Bernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Small Business) Share this | Hansard source

What a load of rubbish we have just heard. This motion on small business is nothing more than absolute rubbish just designed to heap praise on ministers and the Prime Minister: 'Let's all bow down to their greatness and what they have done.' When you actually have a look at it, it is not even close to what the member spoke about—the so-called greatest ever package for small business in Australian history, $5 billion. Let me tell you what it was under Labor before the Liberals took it away: it was $7 billion, and ours was for four years, not two years. So, just come back with the facts. Your package is there for two years and ours was for four years. Yours is a reinstitution of the stuff you cut off small business in the first place, but you have only given it back to them to the tune of $5 billion, when our package was $7 billion. The audacity of these guys: to come in here and talk about the greatest package in Australian history. Let me tell you a little something about politics: you always know somebody is fiddling the books when they say it is the greatest package ever, because it is not even close to that.

Let's have a look at what they have actually done since they got to government. They came into government with this debt and deficit hoo-ha—you know, that there was a crisis and emergency happening. But what have they done with the debt and the deficit since they came to government? They have doubled the deficit. The deficit went from $17.1 billion to now more than $35 billion. How is that a good outcome for the economy or for Australia's small business people who expected a little bit more? They said they would put downward pressure on rates—on everything. Everything was going to go down; it has not done that. In fact, what did they do with debt? They have added—that is right: added—an extra, net add, $35 billion to debt. Of course they do not want to talk about that. You will not hear them coming into this place talking about debt, deficit, emergencies and fire trucks pulling up and putting out some sort of emergency fire. The fire is twice as large now. They keep throwing fuel onto the fire and they are patting themselves on the back. This what I just do not understand. Talk about leading with a glass jaw. They come into this place with these trumped-up motions that are nothing more than self-aggrandisement. Who takes them seriously? That has got to be the reality.

What has happened in the latest Labor survey figures? When we were in government, unemployment was too high but it had the number five in front of it. Now that this mob, the Liberals, are in, unemployment is still too high, except it has a six in front of it. It went from having a five in front of it when we were in government to having, now that this mob has come in, a six in front of it. And they pat themselves on the back: 'job well done; good on you Liberal government, Liberal Party.' They come in here and they double the deficit; they add more debt and unemployment goes up. Do you know what the long-term unemployment rate is? It is staggering. Long-term unemployment is now a staggering 24.2 per cent. It is unacceptable by anyone's standards, but you will not hear them putting motions on the table and coming here and talking about it or—something even better—doing something about it. It is all just trumped-up motions about patting Prime Ministers and ministers on the back: they are the greatest history; it is the greatest package ever; he is the greatest Prime Minister ever; they are the greatest ministers ever. Fine! Pat yourselves on the back and do whatever you want. Get your backbenchers to come in here and just create stories.

One thing they did get right in this budget—just one little thing; they have not got much right in this budget or the previous one—was that they reinstituted Labor's small business package of assistance. Sure, it is not as large; sure, it is not as timely; and, sure, it is over less time. But it is welcome. That is why it has passed the Senate. Labor thought that at least they have reintroduced our really good measures for small business. Small business, having had it in the first place, then had it taken away by the Liberal government. The hand reached well and deep into small business pockets. To make it even worse, they added the regulatory burden while they did this. They actually made it retrospective, which meant that a lot of small businesses that had already made claims not only had to rectify it retrospectively but also had to give the money back to the government and cause themselves a whole heap of red tape and a whole heap of problems.

So, this motion does pass strange. What did they do, though? This is a key thing. When the Liberal Party were in opposition they talked the economy down. I thought they did a pretty good job, because the economy went with their talk. But when you get to government you are supposed to talk the economy up. When they got to government they forgot they were supposed to lead the country. They are still talking down the economy. They are still hurting small businesses.

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