Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) the Coalition Government has:

(i) started to arrest the decline in the small business environment overseen by the previous Labor Government; and

(ii) developed and started to deliver as part of the budget, the largest small business package in the nation’s history—the Jobs and Small Business Package—worth $5.5 billion; and

(b) as part of the Jobs and Small Business Package, small businesses will be eligible for a 1.5 per cent company tax cut or a 5 per cent tax discount for small unincorporated businesses; and

(2) condemns the Leader of the Opposition for making unfunded announcements to small businesses in his Budget Reply Speech which ignore the two-thirds of small businesses which are not structured as companies; and

(3) commends the Prime Minister, the Treasurer and the Minister for Small Business on their effective management of the small business economy.

I have great pleasure in moving this motion on small business, for the House to record its support for how the coalition's Growing Jobs and Small Business package has started to arrest the decline in the small business environment overseen by the previous Labor government. The coalition has developed and started to deliver, as part of the budget, the largest small business package in the nation's history, the Jobs and Small Business package, worth some $5.5 billion. It is a legacy that our government can be proud of. From all corners of the country, our members and senators have reflected on how this package has been embraced by the small business community. It was interesting to note the comments of the Leader of the Opposition in his budget-in-reply speech on small business. We can see what a token attempt it was—supporting only one-third of the small business sector and ignoring a full two-thirds of small businesses, those which are not structured as companies.

In this motion I also move that the House commend the Prime Minister, the Treasurer and the Minister for Small Business on their efficient management and support of the small business sector in our economy, reflecting its value to the country. At the heart of the government's 2015 budget was the Growing Jobs and Small Business Package. These measures are providing $3.25 billion in tax cuts for small business and $1.75 billion in accelerated depreciation measures.

The coalition government has started to deliver the nation's largest small business package, to ensure that we continue to support and grow our small business sector. As a consequence, last week was a great week for small business in Australia. We saw the Senate pass these two very important budget measures to assist small business to help this economy grow, develop and prosper. The Senate passed measures to give businesses an immediate tax deduction for each asset they purchase—subsequent to budget night—of less than $20,000. They will have the ability to immediately write those off. The measures also include a 1.5 per cent tax cut to incorporated small business.

Small business was, prior to this government coming in, declining in number of jobs and importance to our economy. Under this government, that is starting to turn around. This government has arrested the decline in small business. We are now developing and supporting those who wish to put their lives on the line every day to grow small businesses and employ Australian people. We are creating a more competitive system that supports small business and does not hinder it. Already we are seeing the positive effects that consumer and business confidence is having across the country, particularly in my electorate of Forde. In August, a northern Gold Coast business expo is being hosted at Upper Coomera. All exhibitor spaces are already full. As Forde's small business community grows in confidence and excitement, it is prepared to take full advantage of these new budget measures, The enthusiasm for this upcoming expo is an indicator of the great things to come.

Small businesses in Forde range from business services to construction to social services to manufacturing. I look forward, as businesses begin to take advantage of these budget measures, to reporting back to parliament the many success stories we are sure to hear from our diverse small business community. I am proud that our government has placed such an outstanding focus on Australia's small businesses. Small business owners are people who create services, create jobs and contribute to the economic growth of their local communities and to the country. Providing the ability for small businesses to reinvest leads to new and improved ways of doing business and overall improvement of our nation's productivity. Small businesses are at the forefront of Australia's jobs and growth, and the coalition is delivering for small business now and into the future. Only through creating a strong economy does our nation flourish. Small business does and will continue to play an integral role in the success of Australia's economy.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Bernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What a load of rubbish we have just heard. This motion on small business is nothing more than absolute rubbish just designed to heap praise on ministers and the Prime Minister: 'Let's all bow down to their greatness and what they have done.' When you actually have a look at it, it is not even close to what the member spoke about—the so-called greatest ever package for small business in Australian history, $5 billion. Let me tell you what it was under Labor before the Liberals took it away: it was $7 billion, and ours was for four years, not two years. So, just come back with the facts. Your package is there for two years and ours was for four years. Yours is a reinstitution of the stuff you cut off small business in the first place, but you have only given it back to them to the tune of $5 billion, when our package was $7 billion. The audacity of these guys: to come in here and talk about the greatest package in Australian history. Let me tell you a little something about politics: you always know somebody is fiddling the books when they say it is the greatest package ever, because it is not even close to that.

