Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) acknowledges that Australian small businesses are at breaking point and are being failed by the Government; and

(2) notes that:

(a) under this Government, a record number of Australian businesses have become insolvent in the most recent financial year, including:

(i) 4,635 businesses in New South Wales;

(ii) 2,863 businesses in Victoria;

(iii) 2,036 businesses in Queensland;

(iv) 733 businesses in Western Australia;

(v) 194 businesses in the Australian Capital Territory;

(vi) 94 businesses in Tasmania; and

(vii) 43 businesses in the Northern Territory; and

(b) this Government is now the worst government for Australian business on record, having surpassed the 10,757 businesses collapsing under the Government of 2011-12; and

(c) Australian small businesses could survive a once-in-a-century pandemic but cannot survive the disastrous policies of this Government.

It is a privilege to rise and talk about small business today. Small businesses play a key part in my community, as they do in the communities of many members across the parliament. They are more than just businesses; they are, in many cases, part of the fabric of the community. I'm going to talk a little bit about how we need to continue to support them and about the challenges they face. As part of that, I want to share the story of a great member of my community who we unfortunately lost last Monday. His name was Sam. Many knew him as 'Amigo' because that's how he greeted the people at his business. The business was officially called the Red Robin Milk Bar, but many people in our community, including my children, simply knew it as the lolly shop.

Not a day would go by, when picking my kids up from school, that I wouldn't hear, 'Can we go to the lolly shop today?' Every time we did—mainly on a Friday, if they'd behaved themselves—Amigo would be there. He was called Amigo because he would greet everyone with, 'Hello, Amigo!' He would talk to the kids. He would treat them as very special people, as little adults, and he would always make sure that they got an extra little treat on the way through.

There was an outpouring of grief through the Mount Evelyn and wider community when Amigo passed away. I was here in Canberra, but I know that when my wife told our children there were tears in our house. There were tears across many houses in our community. It just goes to show that, when we talk about small businesses and family businesses, it's not just the business. They're not just doing it to make a profit. They are providing for their families, but they give so much more.

So I want to pay tribute to Amigo today. He was a husband to Sue, a father to William and Nina, and a man who gave so much to Mount Evelyn and the Casey community. Rest in peace, Amigo. I hope you're sharing lollies up in heaven with many other people.

That's what it is about. It's the people behind these small businesses, and small businesses across my community and across the country are struggling. Over 2,863 businesses in Victoria have declared insolvency since the Albanese Labor government came to power. Across the country, over 10,000 businesses have declared insolvency. That's the highest number since 2011-12. Small businesses are in crisis; they are struggling. Small business is always the business that gets hit first, the reason being that they don't have cash reserves. They don't have the cash reserves of multinationals or the assets on their books to enable them to get loans and extensions from the banks.

At a time when small businesses have their costs and expenses going up and their sales going down, what do we hear from the Minister for Small Business? Nothing. There's silence on support for small business. In almost 2½ years of the Albanese Labor government, the small-business minister has introduced one bill, two months ago, into parliament that was directly related to small business. That's it: 2½ years and one bill. The best initiative we can get from the minister is that, if you invest money that you don't have, you'll get a rebate on a solar panel or a battery. Well, that's nice if you've got the money, but, again, it's just pushing the government's agenda, not actually supporting small businesses.

These are people who have put it all on the line. They've taken out loans against their house. When my old boss, Andrew Blain, bought Yarra Valley Snack Foods, for about six to 12 months he and his wife had to feed their family on baked beans and two-minute noodles, because they paid their employees first. That's all these small businesses in my community—

See this speech in context