Cameron Caldwell (Fadden, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It gives me an immense amount of pride to stand to speak tonight, because the topic is essentially about supporting small businesses in Australia. It was 267 days ago that I stood in this place and gave my maiden speech, and I see some people filing in, no doubt to hear the maiden speech tonight from the new member for Cook. I reflect on that speech, because in that speech I talked about my experience as a small business owner and what I went through as a person who had a go—how difficult it is when you feel like everything is going against you in small business.

I remember saying in that maiden speech, that I paid everyone else's super except my own. It still sticks with me to this day how difficult it was, but how worthwhile the endeavour really can be. So I'm really pleased that those speaking on this side of the House come to this topic with an immense amount of actual real-life experience. I say that because I wasn't the first generation in my family to be a small business owner; my dad sold oranges for the family farm—on the side of the road on a highway further up in northern Queensland. Of course, they were the oranges grown on my grandfather's farm. They had a go and they ultimately were very successful in that business. I believe that that small business blood came through to me, and I'm pleased to share my experience with this place tonight. I'm particularly honoured to represent a seat on the Gold Coast, the seat of Fadden, because the Gold Coast is the small business capital of Australia; it's the place where you go to have a go. We need to make every effort to encourage and facilitate small businesses to do what they do best: to deliver services, to do it on their terms and to do it at their price point—to fit in with their lives and, ultimately, to create something that's of value to them and their family.

It is, unfortunately, in the DNA of those opposite, those in the Labor Party, that they will ultimately only want to support large union based workforces; small and family businesses are quite often the last thing on their mind. This message from the Senate is a test for the real Labor Party, that needs to stand up and show it cares for small and family businesses. I recall speaking not that long ago with a gentleman called Madoo who owns a cafe called Relish at Paradise Point. I asked him how things were actually going for him in business. He explained that the cost of everything was going up—everything! He talked about electricity prices and he talked about the carton of eggs he had to buy. Ultimately, things were very difficult, because you can't keep putting the price of coffee up, or the cost of a bacon-and-egg roll up, to meet those expenses. So the business owner is the one who is making the sacrifice.

This instant asset write-off is not only good policy but it's supportive policy of the fundamental ethos of our Australian workforce: the small and family business. It absolutely should be increased to $30,000 and it should absolutely be made permanent. We know the types of outcomes that it will be able to deliver. It will drive productivity and cash flow, and support small businesses to make critical investments—to buy new equipment for kitchens, or manufacturing lines; to invest in energy-efficient appliances to try to beat those power prices; to buy power management tools to lower energy bills; or to buy new cars and vans to deliver services to their clients. I just think of so many Gold Coast families, particularly in the electorate of Fadden—people who live around the corner from me, my neighbours and my friends—who have a small and family businesses where their vehicle is their business and their family is the business. These are the people that we need to essentially support, and it's why this amendment is so critically important. I'll be there to support the people of the Gold Coast and the people of Australia who run small and family businesses.

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