Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that small businesses are struggling under the:

(a) burden of the Government's cost of living crisis; and

(b) weight of the Government's additional administrative red tape;

(2) acknowledges that according to the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman:

(a) conditions for small business:

(i) have deteriorated by 3.5 per cent; and

(ii) continue to be well below the long-term average;

(b) the operating environment for business has been in decline for the past two years with rising concerns about regulations, increased costs and slowing demand; and

(c) fewer people are considering starting a small business and businesses are less likely to invest in expansion; and

(3) calls on the Government to address its failure to support small business, the backbone of Australia's economy.

We all know that small business is the cornerstone of many of our communities. They are out there every day employing locals, seeking not just to create wealth for themselves as the owners of those businesses but also to create opportunity, employment and wealth for their employees and for the nation as a whole. But it's not just about the people they employ. It's also about what they give back to the community. Many of our small businesses are intimately involved in our local community groups, sporting organisations and other community activities. They're out there each and every day. You see them at presentation nights, when they're thanked for supporting a local charity in its work in, for example, supporting the homeless. Or you'll see their signs or their advertising on the jerseys of your local sporting clubs through the sponsorships they pay to help these clubs get through the season and cover their costs of operation.

But, as we've seen often over the past nearly three years, small business and the importance of small business seems to be anathema to this government. What we already knew after three years was confirmed in Labor's recent economic statement: that they've made bad decisions and have wrong priorities, and one area that is suffering enormously as a result is small business. We hear often about the cost-of-living crisis and the impact it is having on households. What we don't hear so much about is this cost-of-living crisis and its impact on small businesses: the increasing costs of rent, electricity, staff, and food and services in the hospitality sector. And over the course of the past 2½ years we've seen the average rent costs for small businesses increase by some 16½ per cent, electricity costs by 30 per cent and gas costs by nearly 34 per cent. In addition, we've seen personal income tax collections grow by 25 per cent, and food and input costs for many of the small hospitality business and cafe owners I talk to have increased significantly.

This is evidenced by the level of business insolvency. Businesses are the canary in the coalmine for the consequences of actions of this government. Business insolvencies are at a record high, and this has been overseen by the Labor government, including the highest number of business insolvencies on record in a single month, with 1,364 Australian businesses going under in October 2024. And under the two and a bit years of the current Labor government, nearly 25,000 Australian businesses have gone insolvent.

In addition, Australian now has 85,000 fewer apprentices and trainees, and in the construction industry there has been a 22 per cent decrease in the number of apprentices. Businesses have also been hit with additional red tape, with 82 per cent of small business indicating that it is having a major to moderate impact on their operations. Part of the reason for this is the major increase in insurance costs for small business. At a recent manufacturing roundtable I held, insurance costs were one of the main issues that were raised with me by those businesses, with 92 per cent of small businesses experiencing significantly increased insurance costs compared with 12 months ago. And the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman has reported that many businesses can't afford the prohibitive premiums that in some cases have risen by 200 or 300 per cent.

With these additional costs of living or imposts on the costs of doing business, and the additional administrative burden affecting small business, it's not hard to see why fewer people are opting to start their own small business, which means that we have a generational gap. When our average small-business owner is in their mid-50s and they are looking to retire, we have nobody to replace them. This government should hang its head in shame with the way it has treated small business.

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