Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Before I get into what I want to talk about, I should remind the member for Fraser that this government inherited $514 billion. ABC fact-checked budget papers will confirm that. Thirty per cent of that came from the Rudd-Gillard years, so there were lots of claims there that weren't true. I don't have enough time to go through them all.

The reality is that the future of work is changing and, as a nation, we need to invest in creating the jobs of the future. To get there, we need to create fertile ground for the entrepreneurs of today and tomorrow. Our small and medium sized businesses are contributing strongly to this entrepreneurial spirit. They are responsible for 57 per cent of Australia's GDP, for employing seven million Australians and for providing 70 per cent of private sector employment. They will play a key role in creating the entrepreneurially inspired jobs of the future.

The spirit of Australia attracts global talent. Investors appreciate our mix of hard work, friendliness and stability as a nation. We're also a tech-powered economy. Classified as a single industry, Australia's outsized technology sector is now the third-largest contributor to GDP in Australia, at $167 billion. We are tech-hungry consumers who embrace innovation. This makes us early adopters who are open to change. It also makes us a great market to trial and pioneer new digital services. Our technical skills and technological proficiency are evident in global rankings. We are ranked fourth in the world for digital consumption, and fintech is an ultrafast-growing sector. In addition, the Productivity Commission's five-year productivity inquiry this year found 'digital technology and data have the potential to significantly improve Australia's productivity'. This highlights the opportunity missed by this Prime Minister in not appointing a minister for the digital economy. It shows a prime minister out of touch with the modern Australian economy.

Not only have the government missed a huge opportunity in having no minister; the recent budget put the brakes on tech startup opportunities, with the government quietly pulling funding from programs that support innovation and entrepreneurship. The Accelerating Commercialisation program, which provided up to $1 billion in matched funding to commercialise technologies, has been shut down. The Entrepreneurs' Program, which provided expert advice, support and funding for startups and small businesses, has closed. All staff have been let go. The Boosting Female Founders Initiative, which provided $255,000 to $500,000 to female-founded startups, has frozen applications. This program provided targeted support on a coordinated basis to female founders of startup businesses to scale into domestic and global markets. The program also offered expert mentoring and advice to a select number of eligible applicants. It helped to stimulate private sector investment into innovative startups led by women and helped women entrepreneurs overcome barriers to accessing the finance and support necessary to scale their startups. The Manufacturing Modernisation Fund, which provided up to $1 million for SMEs to transform manufacturing practices with new technologies, has frozen applications. While some of the funding is earmarked to be redirected through a newly announced industry growth program, details are scant and the program won't launch until late 2023 at best.

A new program, a new executive, a new independent review committee and a new set of eligibility criteria are all very well for the government's desire to make its mark and cut ribbons. But it ultimately leaves startups and SMEs in the lurch. Startups don't have the luxury of time to wait around for governments to get their programs launched. Many were in the middle of application processes, only to be unceremoniously notified that the whole program was shutting down.

This Labor government just does not understand that, in a sector where uncertainty is a constant, governments are most helpful when they can provide stability—in policies, sources of funding and tax incentives to invest in entrepreneurship. It is clear that the Prime Minister and Treasurer don't understand the modern economy. It's not just the tech sector that suffers; all Australians do, through lost economic growth and productivity gains. The question for the minister is: 'Did the Department of Finance cost any new digital economy policies that the government did not proceed with?' because we have seen, with this budget, that there is no plan to support the digital economy, drive economic growth and drive productivity, to drive benefits for all Australians.

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