Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is with great pleasure that I rise to speak on this motion moved by the member for Reid. Small and medium businesses are the engine room of the Australian economy and, of course, the engine room of employment. For them to thrive and to prosper, an effective infrastructure network is vital. In my contribution today, I am keen to focus on the investments occurring in my electorate of Corangamite as part of our record $50 billion of infrastructure spending announced in last year's budget.

Very proudly, we are duplicating the Princes Highway, an incredibly important road for Geelong, Colac, Winchelsea, Birregurra and Beeac. It is wonderful to see that underway. We are having some problems with the section between Waurn Ponds and Winchelsea; there has been a delay. I have called on the state government to explain why there has been the delay, and unfortunately they have not provided the answers that the community deserves. However, it was with great pride that I turned the sod with the Colac Otway Shire mayor, Frank Buchanan, a number of months ago on the section between Winchelsea and Colac. It is going to absolutely transform the Colac Otway region. This is so important not just for road safety but for new business investment, for jobs and for new opportunities for the farmers and the major employers like AKD, Australian Lamb Company and Bulla Dairy. I am delighted to report that the CEO of Colac Otway Shire is already seeing a significant increase in interest from businesses and developers. So already we are seeing a real surge of activity as a result of our government's investment.

There is similar excitement on the upgrade of the Great Ocean Road, a wonderful project for tourism, for road safety and for the wonderful communities that span the magnificent coastline from Torquay right through beyond Cape Otway. That is a very important project. The Great Ocean Road is the centrepiece of a $2.1 billion tourism economy and really is very important. I have to say it is very unfortunate that we saw Labor campaign so vigorously against this upgrade. They ran a terrible campaign riddled with false claims, such as that we were going to turn the road into a four-lane freight highway. So, unfortunately, the Labor candidate for Corangamite and Labor oppose the upgrade of this road. In contrast, I am very proud to say that I will be fighting for more funding for this road, because it is such an iconic road. It is so important—not just for Australians but for international visitors. It needs more money and I am going to be fighting very hard.

The problem that we have in Victoria is that we have an infrastructure crisis caused by the Andrews Labor government. At the heart of that crisis—when you look at the $30 billion of infrastructure investment occurring in New South Wales—we have the East West Link project cancelled, costing 7,000 jobs and at least $640 million. This is a terrible decision. It is a project that was previously supported by the likes of the Leader of the Opposition and the member for Corio, but they did not have the courage to stand up to Daniel Andrews and the CFMEU. This is a project that is desperately needed.

We have seen what is going on in Victoria as a result of the Andrews government's failure to invest in infrastructure. Look at Bay West—Bay West is another classic example. At the moment it is all smoke and mirrors. They said they were going to deliver it and they said they were going to look at a second port. We now see more manipulation and more deception, with a dirty deal involving the Port of Melbourne where there will be no second port under the state Labor government.

In Victoria last month there were 6,900 new jobs; in contrast, in New South Wales there were 29,600 jobs. The Geelong unemployment rate is actually pretty good all up, at about six per cent, but not in any way helped by the state Labor government, which is actually causing enormous damage to the Victorian economy. I say to Daniel Andrews, to Labor, to Bill Shorten and to the local Labor MPs: have the courage to stand up for infrastructure and have the courage to invest in this project, because we need it. For the people of Geelong and for the people of Corangamite, it is absolutely vital.

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is no doubt that small business is the engine room of our economy. Small businesses are very dependent upon consumers and, of course, with the unemployment rate now the highest in 20 years, that unemployment rate has a material impact on overall business conditions. When you put that together with the constant talking down of our economy by the government, both when they were in opposition and now in government, that has also had a dramatic impact on small business and consumption—the sort of consumption on which small business depends for its profitability. We have had a lot of rhetoric and motions from those opposite supporting small business in our economy, and I certainly agree that small business is the engine room of the economy. It certainly makes the economy go round. But the sort of speeches that we have heard from those opposite show just how delusional they are, because they have been talking the economy down, shattering confidence and shattering business investment for well over five or six years.

