Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

The government always takes responsibility for ensuring we steer Australia through economic challenges, and that's what we have done. That is what we are doing. I remind Senator McGrath that, when we came to government, inflation was at 6.1 per cent and it was rising. Now it is at 2.8 per cent and it is falling. It is less than half of what we inherited and a third of its peak. That's the first point. The second point, in relation to energy price relief—as I recall, Senator McGrath, you were amongst those who voted against it. To come in here and say that small businesses are very worried about energy bill relief after you voted against providing them with energy bill relief seems a very odd political position. It's a very odd political position.

Small businesses are the engine room of the Australian economy, and they are at the heart of local communities across the country. They employ some five million people and contribute $500 billion to our economy. That is why we do have to ensure that we deliver for small business and help them bounce back from challenges and improve their long-term resilience. The most recent budget provided more than $640 million in practical and targeted support for small business. The government policy is to give a tax cut through the $20,000 instant asset write off, something that I think originally there was some dispute on the other side on—about whether they were going to support it. I'm pleased that, on this one occasion, they actually did the right thing. We've abolished a number of nuisance tariffs in the largest unilateral tariff reform in two decades. We have updated the Commonwealth Procurement Rules, with small businesses getting a bigger slice of the $75 billion the Australian government spends each year in contracts, with a 40 per cent target for contracts up to $20 million and a 25 per cent target on contracts up to $1 billion in value.