Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

I support the member for Petrie's well-considered amendment. The Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Incentives and Integrity) Bill 2024 is a four-schedule omnibus bill. It contains disparate tax administration and incentives measures. It goes to the core of small business. Small business, as we've heard so often, is the heart of the Australian economy. Bruce Billson was a former small-business minister in a coalition government, and he is now the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman. The ASBFEO website holds some very good information. Anybody contemplating starting a small business and anybody running a small business ought to go to the ASBFEO website and see what that portal has to offer them to help them wade through the mire of legislation and industrial relations; there are some helpful tips. I admire Mr Billson for his passionate enthusiasm about small business; there has never been a better small-business minister than him.

I did indeed have that portfolio, but the former minister, the now ASBFEO, was next level. Interestingly, I think the figure of those small businesses which fail because of cashflow problems is somewhere in the order of 82 per cent. There is not enough cash coming through the door and they are not able to retain customers. There are myriad reasons as to why small businesses fail. There are record numbers of small businesses failing now because of the policies of the Albanese Labor government. It's tough enough to run a small business—and I know; I've run one.

See this speech in context