They are only now realising the folly of that activity, because their deficit and debt scare campaign hit confidence for six. Consumer confidence at the budget was down 13 per cent. Business confidence at the budget was down 22 per cent. If you constantly talk the economy down, the economy does not grow, and the economy is weak at the moment with record levels of unemployment. Unemployment is above six per cent. We have not seen a figure like that for a very long period of time. Over 800,000 Australians are unemployed—the highest number since 1994. This is an embarrassment for the government, given how benign global economic conditions have been.

We did see a change of tack in the budget. We saw the government finally realise the folly of constantly exaggerating deficit and debt and talking our economy down. So what did they do to try and restore some confidence in the economy? They went back to a Labor initiative—the instant asset write-off, which they had abolished in 2013. They abolished the instant asset write-off, the accelerated depreciation for cars and the loss carry-back for those small businesses that were restructuring, taking $5 billion out of the economy. It has taken them two years to suddenly realise how dumb and destructive that decision was. It is good to see that they have realised their folly. It is good to see that they have brought the instant asset write-off back, in an attempt to restore some confidence in our economy. Of course, along with that we have seen this massive hit to public infrastructure investment—absolutely massive. Their own budget papers show that infrastructure investment is down 11 per cent across the forward estimates. The Prime Minister likes to waltz around the country claiming he is the 'infrastructure Prime Minister'. We had the pathetic example in the House last week of the Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development, Mr Truss, claiming credit for the construction of the Epping roundabout—the Epping crossing—which has been under construction because of the investment, planning and foresight of the last Labor government. He had the hide to stand up in the House and claim credit for it.

There are many such projects around Australia that are now being completed, and there will be no more, because so many of the projects that will enhance our economic capacity were put on the backburner by this government, which is not making the investment in infrastructure that our economy requires. There is a classic one in my home city: the cross-river rail, which is absolutely essential to the future public transport needs of our city. We had the foresight to invest in the Moreton Bay rail, as well. But even that will be impacted upon by the failure of the Commonwealth to invest in the critical project of cross-river rail.

The approach to economic-capacity-enhancing infrastructure is simply shambolic. If this country needs anything at the moment to give a boost to growth, what it really needs is for the public sector, and particularly the Commonwealth, to show the way and get in there with the states and get some of these projects going. But it is not happening, and it is most certainly not happening in my city.

Then you have the NBN. The NBN is important to every single business in our community. It is a shambles. They need that critical investment for their prosperity. (Time expired)

Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the member for Reid's motion on small business and infrastructure investment. From hearing the member for Lilley I can say that we agree on one thing, and that is that small business is the engine room of our economy. I think that is probably best where I leave it.

The 2015-16 budget reaffirmed the government's $50 billion infrastructure investment commitment, the largest in our nation's history. Our commitment will deliver the infrastructure of the 21st century that our nation needs. We are carrying out projects right across Australia and, indeed, in my electorate of Barker. Local and regional communities also continue to benefit from the government's investment in infrastructure.

The coalition government is delivering more money for the Roads to Recovery and the Black Spot programs, with my electorate alone receiving $104 million through Roads to Recovery funding, with $15.4 million of that being announced recently as an additional injection of funds above and beyond the previously announced funds, with another $2.5 million for black spots.

We established the National Stronger Regions Fund, which in my case delivered $7.5 million to the South Australian Motorsport Park at Tailem Bend, which will see my electorate becoming not only the home of motor sport in South Australia, or indeed Australia, but quite possibly in the Southern Hemisphere, along with the many hundreds of direct and indirect jobs that will be created as a result of our decision.

This extra funding will deliver tangible benefits and make our roads safer and more reliable. This is a massive boost to funding for our regional road network, and I am looking forward to seeing the additional opportunities this decision will create for our local communities.

