Brett Raguse (Forde, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Small Business, Independent Contractors and the Service Economy. Minister, how is the government providing support for small business, and are there any impediments to the delivery of this support?

Craig Emerson (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Finance Minister on Deregulation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Forde for his question, for reasons which will soon become evident. I launched the Small Business Support Line on 3 September to provide advisory services to small businesses during the global recession. I am pleased to advise the House that, since the support line became operational, 2,226 calls have been received from small businesses. That support line is being staffed by a team of eight advisers, each with extensive small business experience. Yet again, in criticising the support line, the member for Moncrieff has got it wrong. In a press release of 17 August, he claimed that the Small Business Support Line ‘will be staffed by bureaucrats and offer none of the tangible help which small businesses need day to day’. I can report that a survey of callers reveals a 90 per cent satisfaction rate with the Small Business Support Line. It is staffed by small business advisers with extensive small business experience, not bureaucrats, and is very, very popular—90 per cent satisfaction.

I am asked about impediments to the support line and the government’s effort to support small business. The shadow minister for small business is an impediment to the government’s policies. Is it any wonder that, in the list of the Gold Coast’s 100 most powerful people, the Gold Coast Bulletin has relegated the member for Moncrieff from 46th last year to 93rd this year? In explaining the member for Moncrieff’s demise, the Gold Coast Bulletin says:

THE Moncrieff MP has taken several hits this year as the Coalition struggles to keep pace with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd … He is regularly mocked by the ALP for failing to ask questions in the chamber.

Sharman Stone (Murray, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Clearly, this is a frolic on his own. This is irrelevant and the minister should be serious about question time.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister will relate his material to the question.

Craig Emerson (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Finance Minister on Deregulation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was asked about impediments to the government’s policy and the Gold Coast Bulletin has identified the member for Moncrieff as an impediment. In fact, he is sinking like a stone. I can advise the House that it is now 509 days since the member for Moncrieff last asked me a question. I did thank the member for Forde for his question, and there was an especially good reason for that. I note that the member for Forde is a bullet performer in the top 100 most influential people on the Gold Coast—entering for the first time at 75 and rising fast. Do you know what the Gold Coast Bulletin says about the member for Forde and his commitment to this area? It points out that the member for Forde’s office is in Beenleigh. Beenleigh is in Logan City. The Gold Coast Bulletin actually says of him:

Despite his federal seat being positioned in Beenleigh, Mr Raguse has managed to successfully lobby Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on the Gold Coast Rapid Transit System and the AFL stadium and secured a community cabinet meeting.

So, go the member for Forde! Mr Speaker, this is the only way of getting the member for Moncrieff up to the dispatch box.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The minister will resume his seat.

Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Small Business, Independent Contractors, Tourism and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order, which goes to relevance. I note that a Logan City representative who actually lives in Logan City makes a stark contrast to the minister for small business.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Moncrieff does not have a point of order. The minister will respond to the question.

Craig Emerson (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Finance Minister on Deregulation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We have got something to say about the member for Dickson, because coming in at 77 is another bullet performer—first-timer Karen Andrews, the 49-year-old who emerged from the shadows to beat Liberal Party poster boy Peter Dutton in the McPherson preselection battle. The new likely member for McPherson, Karen Andrews, is said to have more influence on the Gold Coast than the member for Moncrieff.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Clearly, the minister is not being relevant to the question. He is also making a mockery of question time, and I would ask you to ask him to sit down.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister will bring his answer to a conclusion.

Craig Emerson (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Finance Minister on Deregulation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am, Mr Speaker. In conclusion: ‘Danger, danger, danger, Will Robinson over there.’ I am asked what further support the government is providing to small business. Our nation-building infrastructure investment is supporting local tradies and apprentices, and small business is taking up the small business tax break with great gusto. But the global economy remains weak and fragile, and the road to recovery for small business will be a long and bumpy one. The opposition, including the Leader of the Opposition today, persists in calling for the withdrawal of the stimulus and saying, ‘Isn’t it the case that the current very expansionary setting of fiscal policy is also no longer necessary and possibly imprudent?’ There he is—Major Tom in outer space. There he is—right on the outer reaches of the Milky Way.

Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Small Business, Independent Contractors, Tourism and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I seek leave to table the press release where we talk about Labor wasting $2,500 an hour on wasted expenditure.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is not granted.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.