Andrew Charlton (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is true that small businesses are incredibly important for Australia. In fact, small businesses make up 98 per cent of all businesses in Australia. They make up more than 60 per cent of all employment in Australia, and they make up more than half of all GDP in Australia. This is a sector which unquestionably powers the Australian economy and accounts for many of the livelihoods of the people in my electorate and electorates right around Australia. So it is incredibly important that we have coherent and positive policies to support the small-business sector. Now, that starts with understanding the small-business sector, and, unfortunately, what we have from the other side is a series of policies which are a world away and completely irrelevant to the daily challenges that small businesses face.

The member for Casey had the temerity to refer to the 'back to basics' policy of the shadow Treasurer. Back to basics is an interesting term for an economic policy. I don't know if the shadow Treasurer is fully up to speed with what 'basic' means in the slang amongst young people, but he certainly hit the nail on the head if he is, because it's a policy that has almost no substance and no relevance to small businesses. It's full of high minded philosophical concepts like fiscal policy, debt, inflation and productivity but nothing of the nuts and bolts of actually running a small business and nothing of the practicality of going in, day in, day out, and opening up the shop, employing the workers, serving the customers, closing the door and keeping those doors open. These are the realities of small business for Australians. These are the nuts and bolts issues that they want support with. The idea of some complex, back-to-basics, high-level analysis of the macroeconomy does not speak to their experience.

The member for Casey came in here. In his speech about small business, the big issue that he wanted to address was quantum computing—the issue on the mind of every Australian small-business owner! Whether it be a cafe or a pub, they're all interested in quantum computing. You don't hear about anything but quantum computing when you go and talk to small businesses. When you go to the shops, the pubs and the hairdressers, it's on the tip of their tongue: quantum computing! The member for Casey went on and on about PsiQuantum and the proposal for a tender, which he has some beef with, from an article that he'd read in the newspaper this morning. The truth is it has absolutely nothing to do with the daily realities of small businesses.

I'm going to take a lot of interjections from the member—I don't really know what you're saying, but I can hear you mumbling over there.

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