Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Seriously, this is a cheap and lazy motion by the member for Casey. He casts around for an easy statistic, rips it out of context and then tries to blame something on the current government. We heard the member for Durack rip on just now about insurance premiums as though climate change hadn't had something to do with the fact that there has been an increased need for payouts. And affordable energy? Seriously, is a $600 billion debt to every single Australian somehow going to make any small business's energy bills cheaper? Cutting regulations? I don't think last week was the first time you heard about small businesses needing help with regulations, because the reality is that that has been an ongoing issue for every government, but it's something we're actually prepared to tackle.

Just as it isn't possible to create a good economic environment overnight, it isn't possible to create a bad one in a short time either. It takes years of neglect to create a really bad system. The member for Casey and the member for Durack can learn how to do that in their party room if they're around long enough. The coalition had a poor grants system, a poor robodebt system, a poor submarine procurement system and no system at all for working out what portfolios their Prime Minister had. They are the specialists at setting up a poor system and sitting back and watching it all fall completely to bits over time.

The member for Casey knows that the pandemic had a deleterious effect on many businesses and also that many were propped up during it. Unfortunately, $30 billion of our taxpayers' dollars went to businesses making a profit, because the coalition just could not care to set up a system to ensure the money went to those small businesses that needed it the most. We know that banks and other lenders also gave a lot of help to all sorts and sizes of businesses. Since the pandemic, we've had a supply crisis, a rise in energy costs and a rise in inflation. These conditions are worldwide and we are working to tackle them head-on.

The member for Casey will be aware of the comments on this matter by the Reserve Bank governor last Friday at the public hearing of the House Standing Committee on Economics, of which I am a member so I heard the comments firsthand. She outlined how, during the pandemic, there was a lot of government support for business and there were very low interest rates. At that time, the level of business insolvencies was at a historic low as a result. The number has gone up since. Governor Bullock was at pains to point out, however, that, given the increasing number of businesses, the figure was not at a historic high and indeed that the number of insolvencies was not yet back at the pre-pandemic trend levels. But that doesn't mean we don't care, because what the governor went on to say was that there was a bit missing from the debate about this and a little bit of understanding was needed. The member for Casey knows this. He knows he is cherrypicking statistics, and he is happy to cherrypick at the expense of small business.

This motion is on small business, so let's talk about a few of the great things that we have in fact done already in our two short years. The Minister for Small Business announced on 24 July more than $41 million to help more than 1,700 small businesses upgrade their facilities to take control of their energy bills and lower emissions through round 2 of the Energy Efficiency Grants for Small and Medium Enterprises. On 23 July we took action on the payment times for small business. Members opposite might have done that, but of course they didn't. The Payment Times Reporting Amendment Act passed last sitting. This legislation will ensure that big business is held accountable for poor payment practices. Better payment times reduce administration and financing costs. It's certainly the sort of thing that would actually help small businesses stay afloat and make ends meet each month. But it was clearly not enough for the Liberal and National parties to take action on.

We are encouraging small businesses to go green and save money at the same time. On 5 July the Minister for Small Business announced that farmers, freight companies and other small and medium businesses would be able to get cheaper finance for rooftop solar, batteries and more energy-efficient vehicles and equipment—a far cry from the $600 billion promise of nuclear energy that the Leader of the Opposition is promising instead.

There is more: energy bill relief of $325 to around one million small businesses; extending the $20,000 instant asset write-off, contrary to the member for Durack's misleading comments earlier; abolishing 457 nuisance tariffs to cut compliance costs and reduce red tape, contrary to the member for Durack's statements earlier; and a new, higher target to source 20 per cent of Commonwealth procurement below $1 billion, and 40 per cent of procurement below $20 million, from small and medium enterprises.

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