Bruce Billson (Dunkley, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Small Business, Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, you might recall that after the Gillard Labor government budget was released there was quite a debate in the community about just what amounted to a 'rich' person or a 'rich' Australian family. All sorts of claims were being made about struggling families—and I have struggled to get here on time, so I have had my exercise for the day—who were trying to cope with the rising cost of living, mortgage increases and raising children. It was quite a lively debate and it really struck a chord with the Australian people in that perhaps the Gillard Labor government did not quite get the pressure that was on so many households and that they were somehow redefining not what it was to be mainstream but what it was to be wealthy.

It is my melancholy duty this morning to announce that the Gillard Labor government has redefined 'wealthy' if you are a self-employed person, if you are an independent contractor or if you are one of the 400,000 of our smallest businesses which could benefit from the entrepreneurs tax offset but now will be denied that offset in 2012-13. I announce this new description of 'wealth' by drawing on the remarks of one of the Labor members who was making some big deal about the fact that the average claim amongst those 400,000 of our smallest businesses was for an ETO benefit of about $600, as though that did not matter much, that could not possibly be a concern. The Labor member made the outrageous claim that businesses were holding back and turning their back on business opportunities just so they could get this entrepreneurs tax offset. Then he went on to deride the value of that tax offset as not being that much. Well, the people who are claiming that must be the new wealthy in Australia in the eyes of the Australian Labor Party and the Gillard government.

It is my melancholy duty to inform the parliament that 70 per cent of the claims are for less than $600. Do you know how much the average recipient earns when they are getting that $600 benefit, as claimed by the Labor member? They earn $22,000 a year. Apparently, according to this Gillard Labor government, if you are self-employed, a microbusiness or a home based business you now no longer deserve the entrepreneurs tax offset, because you are so wealthy that you do not need it. The ETO is worth $600, the person is earning $22,000 a year and 70 per cent of those 400,000 who receive that benefit are receiving that $600. What is this about? Are they the new wealthy?

If you are self-employed—that is, not receiving a payment from someone else but going out to earn your own income—you earn $22,000 a year and you get a $600 benefit, you are now the new wealthy in Australia! Or is it really the fact that the Gillard Labor government hate self-employed people? Their idea is that the only one who works is someone who receives a pay cheque from someone else, whereas there are millions of Australians who work for themselves and earn their own pay cheques— (Time expired)