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

One of the things that COVID-19 has shown us is the importance of digitisation and building resilience for small businesses. In fact, so many of those businesses that were able to pivot overnight—in particular in the hospitality industry—were those businesses that were digitally literate. COVID-19 has well and truly accelerated digital growth in our economy, and an important part of our budget is supporting small businesses to adapt to this challenge.

We are investing, as you're aware, $800 million in our JobMaker Digital Business Plan. That is all about supporting small businesses to embrace digital technologies. We are investing over $19 million to support small businesses to go digital by expanding the Australian Small Business Advisory Services—otherwise known as ASBAS—Digital Solutions program to a further 10,000 small businesses. In fact, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry have endorsed the policy, noting it will create the jobs Australia needs.