Andrew Nikolic (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a great pleasure to talk about small business, which, of course, is at the heart of a more prosperous future for my home state of Tasmania and our country. There is no doubt that the government's 2015 budget was a historic game changer when it comes to helping hardworking small business men and women. In our small business package we committed $5.5 billion, recognising that the almost 800,000 Australian small businesses are in the vanguard of the Abbott government's economic recovery strategy. Many of the 71,700 small businesses in Tasmania have already benefited from this package.

We see corporate tax rates, for example, for small business dropping from 30 per cent to 28½ per cent. That means that 96 per cent of all Australian businesses can benefit from reduced taxes and from bringing forward their investment through the lowest corporate tax rates in 50 years. Accelerated depreciation arrangements, for example, enable an immediate tax deduction on any asset they buy costing up to $20,000. So many small business owners have already taken advantage of these measures, helping to optimise their cash flow and create new local jobs. The Australian Bureau of Statistics, contrary to some of the material we have heard from those opposite, revealed on 29 June that the number of jobs in small business has increased by 146,000 under the Abbott government. Compare that to the almost half a million jobs lost in small business under Labor and Labor-Green governments.

Local examples of business winners from this small business package are plentiful. Just over a week ago, I was enjoying a refreshing beverage with the Treasurer, Joe Hockey, in the Metz cafe bar in Launceston—an excellent establishment. If I recall correctly, we were enjoying a Wizard Smith, a wonderful local brew made by Boag's Brewery. I could digress and more fully describe this magnificent pale ale, but I would be sailing very close to the wind on standing order 76, so I will not do that.

We were approached by the proprietor of that establishment, a man called Jason Mercer. He and a number of others wanted to have a photo taken with the Treasurer, and he wanted to tell us about his personal benefits under the small business package that we have delivered. He wanted to say how much he valued the instant asset write-off provisions. He had bought a new till system, computer equipment and other items. Jason is one of the many small business owners in Bass who have benefited from the Abbott government's small business package. My Boags beverage had never tasted sweeter than it did as I realised that a strategic economic policy decision in Canberra had had such a beneficial effect at the tactical coalface of small business in my electorate of Bass. So when we say that the coalition is the best friend that small business has ever had, it is because we act to demonstrate that fact. Minister Billson has done an exceptional job in the small business portfolio delivering these great benefits.

Isn't it comforting to have had some stability in the small business sector? The audacity of the member of Canberra in talking about Labor's record with small business when they had six small business ministers in six years of Labor and Labor-Greens government—six of them. Not only did that revolving door fail to help small business but also the Labor-Greens government added lead to their saddlebags. They imposed a carbon tax that made small business electricity costs higher. Over 20,000 new or amended regulations were introduced, wrapping our small businesses in an endless litany of red tape. Stop/start policy changes cost small business millions in compliance costs. I mention here in particular the disastrous fuel watch policy Labour introduced that would have cost petrol stations—many of which are small businesses—$4,000 a year in compliance costs.

Just when small business is looking to benefit from the wonderful trifecta of free-trade deals negotiated under the Abbott government, Labor threatens once again to derail those efforts with a xenophobic CFMEU campaign. Instead of backing the hardworking businessmen and women of our country, they instead back corrupt, militant unions like the CFMEU. They engage in the most false, xenophobic and irresponsible campaign in recent memory. They demonise China, our biggest trading partner, when even wiser heads like Bob Hawke, Simon Crean, Bob Carr—even most of the Labor premiers—say, 'Don't be so stupid as to wreck the China free trade deal, which is great for our economy and great for local jobs.' But it should not surprise us that the opposition leader ignores such good advice. He has got form. Standing at that union rally in Adelaide last September—TheAustralian said it was an inexcusable performance that stank of racist and protectionist rhetoric.

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