Let's have a look at what they have actually done since they got to government. They came into government with this debt and deficit hoo-ha—you know, that there was a crisis and emergency happening. But what have they done with the debt and the deficit since they came to government? They have doubled the deficit. The deficit went from $17.1 billion to now more than $35 billion. How is that a good outcome for the economy or for Australia's small business people who expected a little bit more? They said they would put downward pressure on rates—on everything. Everything was going to go down; it has not done that. In fact, what did they do with debt? They have added—that is right: added—an extra, net add, $35 billion to debt. Of course they do not want to talk about that. You will not hear them coming into this place talking about debt, deficit, emergencies and fire trucks pulling up and putting out some sort of emergency fire. The fire is twice as large now. They keep throwing fuel onto the fire and they are patting themselves on the back. This what I just do not understand. Talk about leading with a glass jaw. They come into this place with these trumped-up motions that are nothing more than self-aggrandisement. Who takes them seriously? That has got to be the reality.

What has happened in the latest Labor survey figures? When we were in government, unemployment was too high but it had the number five in front of it. Now that this mob, the Liberals, are in, unemployment is still too high, except it has a six in front of it. It went from having a five in front of it when we were in government to having, now that this mob has come in, a six in front of it. And they pat themselves on the back: 'job well done; good on you Liberal government, Liberal Party.' They come in here and they double the deficit; they add more debt and unemployment goes up. Do you know what the long-term unemployment rate is? It is staggering. Long-term unemployment is now a staggering 24.2 per cent. It is unacceptable by anyone's standards, but you will not hear them putting motions on the table and coming here and talking about it or—something even better—doing something about it. It is all just trumped-up motions about patting Prime Ministers and ministers on the back: they are the greatest history; it is the greatest package ever; he is the greatest Prime Minister ever; they are the greatest ministers ever. Fine! Pat yourselves on the back and do whatever you want. Get your backbenchers to come in here and just create stories.

One thing they did get right in this budget—just one little thing; they have not got much right in this budget or the previous one—was that they reinstituted Labor's small business package of assistance. Sure, it is not as large; sure, it is not as timely; and, sure, it is over less time. But it is welcome. That is why it has passed the Senate. Labor thought that at least they have reintroduced our really good measures for small business. Small business, having had it in the first place, then had it taken away by the Liberal government. The hand reached well and deep into small business pockets. To make it even worse, they added the regulatory burden while they did this. They actually made it retrospective, which meant that a lot of small businesses that had already made claims not only had to rectify it retrospectively but also had to give the money back to the government and cause themselves a whole heap of red tape and a whole heap of problems.

So, this motion does pass strange. What did they do, though? This is a key thing. When the Liberal Party were in opposition they talked the economy down. I thought they did a pretty good job, because the economy went with their talk. But when you get to government you are supposed to talk the economy up. When they got to government they forgot they were supposed to lead the country. They are still talking down the economy. They are still hurting small businesses.

Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is wonderful to have an opportunity to speak again in this place about the government's $5.5 billion dollar Jobs and Small Business package, and I commend the member for Forde on his motion.

This package is unequivocally a good outcome for the 13,000 small businesses registered in my electorate of Ryan, and the more than two million small businesses across Australia. Small businesses with turnover of less than $2 million dollars per annum will benefit from a 1.5 per cent corporate tax cut and unincorporated small businesses will benefit from a five per cent tax discount.

We know that the Labor Party do not want to talk about this package. We know this because no less than the Leader of the Opposition himself stood up in this place on 3 June and moved to shut down debate on the enabling bills immediately following my speech on the bills.

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

So we could vote on it! You then cut it off the next day!

Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When he did so he accused me of playing cheap politics on this issue. He then proceeded to give a master class in cheap politics himself by trying to shut down debate on the flimsy pretext of urgency, knowing full well, member for Moreton, that the Senate was not sitting at the time and that guillotining debate in the House would make zero difference to the timely passage of the bills.

Cheap politics is something we have come to expect from the Leader of the Opposition. It is all those opposite are left with, given that their so-called 'Year of Ideas' has so far yielded so little. But not content with merely having no ideas of their own, Labor wants to shut down debate on the coalition's good ideas that will assist small business. Labor simply do not want the millions of small business owners across Australia to hear the good news about how the coalition government is making it easier for their businesses to grow, employ and prosper.

Labor do not want Australians to hear about it, because it shows them up for their years of treating small business policy as a second-order issue. Labor merely paid lip service to the small business sector. They treated the small business portfolio like an unwanted raffle prize, passing it to up to five ministers in the space of 15 months in the final chaotic years of their government. Is it any wonder then that little was done to improve the lot of small business owners in Australia? Contrast this with the actions of the coalition government. Not only do we have a Minister for Small Business who is well established in the role and has a genuine enthusiasm, but he is a minister who has a seat at the cabinet table. For the first time in many years, small businesses have a minister with the willingness and the authority to look out for the interests of the small business sector.

And when it comes to the interests of small business, as a general rule small business owners do not expect handouts from government. Ask most small business owners and they would tell you that they want less government intervention in their business, not more. The coalition government understands this intrinsically. We want to release small businesses from the burdens of excessive taxation and excessive red tape. And we want the tax system to work for small businesses, not against them.

