Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a pleasure to be able to put some remarks on the record with regard to the bill before the Senate this morning, the Tax Laws Amendment (Small Business Restructure Roll-over) Bill 2016, because it gives me the opportunity to explode some of the mythology that still seems to have a bit of currency with the Australian people that the Liberal Party are actually the party for small business. It was untrue before but it has never been more apparent just how untrue it is since the election of the Abbott government. The Abbott-Turnbull government, in permanent chaos, would be a disaster if it were a small business. There is no teamwork. There is one person trying to lord it over the others at every point of the day. There is no clarity of communication. There is no vision for the country. It is all about saving their own skin. We have seen it manifest itself many, many times in the legislation that they have attempted to push throughout the course of this parliament.

Small businesses across this nation understand that relationships are critical to their success. This government arrived and, with a new Senate, within days tried to force them to make decisions on complex legislation in some bizarre game that they played. It was an absolute abuse of trust. Why do I put this on the record today, when I am talking about small business and this particular piece of legislation, which I do support? I put it on the record because it reveals a government of flawed character. They are a government that tries to pretend to people that it is one thing, but as time passes this government is more and more revealed. They are all about themselves. They are not about small business. They are all about the big end of town, the multinational businesses, and helping them to hide their taxation failures from the public. They are in cahoots with the Greens and doing all sorts of deals that make it more difficult for ordinary Australians to get ahead.

I come as a Labor member from a small business family. I cannot tell you how insulting it is to have people on the other side stand up, time after time, and declare that they are the only people who understand small business. Labor represents people in our communities who own small businesses, and many of us come from families with small businesses or are still operating them. The fact is that there are actually over two million small businesses in Australia and they employ 4.7 million people. That is why what this government does around taxation for small business and what it does more broadly has a massive impact on millions and millions of lives. Small business enterprises make up 97 per cent of all businesses in Australia. They come in a range of sizes. But they all have one need, and that is to communicate effectively with their customers.

Under the leadership of the new Turnbull government—Abbott mark 2, as it is turning out to be—we are seeing the revelation on a broader scale of what has been apparent for a long time to anybody who was watching Minister Turnbull in his prior role as the Minister for Communications. I have a few things to say about the impact of Mr Turnbull's management of that portfolio, and I am not the only one. Today in The Sydney Morning Herald there is an excellent article that I would refer anybody who is interested in the future of this nation to read. It is by Mark Kenny and is entitled: 'NBN: Malcolm Turnbull's 'faster, cheaper' roll-out falters.' We can all remember that language before the last election: 'Malcolm Turnbull, the responsible man, who was from a business background. He'll look after businesses. He'll make sure they get a fair go. He'll make sure they get the right technology to do business into the future.' He has absolutely presided over a disaster, and the secret is out. Materials that have been made available to Mr Kenny marked 'commercial in confidence' and 'for official use only' set out the huge range of problems that are now part of what is Malcolm Turnbull's version—