Keith Wolahan (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Deputy Speaker, I want you to put yourself in the shoes of small-business owners. More often than not, they are someone who was not born here. More often than not, they are someone who is first in, last to leave. More often than not, they are someone who is not even making a profit—we know that 46 per cent of small businesses don't earn one, and that is because they pay their employees first and they pay their bills first. What sort of bills are they seeing coming in? They are seeing additional ATO bills from the federal government. They are seeing extra bills from the state government in Victoria for increased land tax and increased payroll. They are opening their insurance bills and seeing many multiple increases to the point where they are asking whether they can continue to stay open. They are seeing their rent increase, they are seeing interest rates go up and, when they open their energy bills, they really wonder how they are going to survive.

The numbers show it. We see that 11,000 insolvencies occurred last year, with more in Victoria than anywhere else. When we look at the other end, at new businesses opening, there is a statistic that matters, and it is devastating for my state. For every 1,000 businesses that exist, only 80 are opening in Victoria. That figure is 99 in South Australia, 98 in Queensland and 95 in New South Wales. Organised labour have representatives looking after them here. Big businesses have their own lobbyists; small businesses have us. We need to fight for them because the government does not.