Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Regional Services) Share this | Hansard source

Our farmers, fishers, regional tourism operators and local manufacturers are all key drivers of regional markets and the foundation of our local economy. Labor is no friend of regional small businesses. Labor see the small business sector as a threat to their union membership mates. They do not understand the importance or realities of small family-run businesses out in regional Australia. Instead of backing agriculture and our farmers, you want to shut down our live sheep exporters. Instead of backing our primary industries to export to the world, you want to damage our trade relationships. Instead of backing regional small businesses, you want to actually make it harder for them to employ locals. You stand for higher taxes and higher energy prices, and want to make it more onerous for small businesses to grow and prosper out across regional Australia. You constantly fail to back businesses. You fail to back the people you claim to represent—the labourers and tradies out in regional communities. It's small businesses that create jobs, not the unions or the Labor Party.