Deborah O'Neill (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Housing, Minister for Homelessness and Minister for Small Business. Will the minister outline how the government will assist small business as part of its plans to spread the benefits of the mining boom across the economy?

Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Emergency Management) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Robertson for her question. She has a long association with small business; indeed she and her husband, Paul, run a small business in her own community.

Today the Prime Minister announced a very important decision in the creation of the Office of the Small Business Commissioner. This is a very important decision that was welcomed of course by Peter Strong, the Executive Director of COSBOA, who was in attendance at Parliament House today. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend because the opposition chose to prevent me from attending by not pairing—a rather petty decision, I would have thought—but that was more an insult to the small business community than to me as minister.

In relation to this decision, the Office of the Small Business Commissioner plays a very important role. The first time this position was created at the state level was by a Victorian Labor government in 2004. This is the first time it has been determined at a federal level. It provides support for small business. It will provide referrals for other government services, including dispute resolution. It will allow small business to make representations to that commissioner and direct to me. This is a very important role to provide independent advice and sourcing advice from the small business community and I think it has been well received by that very important constituency.

Of course, that comes off the back of the announcement by the Prime Minister to elevate this portfolio to cabinet. I think this is a very important decision. It is the first time that small business has been in a federal government cabinet for more than 10 years. It does speak volumes about the priorities this government has to provide support for this very important constituency. During the global financial crisis we made some very important decisions to stimulate the economy to ensure we could provide support for thousands upon thousands of small businesses. That was the right thing to do, and we look to do more by providing support for small businesses across the country as we provide all sorts of opportunities, including the $6,500 instant asset tax write-off for small businesses, the $5,000 write-off for business vehicles and a reduction in the company tax rate from 30 per cent to 29 per cent for incorporated companies.

These are important initiatives to create the environment for small businesses in this country to do very well. It is a constituency that employs almost five million Australians. What is going to stop that, of course, is the actions of the opposition leader who is choosing to oppose those tax cuts to small businesses.

Peter Slipper (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The minister will return to the question he is supposed to be answering.

Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Emergency Management) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a crying shame that there may be some concerns in relation to that decision. It would be the first time I have ever witnessed a Liberal Party leader opposing cuts to small businesses.

Peter Slipper (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister will resume his seat. I call the honourable member for Robertson on a supplementary question.

Deborah O'Neill (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My supplementary question to the Minister for Small Business is: how will the government's actions benefit small businesses in my electorate of Robertson on the Central Coast?

An opposition member: Have you ever run a small business?

Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Emergency Management) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In response to the interjection, I did fill out a business activity statement under the Howard government. I was not too big a business back then, but I did fill out that BAS.

Peter Slipper (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister will answer the supplementary question.

Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Emergency Management) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Robertson for her question. Of course, she has small businesses in her community, and this is a very important question. There are 9,300 small businesses in the electorate of Robertson who want some support from their government. Our job is not to intrude upon small business but to enable the circumstances in which we provide support to them. How do we do that? We do that by providing tax relief in the form of the instant asset tax write-off of up to $6,500. We do that by cutting the company tax rate from 30 per cent to 29 per cent.

Mr Van Manen interjecting—

Peter Slipper (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The honourable member for Forde will remain silent.

Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Emergency Management) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

These decisions that the Gillard government are enacting will ensure that we distribute the mineral wealth of this country to the millions and millions of businesses that deserve our help. Those businesses employ nearly five million Australians. It is a very important decision and will affect thousands of people in the electorate of Robertson. We will continue to advocate on behalf of small business as the Leader of the Opposition continues to oppose tax cuts for small business. (Time expired)