Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

If that's Labor's way of being bipartisan in its approach, it's a very, very interesting way of showing it. I could stand here and talk about faults and criticise those opposite for the way they conduct themselves in relation to all things tax, but I won't do that, because I'm here to tell a good story. I'm here to tell about the impacts that this much-needed change will have on the small businesses in my electorate of Fisher. They've demonstrated to me time and time again just how important it is for small and medium-sized businesses to be able to pay less tax.

I have to say, I can't let this opportunity pass without commenting on the speech by the member for Melbourne, who would, it seems, enjoy nothing more than seeing Australians living in humpies under candlelight. The Greens just do not understand the concept of business, whether it be small, medium or large, and will not be happy until all businesses are driven into the ground. But that is not the approach that this government will take.

There are 18,651 small and family businesses in my electorate of Fisher. The Treasury Laws Amendment (Lower Taxes for Small and Medium Businesses) Bill would bring their company tax rate down to 25 per cent five years earlier than is currently legislated. Mr Deputy Speaker, I know it will be of great interest to you that I have formed the Fisher Business Council to advise me on what our 18,000 small businesses need to succeed, and to help make Fisher the place to be for education, employment and retirement. My Fisher Business Council have helped me recognise that on the Sunshine Coast we need these tax cuts now. We had a meeting of the Fisher Business Council just last Monday night, and Michael Shadforth, who is the President of the Caloundra Chamber of Commerce, the largest chamber of commerce in Queensland, discussed with me how in his view—and I share that view—we have a growing number of businesses on the Sunshine Coast who are dynamic and on the cusp of very great things. What they need is a helping hand. What they need is a bit of a hand at the moment so that they get to keep some of their money.

Those opposite don't seem to understand. The Greens, in particular, have no concept that what we are talking about here is allowing small to medium-sized enterprises to keep more of their money. It's not my money. It's not your money, Mr Deputy Speaker. It's not Labor's money. It's not the government's money. It's their money. It's the small and medium-sized enterprises that break their back day after day, working hard, to provide for their families and their employees' families—advanced manufacturing companies like HeliMods, for example, run by Will Shrapnel. They need more revenue to invest in their capacity to export, to open up new markets and to bring much-needed overseas income into our community.

In a very different sector, growing local speech pathologist service, Chatter-boxes, owned by Kylie Martin, also have an urgent need to invest. With the NDIS coming to Fisher and the Sunshine Coast from January 2019, Kylie needs more office space to accommodate her growing number of speech pathologists, and she needs additional funds to invest in further staff who will provide other new therapeutic services. This bill will reduce their tax rate. It will reduce the tax rate for small to medium-sized enterprises and it will also reduce the tax paid by unincorporated businesses five years earlier than is currently legislated.

In this place, when we talk about small and medium-sized enterprises, we get hung up on company tax rates. Whilst that's very important, we can't forget our unincorporated businesses. I ran an unincorporated business for years, as a carpenter, as a builder and then as a barrister. We can't forget these small businesses—the microbusinesses—that, for whatever reason, don't think it's worth their time or investment to set up as a company. Those businesses will also be the beneficiaries of these tax cuts. To be able to bring those tax cuts forward by five years will be one of the outstanding accomplishments of the 45th Parliament, and I'm very proud to be part of it.

Last week I visited Maleny and spent time with Tony Gill and his partner, Jane Caraffi, at their business Art on Cairncross. Tony has big plans for the art sector on the Sunshine Coast. He has ambitions to turn the Sunshine Coast into an arts hub, and good luck to him. But, in order for him to do that, he needs to be able to pay less tax. This is a worthy goal. This is something that enables the government to say: 'You know what? We support you. We back you to the hilt. We believe in you. We want to take our hand'—the government's hand—'out of your pocket, and we want to bring that forward as soon as we possibly can.'

The Greens have a problem with that. Labor's obviously sniffed the political breeze and decided that they want to jump on board, but small businesses know that you cannot trust Labor when it comes to tax. You cannot trust them because they are just as likely to override this or turn this around if they ever get on the Treasury benches. You will pay more under Labor. You will pay more taxes. They've got $200 billion of tax stored up waiting for the Australian public. Small business, the LNP government is your support, and we will continue to back you to the hilt.

See this speech in context