I am also delighted to be able to report to the Federation Chamber that the federal government is taking decisive action on moving stalled projects forward where state governments have failed to act, particularly in my electorate. The federal government has decided to provide all of the funding required to complete the state government's stalled Penola bypass project—a whopping $9 million. It has also resolved decades of inaction over the Penola and Wireless roads intersection, in Mt Gambier, with an allocation of $800,000. This intersection has been declared by the RAA as the most dangerous one in rural and regional South Australia.

For a very long time members of the Limestone Coast community have been frustrated and angry that these two projects have been subjected to indecision and delay, because nobody wanted to take responsibility for funding these important infrastructure projects. I said in October last year that for as long as I can remember the Limestone Coast had been talking about fixing the Wireless Road / Penola Road intersection and building the Penola bypass. Even though the Wireless Road / Penola Road intersection and indeed the Penola bypass are state government responsibilities, I have been relentlessly pursuing funding for these projects. With the help of Assistant Minister Briggs, I have now secured those funds.

I was also delighted that I successfully won the support of Assistant Minister Briggs and Treasurer Hockey to retain a significant portion of the Murray-Darling Basin Economic Diversification Program funding after the state Labor government refused to accept those federal funds. It is beyond comprehension that a state government with nation-leading levels of unemployment and facing serious financial distress would refuse federal government assistance, and all the more bizarre when this funding was secured by Premier Weatherill himself. I am grateful that Minister Briggs and Treasurer Hockey were not prepared to see struggling river communities in my electorate punished because of the reckless actions of the state Labor government, and allocated $6.9 million of the funding originally allocated to the Riverland and Murraylands for economic diversion to road widening and shoulder sealing of the Sturt Highway. These are funds which would otherwise have disappeared.

The Prime Minister made a commitment to be the infrastructure Prime Minister prior to the last election, and we are going about delivering that outcome, as we can see with the investment of $3.2 billion under the Roads to Recovery program, including an injection of $1.1 billion over the next two years. An extra $100 million over the next two years to accelerate road safety improvements through the Black Spot Program brings total investment up to $500 million. The Prime Minister and the coalition government are delivering the roads of the 21st century.

With us in the chamber today we have Ms Pamela Perre. Ms Perre was awarded young rural journo of the year in South Australia, and as a result of that she has won a trip to Canberra. Some would say it is a commiseration prize, but at least a day of that she will be spending with me. I congratulate Pam on her award. It is a significant achievement for a very young journalist.

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Barker and I acknowledge the presence of his guest and assure her it is a privilege to attend Canberra.

Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is a motion which is easy to support because it is a warm and fuzzy motion. It does not really tell you a lot but it makes a warm and fuzzy statement. 'Government should prioritise infrastructure investment to help small businesses grow.' That is a no-brainer; that is the role of government. I find it a bit odd and perplexing that the backbenchers of the government supported the motion without any real detail as to how they are going to help small businesses grow.

One of the speakers, the member for Corangamite, had a go at the state Labor government for sticking to their promise to scrap the East West Link, which was a dud tunnel. It would not have solved the congestion problems in the state of Victoria, and this government withdrew the vital infrastructure funding from Victoria which would have created jobs. They took it away from key projects like Melbourne Metro, took it away from regional road projects which would have actually helped—helped product get to a port and helped small businesses do the work that they need to do. What is also really perplexing about the member for Corangamite's speech is her obsession with going after the CFMEU. Perhaps she has not realised that construction workers are CFMEU members and so if you want to talk about construction jobs being created you are actually talking about creating CFMEU member jobs. So to have a go at the state government by saying that they are too close to the CFMEU when it is about construction jobs is a bit odd—unless of course this government is planning to use the ChAFTA as a way to bring in workers who undercut the wages of good local Australians, whether they be people working for subcontractors or working for contractors themselves. This government's plan about the China free trade agreement is different to every other agreement: it aims to undercut the wages and conditions of small businesses in this country—local tradies in my electorate. That is what the government is trying to hide behind fluffy motions like this.

