they grow bigger and bigger.

They are the people we should be looking to encourage and support. It is not only this small business package that is in the budget, but also our employee share ownership measures to encourage those businesses as they grow to bring people into the business and, if they do not have the capacity to pay them significant wages, they can give them an ownership share in the business so they have a genuine economic interest in the business in which they are working. Again, that builds the national wealth of this country. It is not just through the accumulating of super, which is an extraordinarily important part of our national savings plan—and, again, this government has been very positive in that regard—but, more importantly, we look to other avenues of creating wealth through small business growth and employee share ownership. Equally, I think it is important that this budget package not only look after small business in the urban part of Australia but also look after and recognise small business more generally in the rural sector of our economy, because they also employ people in those rural communities and they produce tremendous wealth for this country that sometimes gets forgotten. I think it is incredibly important that we focus on helping them as well, which we have done through this budget.

What we see with this budget is a comprehensive plan for business across a broad spectrum in Australia. Frequently when we talk about small business we think about the local bakery or cafe, but equally we have the rural supply shop out in our country towns and the small licensed post office or the small diesel fitter or mechanic out in those country areas as well. I am proud to say the budget has been very well received in the electorate of Forde. As we look forward to the introduction of these measures, can I ask the minister to please outline how the measures designed and articulated in the budget will help business in Forde and around the country.

See this speech in context