Stephen Bates (Brisbane, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The Treasury Laws Amendment (Support for Small Business and Charities and Other Measures) Bill 2023 was amended by the Senate to lift the annual threshold of assets that can be instantly written off by small businesses from $20,000 to $30,000. We want businesses to invest and we want banks to be lending to businesses like they used to. We want productive investment that creates the jobs and industries that we need, instead of speculative investment in asset inflation.

Before financial deregulation in the 1990s, banks lent twice as much to businesses as they did for housing. Now they lend twice as much for housing as they do for businesses. This expanded flow of credit into the housing market has helped turbocharge house prices—but that is a bigger issue than what's in the bill. The biggest issue about the bill is its greenwashing. In last year's budget they announced a $340 million package for businesses to improve their energy efficiency. That was part of the $1.7 billion the Greens secured in exchange for the energy price caps.

With the passage of time we know that the Treasurer cares more about the announcements than about policy outcomes regarding the emissions of small businesses. Firstly, this program expires next month, so the $340 million announcement will be closer to a $3 million program, because no small business will have the knowledge or time to have made these investments. Treasury and the department of climate change have done nothing to promote awareness of this scheme amongst small-to-medium business owners. Secondly, this won't reduce emissions or energy bills for businesses. The short timeframe, even if it was legislated six months ago, means it is impossible for any sort of thoughtful or methodical energy investment saving to occur. Small business owners are just too busy to manage a project in these short timeframes while still trying to carry out their business.

This should be good policy, but it needs to run longer. It needs public awareness. We're not asking for radical changes. We are just trying to get the government to make its policy work so that businesses are investing in energy-saving projects. A period of three years would be enough for businesses to actually plan and use this $314 million. Until that problem is solved, we will insist on the amendments agreed to in the Senate to lift the threshold for eligible assets from $20,000 to $30,000.

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