Terry Young (Longman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the private member's motion moved by the member for Forde. Small and family businesses, or SMEs, are part of the backbone of the Australian economy. These enterprises are often started by everyday Australians who simply have a dream. Many work hard for years or even decades to pay down their mortgages and to realise enough equity to approach a lender to use this equity as collateral to fulfil their dream of starting their own business. They literally risk everything they own, and they contribute so much to our economy by doing so.

SMEs employ 42 per cent of all apprentices and trainees in training. They contribute an astounding $600 billion to the national GDP, or around a third. They employ 42 per cent of Australians in the private sector, and the 2.5 million SMEs employ around five million hardworking Australians.

One of the most important aspects in the economy space for any Australian government is to ensure that these entrepreneurial Aussies are not burdened with red tape and bureaucracy that prevent them from the most important role of their vocation—that is, the ability to work on their business so they can become more productive and profitable. This leads them to employ more people and invest in more equipment and systems, which creates economic growth for our great nation.

Unfortunately, when I'm speaking to small- and medium-business owners in the electorate of Longman, which I proudly serve, many feel the exact opposite is happening. These hardworking Australians feel bound by stifling legislation and red tape introduced by this anti-small-business Labor government.

Good governments understand and ensure by their policies and legislation that SMEs need fewer burdens, not more. Good governments understand that SMEs in the main don't have accountants, lawyers and dedicated HR staff on their payroll. I know that the small businesses I had ownership in certainly didn't. It was simply unaffordable, so my business partners or I would take on many of these roles as part of our responsibilities. Every minute spent on what in many cases was simply overreach and unnecessary red tape was a minute not working on our business to increase productivity and profitability.

Good governments understand that business requires affordable and reliable energy, which currently they simply do not enjoy under this Labor government. A classic example of this is Bongaree Hot Bread on beautiful Bribie Island in the electorate of Longman that I serve. When I visited them I noticed their shelves were devoid of bread at a reasonably early hour of the day. Always the optimist, I made the comment, 'Sold out of bread already, Mick?' The reply was: 'We don't make hot bread anymore, Terry, because our electricity bills increased by $12,000 in the past year. So it's no longer viable. We just now make a few speciality sourdough loaves on the weekends.' The name of the business is Bongaree Hot Bread. Maybe they should change their name to 'Bongaree No Bread' under this Labor government!

The new IR contracting laws state that if a contractor is doing business primarily for one business it is, in this Labor government's eyes, an employee. An owner of a carpet business, who for years has been contracting carpet layers to install the products he sells, asked me, 'How would I know how many other businesses my contractors work for, and what percentage I am of their business?' To find out would be dependent on him meeting them—more time out of his day—and then relying on them to be (1) truthful and (2) that this percentage would remain steady, which is not reality. His business demands rise and fall, as do other businesses', which, of course, would affect the percentage that he uses their services. Again, this is interference from the government into an area that was just going along nicely.

We now have data that shows that 43 per cent of SMEs in Australia are unprofitable—that is almost half, which is alarming; 20 per cent of SMEs are struggling to pay their energy bills on time; 45 per cent are concerned that they may not be able to pay them in the future; and just 22 per cent are feeling more optimistic about their future than 12 months ago, compared with 49 per cent—over the same period—who are feeling less optimistic about their future. They are screaming for more certainty around the investment-inspiring instant asset write-off program and want to see more incentives to encourage tech adoption to support the day-to-day running of their businesses.

Small and medium businesses feel abandoned and neglected by this Labor government. Sadly, 45 per cent have considered leaving or closing their business in the past 12 months, which, unsurprisingly, is very close to the figure of 43 per cent of businesses that are unprofitable. Why would you risk everything to make a loss? At the next election, Australians need to vote for the coalition—the party that supports small business and will get us back on track.

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