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

On Sunday there will be a lot of discussion, and in fact Labor members are reported to have been prepared with a household-by-household analysis in their electorates of the impact of the Labor carbon tax—household by household data to help Labor survive walking into its own political disaster. Taxpayers' money has been used to analyse household impacts in order to support the survival of Labor MPs, but no data has been collected on the impact of this carbon tax on Australia's small businesses. In fact, small businesses are the unspoken word of the carbon tax debate. We hear it might be 1,000, it might be 600, it might be 700—who knows precisely, in this muddled mess that is the carbon tax? We hear about them paying this carbon tax but you never hear the government talk about the impact on small business; you never hear them speak about the punishing impact on small business.

For those people who are listening, after Sunday the carbon tax that the government will have announced will hit you everywhere you go—even if you go to your local pizza shop. It is an energy intensive industry and you might have a choice about whether you want capsicum or anchovy on your pizza but you will have no choice about whether or not it comes with a carbon tax. This is just one of a number of small businesses captured in the Herald Sun today that indicate that small business is fearful of this tax. Small business has not been factored into any of the government's decision-making and compensation packages. The question is, why does Labor so hate small business?