Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Assistant Treasurer and Minister Assisting for Deregulation. Why is the government determined to give our nation's small businesses a tax break as part of our plan to spread the benefits of the mining boom? What would be the impact of not providing this vital assistance to small business?

David Bradbury (Lindsay, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer ) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Moreton for his question. I know that he is a tireless advocate on behalf of the 19,000 small businesses in his community and I know he is also looking forward to coming into this place shortly and voting in support of tax breaks for those small businesses. Only a Labor government is prepared to manage the economy in the interests of working families. We are a government that sees out there in community, across the economy, that we have a multispeed economy. Whilst parts of our economy are going very strongly, there are other parts that are not doing it quite as well. There are many sectors of our economy that are doing it tough and we want to make sure that we spread the benefits of the mining boom so that small businesses—those businesses that are working in manufacturing, tourism and retail—have some of the benefits of this boom so that they can do what small businesses do so effectively—that is, create jobs and generate wealth for this country.

I am asked about the impact of not providing this vital assistance to small business. Obviously, if these small businesses and businesses that are likely to receive a tax cut under our proposal do not receive that assistance, they will continue to be weighed down by taxation at its current levels. We want to liberate them from existing levels of taxation by cutting taxes. By lowering taxes, we can help build a stronger economy for the future.

That is especially why I was surprised to hear the member for North Sydney, when asked yesterday whether or not the opposition would support these tax cuts, say 'no'. He did not just say no once, or twice, he went on to say no five times. This negativity is going to kill small business. This negativity is irresponsible and will harm small businesses right around this country. We want to give a tax break to small businesses all around this country. We want to give a tax break to the 33,000 small businesses in the electorate of Brisbane, even if the member for Brisbane says no. We want to give a tax break to the 17,000 small businesses in the electorate of Macquarie, even if the member for Macquarie says no. We want to give a tax break to the 17,000 small businesses in the electorate of Dunkley, even if the member for Dunkley says no.

It is absolutely essential at a time when so many businesses and companies across our economy are doing it tough that we provide them with the tax relief that they need. If those opposite are not going to stand up for small business, the Gillard government will.