Andrew Gee (Calare, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development. Will the Deputy Prime Minister update the House on why the government believes in supporting small business and how the government is acting on that belief to grow country communities and help those who are dealing with the drought? What is at stake if our plan to continue to build a vibrant regional Australia is placed at risk?

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Calare for his question. We believe, I believe, in strong economic management. I believe that, when you earn money, you should be able to keep more of that money. Those opposite believe in taking it away—in funding the big tax whack that they stand up for. That's what they stand up for. We believe in allowing people who work hard, who earn money, to keep more of that money that they earn.

We believe in supporting country communities. I've just finished talking, in my previous answer, about how I believe in standing up for regional communities—as do all the Liberals; as do all the Nationals. We believe there is a bright future ahead for regional Australia, and we're standing up for those regional Australians, who deserve better than to hear the inside-Canberra questions being asked of the government. They should be asking questions about regional Australia. They should be asking questions about the economy. But they just want to go into these Beltway tactics. The people who are listening to or watching this do not understand why those opposite—who once stood up for shearers, who once stood up for high-vis workers, who once stood up for coalminers—are not standing up more for regional communities. I mean, your party, the Labor Party, was formed on shearers and on coalminers. But you're not standing up for them.

We believe in small businesses. Those opposite do not. They just want to get out the big tax sledgehammer and whack them even harder. And I can't understand it. The Liberals can't understand it. The Nationals can't understand why you'd want to take the big tax whack to small business, to family enterprises, to those who work hard, who deserve to keep more of the money that they earn.

These are businesses such as those in the electorate of the member who asked me the question, in the central-west of New South Wales, where Michelle and Angus Pryse Jones own Hill and Crofts CRT in Blayney—

Mr Fitzgibbon interjecting—

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

The member for Hunter is warned!

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Angus and Michelle have owned Hill and Crofts since 2001. The store has four employees—not large, in the scheme of things, but four workers. They're getting on with making sure that those people have a future and those people have prosperity. And that little business has a turnover of $4½ million. They're punching well above their weight. They are serving the public in the agriculture space. They are certainly serving them in the residential real estate space in Blayney. And they're people who will be targeted if Labor's negative gearing policies ever become law. So that's right—Labor just wants to take the property tax whack out. They want to make sure that people don't have the sort of money in their investments that they should have because they've worked hard and they've invested in real estate. They should be able to get ahead.

We've also put $1.8 billion into drought relief measures and, in the member for Calare's electorate, they will help, for those councils getting the million dollars—they're going to help the Blayney, Cabonne, Mid-Western Regional, Oberon and Dubbo Regional councils, which are good councils, getting on with the job of making sure that their communities are well served, bringing local infrastructure works forward and getting money flowing into drought-affected communities.