Small business owners across Australia know that we have delivered on all fronts. The coalition government has cut corporate taxes on incorporated small businesses and reduced the taxation burden on unincorporated small businesses The coalition government has announced reforms to save more than $2.45 billion dollars annually through reduced compliance costs. And the coalition government has allowed small businesses to deduct immediately 100 per cent of the cost of each and every piece of capital equipment with a value of up to $20,000.

This Jobs and Small Business Package is a winner. It has been enthusiastically received by every small business owner I have spoken to in my electorate. Industry groups and peak bodies have been singing its praises. In fact, the only group that has not been enthusiastic about it is the group of members opposite from the Labor Party. They say they support this package. Well if they do, I urge them to get on board, to go back to small businesses in their electorates and to spread the word about the benefits of the coalition's package for small business. After all, if they do not have any ideas of their own they may as well talk about ours.

The Labor Party gave us smoke and mirrors; they did not give us any rubber on the road. They did not deliver for small business. The coalition has funded this package and is delivering for small business.. I commend the minister for the Jobs and Small Business package and in doing so I commend the member for Forde's motion to the House.

Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I really want to express my gratitude to the member for Forde for giving me the opportunity to talk about Labor's really strong commitment to small business and the runs on the board that we have in trying to support small businesses to do what they do best.

I have 5,000 innovative and entrepreneurial small businesses operating in my electorate of Hotham, and I hope they agree that I have been a very forceful defender of their interests in my time in this House. I have a bit of a business background myself so I do have a little knowledge of some of the issues they face, in particular in their dealings with government. But I am particularly interested in what it is that this House can do to let small business do what they do best. I know how central small businesses are going to be to Australia's economic future.

Entrepreneurship and innovation have always mattered to us in Australia, but when we look at where our economy is heading we can see its growing importance in each year. We know that our economic future is going to be very much dependent on how we can transition into a knowledge-based economy in Australia. We know that as the global economy becomes more and more competitive we are going to need to show the world that Australians can do things that no-one else in the world can do, to increase our prosperity. And we know that the small businesses in this country and the men and women who lead them will help our economy capture some of the incredible opportunities that lie ahead in the Asian century and the digital century, that are part of Australia's future.

We are all singing from the same song book here. Labor has known about this for a long time and, of course, when in government we put in place some really important measures that were very popular in the small business community to help small businesses go about their business. In fact, the achievements which this government crows about so endlessly are actually in large part a kind of reheated, second helping of some of the important initiatives that Labor has put in place and which have been resurrected, dare I say it, with much self-congratulation on the other side of the House.

Central to all of this policy discussion is the instant asset tax write-off. What a good idea, in a time where small businesses need a bit of a lift, to allow them to write off some of their assets. It was a great idea when we implemented it in government, but then those on the other side of the House abolished it when they came to power. I really want that on the record: the instant asset tax write-off existed, and they abolished it. When in government, Labor proposed a tax cut for small business, but those on the other side of the House opposed it. You can understand a little bit of frustration from those of us on this side of the House, because we see a bit of grubby politics coming into an area where there is no need for any partisanship. We are all in furious agreement: small businesses are incredibly important, they are an important driver of growth now and they will matter more in the future, and we should be doing what we can to support them. It is in that good faith principle that Labor has tried to create policy and done so, I think, very successfully.

Those on the other side have been trying desperately, in whatever way they can, to imply that there is some reticence on this side of the House to get these reforms into law so that small businesses can start to benefit from them. This culminated in the somewhat interesting display of the government voting down its own legislation. I have to say it is just an expression of how enthusiastic Labor is about some of these initiatives that we wanted to get this into the Senate as quickly as we can so that we can help small business men and women to benefit from these policies.

The truth is that, when we look at the policy positions of both parties, we see a couple of good ideas that Labor came up with in government that have been adopted by those on the other side of the House, but that is not where it ends. What we saw in the budget reply speech by the Leader of the Opposition a couple of months ago was a great new threshold of policy for small business. What Labor is starting to talk about now is a five per cent tax cut for small businesses. The Prime Minister dismissed the idea out of hand immediately, but based on past form I have little doubt that he and the very effervescent Minister for Small Business will be coming back and putting that forward as their own idea in due course.

I close by saying that it is well and good to talk about specific policies relating to small business, but what small businesses need most is a thriving Australian economy full of confident consumers. I would say to the government that, in their two years or so in office, they have done just about everything that they can to knock the confidence of the economy, and the confidence of consumers in this country, on the head. I would ask them to turn their attentions to this important question that is really on the minds of small business in my community of Hotham.

Debate interrupted.