Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

As I was saying before adjournment last night, this government is no friend of small business. We saw what they did through their industrial relations changes. We're seeing that they're not following through with their commitment in relation to reducing energy prices, which we know small businesses are hit with in an incredible way. They are unfit to govern this country, and they're demonstrating that time and time again. But, as I said last night, I am pleased in relation to the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Fair Go for Consumers and Small Business) Bill 2024 that the government are showing that they are listening to small businesses, albeit in a small way. I do welcome it nonetheless. Up until now, the government has shown that it has a deaf ear when it comes to listening to their concerns, and we need to see it step up to the plate and improve in this regard.

When I visit small businesses across Western Australia, in Perth and right across the regions—it's a big state, for anyone that hasn't noticed—as you engage with businesses, you see that the last thing they want to see is trade unions getting involved in their businesses, but unfortunately that's what this government is doing. Small businesses have been doing it tough under the Albanese government, and this government is no friend of small businesses. According to Trading Economics, small-business sentiment decreased 9.43 points in the fourth quarter of 2023 from minus 4.09 in the third quarter of 2023. With high energy prices, high inflation and other cost-of-living pressures, it's unsurprising that small businesses are doing it tough on the watch of this Labor government. We're supposed to be living in a country where, if you give opportunities for people to get ahead, to realise their aspirations in that process, they create opportunities for others, such as jobs and investments—opportunity for all. Thus, a good government would not stand in the way of Australians wanting to become small-business owners.

I have the privilege of representing Western Australia. I see that Senator Dean Smith is in the chamber with us. We're very proud of our state. We're probably the most parochial people in this parliament, us Western Australians. We will always stand up and fight for our state. It is the most beautiful state. The reality is that 97.1 per cent of businesses in Western Australia are small businesses—that's a huge percentage, isn't it?—and only 0.2 per cent are large businesses. We generate a big chunk of Australia's wealth. It comes out of Western Australia through the mining industry, but we are not just a mining state. It is of course a significant part of our economy, but we are not just a resources states.

We've got an engine room within the WA economy and that is our small businesses that are supplying across a whole range of sectors of the economy. It is the unsung heroes in the small business sector that we interact with each and every day, whether it's going to the coffee shop and getting a coffee on the way to work or engaging with a plumber or an electrician to do some maintenance on our homes. Whatever it is, we're engaging with small businesses each and every day. When we talk about these percentages, what this means is that for approximately every 11 Western Australians there is one small business. This is an incredible statistic that is often ignored not only by the Albanese Labor government but indeed also by the WA Cook Labor government.

Given the size of the recent budget surpluses that the Cook Labor government have been hoarding, the very least that they could be doing is providing greater cost-of-living assistance. The best way they can direct that is through small businesses. This includes raising the payroll tax threshold for small businesses—a policy that really should be explored by the Cook Labor government, because small businesses are dealing with the cost of living which impacts their employees and indeed their customers. I hate payroll tax. It's an insidious tax. It's an aspiration tax. It's a tax on employment. It's a tax on jobs, and it's a job-killing tax. Considering the payroll tax threshold in 2016 was $800,000, and today it's $1 million, they have done very little to provide tax relief for small businesses in my home state. Frankly the Cook Labor government have dropped the ball on payroll tax. and it's something they should look at.

When comparing the threshold with that in New South Wales, which has a payroll tax threshold of $1.2 million, the Cook Labor government has done little. Despite the massive budget surpluses afforded to it by the mining industry and the favourable GST distribution, which was made possible by the previous coalition government, small businesses in Western Australia deserve a fair go, but they're not getting that from wall-to-wall Labor governments. We've got to stand up for small businesses because, as I pointed out, they are the engine room and the lifeblood of our economy, including in my home state of Western Australia.

The coalition understands the small business sector. We get the importance of the sector, the value that it has and the valuable role it plays within the Australian economy. Small businesses create jobs, and they're good jobs that you can build a career on. The number of apprentices that small businesses employ means they do the heavy lifting when it comes to providing skills and opportunities to get ahead in your career, and we've got to get behind them. But when it comes to Labor governments—be it here in Canberra at the national level or in my home state with the Cook Labor government—all they do is wrap small businesses up in red tape and compliance issues that actually prevent them from getting ahead.

Under the previous coalition government, we delivered significant support for 3.7 million small and medium-sized businesses. This support included reducing the small business company tax rate, extending the instant asset write-off and establishing the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman. Importantly, this included providing dispute services in relation to retail lease disputes and recovery of unpaid invoices, just to name a few. The ombudsman, in particular, has been of great assistance for small-business operators. It is an avenue for small businesses to go to for assistance across the board, to get advice to be able to run their business. Businesses just want to get on with the job of running their business and not get caught up in all the issues that government seem to get in the way of. The ombudsman—a great coalition initiative—has enabled small businesses to get the support and advice that they need.

We will take a strong competition policy that delivers good consumer outcomes and boosts productivity in our economy to the election. Productivity continues to stagnate under this government's watch, and this government seems bereft of any new ideas on how to supercharge our labour productivity. Its legislative program to date has provided nothing to address productivity. Increasing productivity and curbing inflation will assist struggling Australian families to see real wage growth. There's no point having wage growth that doesn't match the economy and the inflationary impacts. We need wage growth that actually exceeds that. That's what real wage growth is. If you're just getting a salary increase but your grocery, energy and petrol bills—all of the things that you're paying out—are more than what you're getting, then you're going backwards. That's what Australians are experiencing. We have to see productivity growth. It is the only way we can deliver meaningful outcomes for Australians so that they feel the benefit of their labour and hard efforts. As recently as yesterday, 25 March, an article in the Financial Review again highlighted this battle, saying:

Wages now make up the lion's share of inflation due to unit labour cost growth the Reserve Bank of Australia described as 'very high' and productivity slumping to 2016 levels.

The need to boost productivity is critical in the short term to help the RBA bring inflation back to target.

Small businesses need cost-of-living relief too, yet this government is bereft of ideas that will actually get the economy moving and get productivity moving. We need actual skills, not just training for training's sake or training courses in pet projects. We need people to be engaged in training that leads to real jobs that exist so that they can be productive in the workplace.

State governments can do a lot more, by providing tax relief and payroll relief. The federal government can do more to incentivise the states to take action. We need competition policy that supports small-business owners and empowers consumers—not lobbyists, unions or big corporations.