Zoe McKenzie (Flinders, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Over the winter recess I had a great chance to get all around my electorate and spend time with many of our dynamic and innovative small businesses. The extremely hardworking owners, mostly mums and dads, took great risks to pursue their passions and interests as small-business owners and entrepreneurs. It's easy to lose focus on the enormous courage and determination required to set up and run a small business. From start-up to their day-to-day operations, small-business owners face the hardships of self-employment, often with limited initial financial return and a pretty poor work-life balance.

According to the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, 97.5 per cent of all Australian businesses are small but they employ more than five million Australians today, 42 per cent of our entire workforce in Australia is made up by small businesses and in Flinders alone our small- to medium-sized businesses are around 15,000 in number. Like elsewhere, our small businesses are in a world of pain at the moment. They are really hurting, and this government doesn't seem to care.

As I walked around Rosebud, Dromana, Rye and Sorrento the message was the same. From the hairdressers to the homewares shop, the real estate, retail shops, the cheese shop and the wool shop the feedback was the same: business is down on this time last year—some said by 30 per cent and some said by 50 per cent—people are being much more careful with their discretionary spending and the cost-of-living crunch is real. One business owner in Somerville recently wrote to me about her struggles. It was the day that the local Ritchies IGA announced it was having a 50 per cent off sale because it was closing down. It brought in floods of customers, while her store that day only saw one customer.

Ron, who's a resident of Mount Martha, wrote to me about his cost-of-living pain. A month ago, Ron's gas charges went up by 21 per cent, and, as of yesterday, his electricity charges will increase by 30 per cent. Ron and his wife are both retired and on a pension. They asked me, 'How are we supposed to pay these swinging increases?' These stories reflect what everyone is feeling: the spiralling cost of living is smashing fixed-income earners, and it is really punishing our local small businesses. Today, everything costs more, which means that people have less money to spend and small businesses are struggling to meet their overheads. They then, in turn, have to put up their prices, which makes it harder for their customers to afford their products and to keep the standard of living that they have struggled to achieve.

Prior to the 2022 election, now Prime Minister Albanese and the Labor Party promised Australians cheaper energy prices and cheaper mortgages. Neither promise has been kept. As we know, mortgages are the highest they've been in over 10 years, and energy prices are going up and up. This prime minister has failed our regional communities and failed our small businesses.