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

I hear the Greens member saying, 'Me too.' I know she's an architect, and I know she's run a small business. I say congratulations to her. We need people in this place who understand small business more than ever before. I don't agree with the Greens on just about anything, but, if they've run a small business, well, good on them. I appreciate that they have.

With small business we need to look at some of the figures. I'll get back to the other failure rate, which is extraordinary at the moment. Look at the employment: small business is 42 per cent; medium-sized is 24 per cent; and large is 34 per cent. But for the number of businesses as percentages of overall businesses, small businesses make up 97.2 per cent. So 97.2 per cent of businesses in Australia are small. Medium businesses make up 2.6 per cent; large businesses make up 0.2 per cent. These figures are from the ASBFEO website, so they would certainly be accurate. What you also need to remember is that $500 billion worth of economic activity is being generated by small businesses. They directly employ 5.2 million Australians and they're giving many others the opportunity besides that. They're keeping the wheels of the economy turning—they certainly are. Then you look through at how the Australian economy is operating and you see that, according to the GDP—gross domestic product—services account for 62.7 per cent; construction accounts for 7.4 per cent—I'll come back to that; mining accounts for 5.8 per cent; manufacturing accounts for the same—5.8 per cent; and agriculture accounts for 2.8 per cent.

Now, we once rode on the sheep's back, and our farmers are still critically important because they grow the food and fibre of the nation. They've been cruelled every step of the way by this government and the Greens, who don't even believe in farmers. They like to eat three times a day but they do not believe in farmers.

An honourable member interjecting—

It is true. If you think it's not true, please support and help them with policies that are going to help and support them, because the Greens don't at the moment. So $500 billion of economic activity comes from small businesses. That is just so important.

There are many different methods of determining what a small business is: for taxation purposes, the Australian Taxation Office says that a small business is one that has an aggregated turnover of under $10 million; the ABS says it's one with fewer than 20 workers; and Fair Work Australia says it's one with fewer than 15 employees. But we know, understand and grasp what a small business is. It's a small, often family-run enterprise that's employing people and having a go. Family businesses always put their workers, their entitlements and their superannuation before any consideration of their own. Often, their workers are taking home more money than what the owners of the business are. I see the Greens member nodding—thank you. It's true. Often, those small-business owners don't take a holiday. It's tough. It is so tough to run a small business.

When it comes to construction, it is so tough at the moment. We've got state governments that want to shut down the timber industry. We've got any number of compliance measures that the construction sector has to meet. Then we've got the cop on the beat: the ABCC has been stopped by this government, so we've got unions running rampant on worksites—we do—and it is just so tough. We've got a housing crisis because of all number of reasons. There's record migration. State governments and the Albanese government are stymieing construction every step of the way. We've got a housing crisis—you can't find a house to buy and, if you could, they're that expensive, and then you can't get into the market. We've got mortgage rates going up and up. It'll be interesting to see what the Reserve Bank does on Tuesday week as far as that's concerned.

And then we have rental properties—you cannot get a rental property to save yourself if you are in need of one—and the construction sector is in freefall. Of the 27,000 businesses that have gone bust under this government, the number of construction firms is alarming. It truly is. The December 2024 quarter was the worst quarter for business insolvencies on record—3,852 businesses went to the wall. Let me repeat that: 3,852 businesses went insolvent, went bust, went broke, went bankrupt, call it what you like, in the December 2024 quarter. That was the month before last. That is disgraceful. That is alarming. And if that isn't ringing some warning bells in Treasury, in cabinet, in the Lodge, then I don't know what will.

Staff in Australia have the highest minimum wage in the world. That is a good thing, but it places pressure on people trying to keep the doors of their businesses open. They have overhead expenses and less foot traffic which are making it so hard. There's only so much you can charge for a cup of coffee if you're a little cafe. There's only so much you can charge for a pint or a middy of beer if you're a hotel.

There is a better way. The coalition has got a plan to get the nation back on track. Hopefully we can form government after the next election and be able to do just that. But in that December 2024 quarter and the statistics that come from that, which are on the record for all to see, 57 per cent of business owners reported feeling stressed due to financial pressures. Those financial pressures include the cost of power, the cost of just doing business. But power is a big thing, so we need to have an energy grid and we need to have a power market that is going to enable businesses to feel much more confident than they are now about turning the lights on and opening their doors and trying to do business. At the moment it's overwhelming for them and that figure, nearly 4,000 businesses going to wall in the last quarter of last year, shows that.

Schedule 1 to the bill amends the luxury car tax act by tightening the definition. The bill will change the definition of a fuel-efficient car by reducing the maximum fuel consumption to be considered fuel efficient from seven litres per 100 kilometres to 3½ per 100. I do hope that the off-road fuel standards fuel rebate at the moment is not altered because what we can't do is whack our farmers and our miners anymore. Our farmers and our miners were what kept this country going during COVID. When all the city types, the people in this place who represent city electorates, went home, pulled a doona up over their heads and thought, 'Woe is me,' it was the people in regional Australia who kept this country going. They kept the lights on, kept the balance of payments, kept the exports going, kept food on the table, kept the wheels of the economy turning. Those people in regional Australia, and in your electorate, Deputy Speaker Archer, are the ones who we should praise. We should thank them three times a day every day because they're the ones who put the food on our tables. Our farmers were the champions during COVID and they are always do the right thing by our nation. That is why any fuel rebate, anything they can get as far as being able to ease the cost of living, ease the job of doing business is welcomed and should be continued.

Schedule 2 of the bill denies deductions for ATO interest charges, the general interest charge—GIC—and the shortfall interest charge—SIC. Deductions for interest rates just hark back to the 27,000 businesses that have gone bust under this government. We need to make it easy. We need to cut the red and the green tape that is just enveloping our business owners at the moment. They need encouragement; they need incentives; they need praise; they need to have bureaucracy eased. And yet what we get with this government is they just want to foist more work, more compliance, more paperwork on to them. It's making it more difficult for them to do business, those brave small-business owners.

Schedule 3 of the bill extends from a fortnight to 30 days the period within which the tax commissioner must notify a taxpayer of their decision to retain a refund amount arising from a business activity statement. Keep records, as Mr Billson would say. Keep your tax records and have a good accountant, and you'll get through your BAS. One thing that I always thought about with running a business was that having a busier BAS shows that you're busier running your business. If you're paying tax, you're helping to fund state schools and state hospitals, helping to keep the economy going, playing your part and doing the right thing. It means that you're getting foot traffic through your business and hopefully making a profit. The purpose of extending this period is to combat fraud and reduce the number of fraudulent refunds issued by giving the ATO more time to assess and verify potentially fraudulent BASs.

I'm going to give a little plug here to the member for Whitlam. I know he's a Labor member, but he and I ran a very good scams forum at Wagga Wagga, and I thank him for coming to my electorate. We were very bipartisan. At the end of the day, if it's preventing scams, particularly for elderly people and certainly for businesses, then it has to be seen as a good thing. I thank him again for coming to my electorate and doing that.

Schedule 4 of the bill extends the $20,000 instant asset write-off by 12 months until 30 June 2025. Labor's proposal would limit the instant asset write-off to $20,000 and only provide an initial 12-month extension. Why don't they just put it into perpetuity? I know it's rolled out every budget just to make the government of the day look good, but we had an unlimited instant asset write-off when we were in government. It got more business happening. It was an incentive to businesses. This mob just want to limit it to $20,000—miserable creatures that they are!

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