Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Just when you think that this Labor government couldn't get any more incompetent or hurt our economy any more than they have in these 2½ years, something else comes out to demonstrate just how incompetent they are. I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Finance (Senator Gallagher) to a question without notice asked by Senator Kovacic today relating to company insolvencies.

Despite the fact of this being the biggest issue today in the news, in her portfolio and in the Treasurer's portfolio, the minister said: 'Oh! I can't answer that. What story? What question?' It was just extraordinary, so let me share the facts. Five million Australians are employed in small to medium enterprises in this country, and this government—I can't even find words for it—has now got the record of being the worst government in the history of this nation for small to medium enterprises. No wonder the Minister for Finance hadn't seen it in the papers and hadn't read what COSBOA had put out! She hadn't even had a briefing, supposedly, on this issue.

What did this report find? It found that the Albanese Labor government has the worst business insolvencies in this nation's history. And as they shot to No. 1, guess who the second and third worst were. The Rudd-Gillard government in the 42nd parliament had an average of 2,341 business insolvencies per quarter—that is only per quarter. That was followed, in the 43rd parliament, by the Gillard-Rudd government. They had 2,336 insolvencies in one quarter.

Not to be outdone by those incompetent Labor governments who were so bad for Australian businesses and the five million Australians employed in small business, the Albanese government has shot to No. 1, and shame on you, because in one quarter you've now had 2,481 business insolvencies. In Western Australia, for the last quarter alone, that represents 377 small to medium businesses and thousands of Western Australian jobs, so you are definitely on track to be the worst government for business in modern Australian history.

Let's have a little bit more of a look at these numbers and what they actually mean. Senator Brockman and I note that in our own state of Western Australia, 71 per cent of businesses identified rising costs as a barrier to their growth, with agriculture, real estate and hospitality recording the highest concerns. What have other experts said about these figures? The COSBOA deputy chair, Wes Lambert, said:

… it's hard to find a way forward … keeping the business going and paying staff keeps small business owners in our industry up at night …

Master Builders Australia chief executive Denita Wawn said:

It's been a perfect storm—

created by this government—

high inflation, rising interest rates, chronic labour shortages, industrial relations changes and high material costs …

All of those factors have come about through this Labor government's deliberate strategies. This hasn't just happened. Inflation hasn't just got so high. Interest rates haven't just happened. It has happened because of the deliberate policies of those opposite in less than two years. I very much agree with the deputy opposition leader, Sussan Ley, who said that this data confirms Anthony Albanese is on track to be the worst PM for business insolvencies this century.

This isn't just data. It is real businesses going bust, real jobs disappearing and real Australians hurting. Access to capital will remain a critical hurdle, with many female small-business owners finding it difficult to secure funding for growth and development. As I said, over five million Australians are now employed in small to medium enterprises. But let's have a look at some more of the data— (Time expired)