Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

Small businesses are at the heart of our economy. Nearly eight million Australians are employed in small businesses. That's why our government delivered lower tax rates for small businesses—the lowest tax rates in 50 years for Australian small businesses—and this budget builds on that support, providing more tax incentives for small businesses to invest in skilling their workforce and more tax incentives for small business to invest in the digital technologies to uplift their productivity and their capabilities.

It's a budget that also invests in securing our supply chains as a nation, in manufacturing. We will see the first mRNA vaccine manufacturing facility in the Southern Hemisphere built in Australia. There's additional support for our universities, for CSIRO and industry to ensure the rapid commercialisation of different products innovated in Australia, and an extension of our patent box tax reforms to make sure that innovations that happen in Australia can be commercialised in Australia and manufactured in Australia, creating more job opportunities for more Australians into the future.