As the member for Swan mentioned, this government is also not coming out and properly investing in the NBN. My electorate of Bendigo was knocked off the map. They screamed before the election that they would roll out the NBN sooner, faster and cheaper. Newsflash: what happened in areas like Central Victoria is that we were knocked off the map for two years. Now we have been put back on the map but still do not have a rollout plan. And, when we finally get that rollout plan, what is it going to be? Fibre to the node. Not fibre to the premises but fibre to the node, which will put back small businesses in my electorate even further. Just to highlight one of the crises that Malcolm Turnbull, the Minister for Communications, has created in my electorate of Bendigo: four NBN towers have been built; three have been finished and one is waiting to be completed. There is a planning application problem. The frustration, though, for the people around the other three towers is that they can look at the towers but they cannot be switched on.

I go to some of the experiences that people have emailed me about. Currently a family is spending $70 a month for eight gigs. They run a small business from their home in Eppalock. Another family pays over $100 per month for 15 gigs. Another family can only access 3G mobile, which is very slow and drops out constantly, because they do not have proper internet available through the towers or through the landline. They are simply off the map when it comes to this government's plan for the NBN. Small businesses in Eppalock, Mt Camel, Goornong and Sedgewick are missing out on vital infrastructure because this government tore up Labor's plan, introduced a new plan, knocked Bendigo off the map and have to this day still not fixed the mess they made.

So, on behalf of the people in my electorate, I say, rather than putting forward motions which are light and fluffy, put forward a concrete plan that would see small businesses in Central Victoria connect to the NBN. The government have an obsession with talking down the economy. They seem to forget that consumers are the biggest drivers of small business. Goods and services are delivered by our small businesses. The government need to get real about supporting small business and put forward plans that will make a difference, not light and fluffy motions. (Time expired)

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am sure the member for Bendigo was referring to the member for Lilley, not the member for Swan during her speech.

Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes. Sorry about that.

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

It is always interesting to stand in this chamber or the other chamber to speak about small business and hear those opposite pontificate about their magnificent support of the small business sector in our country when we saw under the previous government a loss of small business jobs to the tune of hundreds of thousands and saw the percentage of people employed in the small business sector fall from 51 per cent to 43 per cent. That is the legacy that those opposite have left for the small business sector in our country, so I find it very interesting that they stand up and claim the moral high ground. There is not only that but they also foisted on our small business sector the biggest, most useless carbon tax in the history of this country. The current government removed that massive impost on our small business sector. This side of the House has consistently, throughout the years, stood up for our small business sector, because we recognise that they are the engine room of the Australian economy. They employ 4.5 million people around Australia and produce some $330 billion of economic output.

This motion relates to the importance of infrastructure for small business. It is true that infrastructure is incredibly important to our small business sector to allow it to survive and flourish. Our small business people, such as our tradies, travel on our roads every day trying to get from one job to the next, but those opposite have failed to recognise that this government has rolled out one of the biggest infrastructure programs in Australia's history. New road and freight corridors are being built right across the country. It is interesting to note that state governments of the colour of those opposite have sought to cancel infrastructure projects which would have aided the small business sector in their communities.

In my electorate of Forde there are more than 11,000 small businesses. Many of these utilise Highway M1 connecting the Gold Coast and Brisbane, two major business hubs. We have a problem with the M1; it is nearing capacity and congestion is affecting many of the small businesses in my electorate, costing them thousands of dollars in time and resources every single day. Through setting up the Fix the M1 Taskforce we have committed to working towards obtaining the funding to fix this critical piece of infrastructure in South-East Queensland and find a solution. Investment in improved infrastructure benefits all businesses through their ability to generate economic growth and job creation, boosting not only our local, but also our regional economies. I would like to thank the Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development and Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Truss, for his support in helping us seek a commitment to secure the funding to fix the M1 bottleneck between the Logan and Gateway Motorways.

