Nicolle Flint (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Small Business. Will the minister update the House on the importance of reliable and affordable energy and how this creates the environment small businesses need to get ahead? What barriers are creating uncertainty and threatening job creation for hardworking Australian businesses and families?

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Minister for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Boothby for her question. This is a vital issue for small business throughout South Australia. I know this is an issue about which the member for Boothby and all South Australian MPs on this side of the House are very concerned. I travelled to South Australia last week with the member for Boothby and visited several businesses in her electorate—9,285 small businesses in Adelaide and throughout South Australia. For them the issue of power costs and reliability is not ideological. It is not a hiccup, as the member for Port Adelaide would have you believe. These are real people with real stories. Small business, not that those opposite seem to care or understand, employs people—good people. It creates jobs and opportunities for Australia. It makes and sells goods and services that our community needs and wants. All it needs is power—affordable, reliable, secure and available power.

The member and I met Ben and Marika Poland from Fifty3 Espresso in a local shopping centre. They want to invest. They want to grow. They own a newsagent and a coffee shop and they want to have a go, but the blackouts and the inconsistent supply of power are a handbrake. Ben said: 'You cannot come to work not knowing if you will have power. This is a First World country.' That is quite right. Ben and Marika are not alone either. I met a financial planner in Adelaide—Mark Draper from GEM Capital. He has a small business in the financial planning sector just down the road from the member for Adelaide. He now relies on a diesel backup generator to keep the lights on and the work flowing. Would you believe it? A financial planner is having to rely on a diesel backup generator.

This sorry story for small businesses does not stop in the suburbs of Adelaide. I also went to Murray Bridge with the member for Barker last week. We visited the Farm Fresh Market greengrocer on Adelaide Road and met Carlo and Tracy De Michele. They sell fresh fruit and vegetables in the Murray lands as well as bread, condiments, flour, cheese and dips. The member for Maribyrnong knows all about dips because his personal approval rating has had a number of dips lately! This is a family business, dedicated and hard working, with local staff and attention to detail for food orders. They have served the community well for more than 15 years. But skyrocketing power prices have put Farm Fresh on the back foot, and that is only when the power works. There have been eight blackouts in recent memory and intermittent power has left Farm Fresh in the dark, counting the cost of Labor's ideological approach to energy. It is just like thousands of small businesses across South Australia. Tracy told the member for Barker and I how everything, from the fridges to the freezers, the EFTPOS machines and email, goes down when the power goes off. Now, they have had to dump thousands of dollars of stock. You might laugh, but that is a big hit to their bottom line. Is that the future we want? I would argue: no. All the member for Maribyrnong wants to do is take us back to the Dark Ages. (Time expired)

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Members on my left!