Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Only three minutes, Deputy President—that's very sad! We've just heard from Senator Ciccone, and I only need three minutes to tear apart this government's record on small business. Senator Ciccone, you tried absolutely valiantly to defend the indefensible there. If small businesses in Australia weren't suffering as badly as they are, they would've been rolling around on the floor laughing at the idea that Labor's the best friend of small business. No small business believes that. The 57 per cent of small businesses that are under severe financial pressure certainly don't believe that. The one-third of small businesses with owners who can't draw an income at the moment don't think you're their best friend.

I can tell you this because I meet with these small businesses. I've had, at a cost-of-living forum in the seat of Swan, a small-business hairdresser in tears due to the financial pressure they are under thanks to the high interest rates and high inflation of this Labor government. He and his wife sat down with their accountant, and their accountant said, 'The best thing you could do is sack your four employees and go back on the tools.' This is a man who is 63 years of age, and that was his accountant's advice—sack your employees and go back on the tools yourselves. Are these the people that are having it so good at the moment, Senator Ciccone?

It's absolutely ridiculous that this government is trying to defend its record in the face of soaring costs, soaring interest rates and a shortage of labour and in the face of small businesses being unable to not pass on cost increases from the supply side through to their customers due to the cost-of-living pressures that are also affecting families and their budgets. These are real people, millions of Australians, who are under real pressure, struggling to make a living and to survive. The idea that a Labor senator stood up and said, 'Labor is the party of small business,' is a joke. It is an insult; it is an absolute disgrace.

We're now seeing the insolvency rate skyrocket at the highest level over a six-month period. We're seeing another trend towards this being the worst period of government, certainly in this century, in terms of small-business insolvency, possibly for a very long time indeed. This government is a disgrace.

Question agreed to.