Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Small Business) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member opposite for his question. Small businesses, as I said, have been doing it tough and we do know that they are facing rising increases in their costs. We do know that they are dealing with rising energy prices and that they are dealing with rising interest rates. We also know, of course, that they are having trouble attracting staff. We know that there are massive staff shortages, which is why we're also moving—in terms of increasing skilled migration and in terms of increasing fee-free TAFE places—to make sure that we have the workforce available for small businesses.

We're also, of course, changing industrial relations laws to make it easier, simpler and cheaper—

See this speech in context