Ken Wyatt (Hasluck, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on small businesses within Hasluck. The Midland Redevelopment Authority in the electorate of Hasluck is celebrating its 10th anniversary. The authority is one of the most significant bodies that Midland has seen in its 100-year history. The Midland Redevelopment Authority is led by Kieran Kinsella, whose leadership capacity brings together the key stakeholders in a shared vision. Its ultimate purpose is to facilitate and attract investment for the purpose of developing vibrant businesses and, in turn, communities to create commercial and residential opportunities which will see the emergence of Midland from its current historical context into a centre that is able to provide for the citizens living within that proximity and become a significant hub within that region. It continues to work tirelessly to improve the social and economic conditions of Midland. Due to the work of the Midland Redevelopment Authority and its partners, a significant level of progression has been achieved through both their vision and their plan. They have injected over $1.22 billion into the community and created over 7,500 jobs.

Contrast this positivity to the handbrake that Labor is pulling on our economy. There are real impacts on small businesses in the electorate of Hasluck from Labor’s failed policies. When I was doorknocking and meeting with small- to medium-business owners, this was a common theme. They spoke of the uncertainty in planning for expansion against the economic constraints that they were facing in respect of government borrowings being $100 million a day, thereby reducing their capacity to draw down on loans to expand their businesses. One business in Hasluck told me that, once the mineral resource rent tax was announced, his company’s worth plummeted from a turnover of $25 million to under $7 million. In making some tough decisions, he has had to lay off staff and reduce the remaining staff to part-time positions. This means people have been laid off and families’ futures are hanging in the balance, particularly with mortgages, costs for education and daily living requirements. Additionally, a carbon tax will hurt local businesses even further. These are real people employing real families. They are not numbers taken from a focus group.

It gets worse under Labor. A carbon tax would mean that pensioners in Hasluck, many of them veterans and people who have paid taxes all their lives, will face rises in electricity bills and the flow-on costs that would come from that for all manufactured items and other goods and services.

Another example of Labor’s ill-advised policies is GP superclinics. These impact on viable practices that already exist within the region. These practices were built up by dedicated general practitioners over a number of years and the capital infrastructure was developed by them—no-one subsidised them. They were not gifted a government building. These practices have a number of elements that in essence are the making of a GP superclinic. What is disappointing is that they were not considered in the mix during the establishment of the Midland GP superclinic and, to that end, they now face competition from a government sponsored GP superclinic practice that impacts on their many years of hard work building up a client base that they have served very effectively and efficiently over a period of two or three decades.

Their approach to engaging with their clientele is premised on family centred and individual focus practice but also providing an opportunity for high-quality care. Why should established decades-old practices be placed at risk of financial ruin if proposed government funded GP superclinics open in direct competition to them? Why not negotiate for expanded services that meet the proposed requirements for a GP superclinic? That would be in a very different context that allows private enterprise and their hard work and good will to be harnessed to be part of a new direction. Why is Labor so keen on reinventing the wheel at a cost of millions and to the detriment of taxpayers and to business owners? GPs and practice managers in Hasluck have told me and Dr Andrew Southcott, who visited recently, that they are best placed to take care of their patients and not corporate GP superclinics looking at profits as opposed to the primary care that they provide. The facilities are already there. The patients already go to that practice. All they need is a comparatively minor injection of cash to add to their infrastructure and the range of services they provide. Instead, millions upon millions will be given to anticompetitive businesses to the detriment of established practices. This type of government intervention only hurts GPs. Why should they spend their own money to build a practice in an area with the threat of Labor dropping a government backed competitor across the road? This is just another example of the failure of Labor’s economic policies.

Hasluck has many small to medium businesses that support the minerals and energy sector, and they play a crucial role in contributing to the WA and Australian economy. They also provide employment opportunities, training and skills development for apprentices. This key role is supported by the community within Hasluck. Adverse policies will kill off the goose that helps to lay the golden eggs that establishes a strong and vibrant economy in this country. These are not just words; they are real people with real lives paying very real taxes to a government that makes policy on a whim and treats their money with reckless abandon. Small businesses within Hasluck provide the supporting infrastructure to the mining sector and contribute to the development of significant projects within Western Australia. On the announcement of the mining tax these companies felt the reverberations of that proposed decision.

Small business provides the backbone to the Australian economy. There are also new businesses in Hasluck that look at new opportunities and develop technology that supports the mining sector. In that expansion they are also looking at partnerships and collaborative arrangements with overseas companies who also want to be involved in the economic boom and growth of Western Australia’s economy. Many of the negotiations that they undertake are premised on two things: one is growing a business so that they are effective and can contribute, but secondly there is also a social dividend that they want to give back to the communities they serve and in which they provide resources and services. Government decisions can impact with negative flow-on effects that undermine the growth of businesses.

Hasluck has a number of small businesses. It has GP practices and has families who premised their undertakings in an economy in which policy is consistent and supportive of what they wish to develop as part of their future. It is to this end that I would certainly ask that the Labor government consider the flow-on impacts to small businesses, because it is they who feel the immediate impact. I do not think that we, at a time of global economic change, can afford to have our businesses being affected by decisions that are sometimes taken at the whim of a government. I strongly support and will work closely with the small businesses of Hasluck to ensure that they get access to the right level of advice, the resources required and the opportunity to expand so as to contribute to the community in which they work but more importantly to continue to support the economic growth of both Western Australia and Australia within a global economy.