Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I second the motion and I'll speak to it now. It's so important that this bill is dealt with right now, because, on 12 February, the Labor Party voted against their own bill, and, if we don't get this sorted today, there will be thousands of small businesses around the country that won't be able to write off assets that they've already purchased. In this financial year alone, there are people that might have gone out and put solar panels for renewable energy on their roof to reduce their electricity bills, which have doubled under this government—a 100 per cent increase for most businesses. There'll be cafes and so forth that have bought new equipment—it might be a brand-new coffee machine—that they're expecting to be able to depreciate this year, but they won't be able to. It will have to be depreciated over years, because this government hasn't sorted it out.

They've come to parliament today—and there's a little bit of hypocrisy here—wanting to put through tax cuts that are worth five bucks a week and that aren't due until 15 months from now, but they won't deal with the instant asset tax write-off when we've literally got two months to go with it. This is why it's so urgent, and the Leader of the House should know that, on 12 February, they voted against their own bill.

There are others—it might be carpenters or pest controllers or plumbers—who may have found a vehicle under 20 grand or new IT equipment that they bought in the last eight, nine or 10 months. If the government doesn't support the opposition's motion today and actually vote today on their own bill for the instant asset tax write-off, then those businesses will get to the end of the financial year, and it won't be there. It will be up to a new government, after the election, to put it through and make it retrospective.

In the budget last night, the ongoing instant asset tax write-off was killed completely. For the people of Moreton, there'll be no more instant asset tax write-off after you've gone, Graham. It'll be back to $1,000—it wasn't extended in the budget last night. What we're talking about right now is the instant asset tax write-off from last year's budget that still hasn't been legislated through the House and Senate.

The Treasurer doesn't even know what's going on because he said at the Press Club today, 'It's been held up in the Senate.' It hasn't even been to the Senate! It's still being held up here; you voted against it on 12 February. The Treasurer doesn't even know what is happening with their own legislation in relation to small and family businesses and sole traders. There are all these people out there whose electricity bills have doubled in the past three years under this government, and what do they put in the budget? One hundred and fifty dollars!

The instant asset tax write-off is important for the thousands of people who work in small and family businesses, for all the assets that they've bought to date. It could be a whole range of other things. It could be recycled timber that they've put into an office fit-out that cabinetmakers have put in, where it's come under that $20,000. Unless the government gets the bill through the House and the Senate today, they won't get it. They will have spent that money, and it will have to be depreciated over years and years. So I hope the Leader of the House is going to get it through and vote on their own legislation, unlike what they did on 12 February. That will be a win for small businesses, and we'll be happy.

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