Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

Last week I visited one of Melbourne's most iconic destinations, the Queen Victoria Market, with our Liberal candidate for Melbourne, Stephanie Hunt. The market is known as much for its history as for its vibrant community of small businesses. In fact, Queen Vic is home to around 600 small businesses. I've heard through the Senate Select Committee on the Cost of Living and also by visiting businesses around the country that Australians aren't just struggling with a cost-of-living crisis; they're struggling with a cost-of-doing-business crisis too.

Unfortunately, Victorians are doing it particularly tough in these economic conditions. Last month, it was revealed that around 600 hospitality businesses had closed in the past year in Victoria, accounting for 29 per cent of the 2024 insolvencies that were recorded nationally through to October. The coalition is, unashamedly, the party of small business. We are strong supporters of small businesses, particularly when this misguided Albanese government has done so much to go out of its way to harm them.

Steph and I took the opportunity at the vic market to meet with stallholders to hear firsthand about just how tough business conditions have been and how the government's red tape and regulation agenda is making it even tougher. Natalie Tripodi is an extraordinary woman. She is the third-generation owner of Queen's Harvest, an extraordinary family business that runs a market store specialising in locally grown produce, and she spoke to us about the challenges of running her business. She and Rocco spoke of the high cost of living that's causing significant changes in consumer behaviour and foot traffic is down around 12 per cent.

This has, of course, created essentially a perfect storm for many small-business owners, who are now facing higher rents and higher input costs on one hand but seeing a decrease in sales on the other. Of course, it's the small-business owner that gets squeezed in the middle. The Bratwurst Shop is run by Carl and Christina Greco, and their stall is extraordinary. It's a market staple that does a roaring trade, but even they are not immune to the rising costs facing small businesses. They're having to wear or pass on these costs to their customers, and, as loyal as they are, there's only so much you can put up those prices. Then there's the M&G Caiafa bakery, which is a family-run business owned by Michael Caiafa. Despite his experience, his commitment and his loyal customers, he's feeling the squeeze as well.

There were two themes that were running consistently across all of those conversations. Rising costs, from wholesale goods to transport to rent, are putting the pressure on local businesses, and the copious amounts of red tape and regulations are tying up our small businesses and sapping their time and their innovation. For many small-business owners, these issues don't just challenge their bottom line; it's a challenge to their survival.

Unfortunately, it's now impacting consumers as well. It's not unique to these two businesses. Across the market, we saw similar concerns. Many people felt abandoned by government, but they felt particularly abandoned by their local federal member, who they couldn't even recall seeing at the market for many, many years. The people of Melbourne deserve an elected representative who's engaged with the issues that they're facing on the ground, and, at the moment, they simply do not have that.

Our candidate, Steph Hunt, understands that small businesses are the backbone of Australia's economy and the engine room of our society. She knows that the only way to get the economy and Melbourne moving again is a back-to-basics economic agenda. This is something that both the Victorian and the federal governments simply do not understand. Instead of encouraging businesses to thrive, they're wrapping them up in red tape. This is why the cost-of-living committee, which handed down its final report last week, heard consistently that the pressures of government red tape are hurting small businesses, and it's why we have called, as the No. 1 recommendation, for a national cabinet to address government spending that's keeping inflation higher for longer and a national cabinet into productivity to develop a plan at every level of government to address what is driving the root cause of this cost-of-living crisis and slowing our economy to a halt.

It's not just the businesses at the vic market that need this; it's all businesses right across Australia, big and small. It's not just businesses though. It's households that need it. Businesses need it. Households need it. Australians need it.