In addition, the federal government has already committed $10 million to fix Exit 54, at upper Coomera, at the interchange with the M1, where a growing population and business community has struggled with congestion for many years. This piece of investment from the federal government will allow the new interchange to be built, significantly saving time for local businesses to get down to the Gold Coast or up to Brisbane. More importantly, it will allow the Coomera town centre to proceed, which, once opened, has the potential to provide several thousand jobs in the retail sector. Also in that space it will provide numerous jobs during the construction phase of the interchange, but also during the construction phase of the upper Coomera town centre. There are plenty of other business opportunities that have been waiting in the wings until decisions were made. I had the pleasure of turning the first sod on that project a week or so ago.

This government has proven, through its actions to date and its action going forward, that we are committed to building and delivering on the infrastructure that this country needs for the 21st century to allow our small business sector to continue to grow and prosper. (Time expired)

Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Vocational Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wanted to contribute to this private member's motion about the significant link that exists between infrastructure and small business, because it is an issue that has very much been at the forefront for many of my constituents over the last 12 to 18 months. Their concerns regard the infrastructure of the future—that is, the actual rollout of fast and reliable broadband that enables small and medium businesses, in particular home-based businesses, to be able to flourish. As a result of the change of government the rollout of the national broadband network was delayed. There was a period of about 12 months while very little happened as the new government determined what sort of technology it was going to use. There has been an understandable increase in frustration for those suburbs in my area that were anticipating getting more reliable broadband. That has led to a number of very significant grassroots campaigns.

I want to first of all refer to a Facebook campaign that was started by Karen and Mark McKenzie of the northern suburbs of my electorate. It is Facebook 2508+ Disconnected, a tremendous campaign. They experienced four years of delay and frustration in dealing with Telstra and in trying to get broadband to their new home—they had relocated from Sydney. In particular, they were frustrated about not being able to access broadband when they were told that it was available at their home. They went onto Facebook just to see and get a feel for the size of the problem. They have been absolutely inundated with people across those suburbs experiencing significant frustration. I quote directly from Mark's comments to me:

Key among the issues being experienced by this community are poor levels of internet service and internet reliability that are currently constraining the productivity of the many home-based businesses operating in the area. In a recent survey completed by the campaign organisers, more than 50% of respondents indicated that they were operating a home business—

that is right: 50 per cent of those who responded were operating a home business—

that was being negatively impacted by poor internet service.

The survey also revealed that more than 66% of respondents rated service reliability "poor" to "very poor" while a whopping 88% rated internet speeds as "poor" to "very poor"—with average download speeds regularly below 1MBps.

This is, of course, in a range of suburbs in the north of my seat, where people are located very close to Sydney. A lot of people—professionals, home-based businesses and consultants—relocate there, because it is a very beautiful part of the world and a lovely place to live, and discover the absolutely appalling standard of telecommunications infrastructure that they are faced with.

This campaign is not alone. For quite a while now I have been working with the Bundeena and Maianbar business chamber. They are also frustrated with both mobile and broadband services, and Scott Dovey, who is the president, has put an extensive and very detailed report together on the impacts of the very poor quality telecommunications infrastructure in their suburbs. In February 2015 the Bundeena Maianbar Chamber of Commerce ran a community survey. They had a total of 197 responses to that, which is about a 20 per cent response rate. They are a fairly small community, so it is actually quite a large percentage. They found that service interruptions for landline phones and internet were widespread, frequent and prolonged. Most internet connections via ADSL were very slow, if they worked at all. The average speed was around 3.25 megabits per second. Almost a third of the respondents in that survey indicated that they rely on their landline telephone to run their own business.

In recent years we have seen a huge shift in small businesses—in many of our electorates, I am sure—becoming home-based businesses, whether that is a direct business or a consultancy service, and these people are increasingly frustrated by the telecommunications infrastructure that services them. We have a new mobile base station being established at Coalcliff, and I have written to the minister seeking more detail on what that will actually provide in its time frame. I acknowledge that the minister is meeting with my constituents this week, and I am particularly asking him to give very serious consideration to their extensive concerns. (Time expired)

Debate adjourned.