Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator McLachlan for the question. As we on this side, the government side, of the chamber know, small and family businesses are indeed the backbone of the Australian economy. What we also know is that the COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on small and family business and on the Australian economy.

The Morrison government is committed to supporting Australia's small businesses as the economy reopens and the coronavirus health restrictions continue to be eased. The instant asset write-off gives small and family businesses the ability to improve their cash flow by bringing forward tax deductions. In 2017-18 alone, around 368,000 small businesses utilised the instant asset write-off to invest in their businesses. What this enabled them to do was reinvest in assets for their businesses—including tractors, vans, equipment, machinery and tools, to name but a few—that are essential in helping their businesses to expand, grow and ultimately employ more Australians.

As the economy reopens following the COVID-19 restrictions, schemes like the instant asset write-off will be crucial in giving these businesses the support that they need, and it's for this reason that yesterday the Treasurer and I announced that the government had extended the $150,000 instant asset write-off for six months, until 31 December 2020. Australian businesses with an annual turnover of under half a billion dollars will now be able to take advantage of this extended time frame to support their businesses to continue investment that they had planned and to encourage them to bring forward investment to support their businesses to grow.

This, of course, builds on the substantial policy investment that the government has made to support our small and family businesses in Australia.