James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

That was an extraordinary attack on the small business sector of this nation and on the family business sector of this nation, which, regrettably, doesn't come as a surprise to those of us on this side of the House. It's good to have it very clearly on the record, particularly for future television commercials and the like, that the Labor Party believe that supporting the small business sector is some kind of rort and some kind of coalition support for our mates. It really says it all that the small business sector and the family business sector are regarded by the government as sectors, when they are supported by the coalition, where there is some kind of rort.

It's also interesting to hear that the government are now completely against all of the economic stimulus measures that we put in place through the COVID period. That is absolutely remarkable. Again, I appreciate having that on the record. It's good to know that the Labor Party are against JobKeeper. They're against supporting the small business sector and the family business sector—that's one great big 'rort'! It's excellent to have that on the record, because we look forward to making that point to the millions of small businesses and the millions of family businesses in the country. They have just been told by the speaker for the government that supporting them in tough economic times and tough health times was some kind of rort, and that the support and stimulus is not something that the now government, the Labor Party, supported and would have done at the time. I appreciate having that on the record.

Secondly, I say to the people of Australia that it is a difficult time for them, and we on this side understand it. This motion seems to be proud of the fact that real wages are going backwards. In fact, in his contribution, the previous speaker said that we've got record wages growth. Wages growth is at 3.3 per cent and inflation is at 7.8 per cent. The ABS says that, in fact, real wages are going backwards—that the cost of meeting household bills is growing at double the rate that your wages are. The poor average family in this country is going backwards, and the government is bragging about it and saying that they're proud of it. They're proud of the fact that real wages are going backwards. This motion even talks about wages growth as if they weren't aware of that fact. They aren't aware of the fact that to get real wages growth you have to compare wages growth to inflationary growth, and, when wages are growing at a lower amount than inflation, the real purchasing power of the average family is going backwards.

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