Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

They drive the economy, because they're taking risks, creating jobs and creating opportunities. They give the young people in those regions the chance to get into a job, take it on as an apprenticeship and learn. And then, over time, those young people themselves often become the small-business people who are the leaders in our local communities.

Australia's 2.5 million small businesses make up 98 per cent of all businesses and employ almost half of the private sector workforce. As I said, without them, our economy is in deep and dire straits. I commend the amendments made here. We ask the government to actually give them serious consideration and see that getting the economy back on track means making sure we are doing the right thing by the small-business people and farmers of this great nation.

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