Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Treasurer. Would the Treasurer inform the House of recent data on the Australian economy? What does this indicate about the government’s economic management?

Peter Costello (Higgins, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Stirling for his question, and I can inform the House that the Sensis business index for small and medium enterprises was released today. This is the most comprehensive survey of small- and medium-sized business in Australia. There are 1.96 million trading businesses in Australia and 95 per cent of them are small businesses. The survey today showed that confidence has risen in the small and medium enterprise sector by six percentage points to a net balance of 56 per cent and that expectations about the economy rose strongly with a net 13 per cent of SMEs believing the economy would be better in a year’s time. This is the first positive result since May 2006 and the highest result in two years.

The report also asks whether the small and medium enterprise sector has a net favourability for particular levels of government. I can inform the House that the government in Australia which is the most supported government by small and medium enterprises is the federal government and that the assessment of federal government policies rose to a net balance of positive 11 per cent. Lest someone think that is not much, the least supported government in Australia by small and medium enterprises was the New South Wales government, which had a net favourability of minus 34 per cent. This is the 12th successive quarter in which the New Wales government has recorded the lowest result of any state or territory. The key reason why small and medium enterprises do not support the New South Wales government is, as they say, ‘having too much bureaucracy and too high taxes’.

I noticed in the paper this morning that the Treasurer of New South Wales, Mr Costa, said he is being persecuted because of his ethnic background. I suggest to Mr Costa that it is not his parents but his policies that are the problem in New South Wales. Where you have a state that has trailed the rest of Australia and has high bureaucracy and high taxes, it is no excuse to say that there is some kind of ethnic component in the favourability rating of the New South Wales government. The New South Wales government stands at minus 34 per cent. If it wants to win back the confidence of small and medium enterprises, it ought to do something about its bureaucracy, do something about its taxes, support improved industrial relations and take a leaf out of coalition policies.