Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Birmingham. I did not say, 'It could be worse', so don't verbal me.

No, I did not say the language that you used, as much as you'd like to argue that.

I did acknowledge that some businesses are becoming insolvent and that it's a really difficult time for many businesses. I also made the point that we've seen many new small businesses start in the same period. The point I was making was that corporate insolvencies as a proportion of total companies stood at 0.37 per cent for the period from November 2023 to October 2024. This rate is lower than the long-term historical average of 0.42 per cent—that's the point I was making last week; that was data from November 2001 until October 2023—and the pre-COVID average of 0.46 per cent. That is the point I was making, so my answer to Senator Canavan was correct. It remains higher than the COVID period averages, when a lot of companies were supported by taxpayer support during that time—and for good reason.

I went on to make the point that the Albanese Labor government have been working hard to make sure we are investing and supporting small business where we can. We've done that with energy bill rebates. We had a bit of a stand-off here about the instant asset write-off, but small businesses tell me that that is an important tax measure for them. We will continue to support small business. (Time expired)