Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Since I came into this chamber, in 2016, I have welcomed every single opportunity to speak about small business, because that's my background. From being a kid in my parents' newsagency and growing up in that small business, through to having my own business for 25 years, working with a lot of businesses—small, medium and large, here and overseas—I have seen the pressures that small business is under. It's just a fact of life for small business. It is a tough road that you choose when you decide to work for yourself, and I really take my hat off to all the small businesses in my community, including those that I helped celebrate on Friday night at the Hawkesbury Business Awards. There were incredible businesses, from accommodation and hospitality through to plumbing, older business owners, younger business owners—the whole gamut.

The point is that our job here, as parliamentarians, is to make sure we listen to our small businesses and listen to the communities that support those businesses. From what I've seen over my time here, from 2016 onwards, when I've raised issues of concern about the cost pressures that small businesses face, there was a tin ear from those opposite, a complete lack of interest in what my communities were experiencing. That was before the biggest bushfire the world had ever seen from a single ignition point swept through. That was before we had flood after flood. That was before COVID. As you'll all remember, during COVID it took a long time for those opposite to realise that small businesses needed help.

I think that's the big difference I see: we know that things are really challenging out there for people. It's challenging for small businesses, who want to do the best by their customers, but it's also challenging for customers, who want to be able to keep supporting their businesses. When people step back and look at how this has happened, they know that this hasn't occurred in the last 12 months—this isn't because of decisions that were made in the last 12 months. It's the consequence of an attitude that we've had where people were pushed down and their incomes were suppressed. That builds up over time, and everything we're seeing in the economy has been from factors that we saw coming and that those opposite chose not to do anything about. We need to remember that the highest rise in inflation, which was a rise of 2.1 per cent for a whole quarter, occurred not when we were in government but when those opposite were in government. Did we hear a mention of it from them? Maybe they missed that bit in the ABS data that came out.

On this side, we are taking it seriously. We know that small business needs help. One of the things that we did was to come back before Christmas to go: 'Let's not just help every family who's really struggling with power bills; let's help small businesses that are struggling with them.' Before Christmas, we were back here. We were voting on that and we were taking it seriously. I think you have to ask the question: Were those opposite taking it seriously? Were they interested in supporting small business? Well, no. They voted against legislation providing funds to help with electricity bills, funds that will start to flow through to small businesses in the coming quarter. I know it's going to be welcomed by businesses in the Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury. I know it's cold in Canberra today, but it's pretty chilly back in those mountains and the areas of the Hawkesbury.

Not only have we looked at how we support businesses by helping with electricity bills—in New South Wales, businesses will receive $650. We've also looked at how we can equip them to be even better prepared going forward. I think that's the other big difference: we don't just want to solve a problem now; we want to put in a solution that's going to be sustainable and make a long-term difference. When I look at the alternative, I ask myself, 'What great ideas have the opposition come up with? Maybe they were hiding some ideas in government and they've kept them till opposition.' Nuclear power is their solution, and I think we all just go: 'Yeah, right. Really? I don't think that's going to be a quick fix, let alone a long-term fix.' So I'm looking forward to supporting our businesses to lower their energy costs in the long term with renewable energy going into the system and helping them reduce their costs.

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