Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Treasurer, Senator Gallagher. Data released by debt-monitoring firm CreditorWatch showed that the failure rate of Australian businesses rose to 5.04 per cent in October, the highest since the peak of the COVID pandemic in 2020, when the failure rate reached 5.08. Annually, insolvency rates are now roughly 25 per cent higher than they were prior to the pandemic. What responsibility does the Albanese government accept for the growing number of businesses going bust under its watch?

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

I thank Senator Canavan for the question. We recognise, and have since we came into government, that there are a number of pressures facing small business. We have sought in our responses, particularly to cost-of-living pressures and some of the issues around the energy transition, to provide targeted support to small business.

This issue did come up through estimates and we talked about it at estimates. When you look at it as a proportion of the number of businesses, which is growing over time, what we're seeing at the moment is not at a historical high. But I'm not saying that to dispute the fact that there are businesses under enormous pressure. We had $640 million in the last budget—

I'm just putting some facts on the table. I know you like to argue that this is the worst, but, when you look at the facts, the facts don't support that. As I said in estimates and as I am saying today, when we brought in energy bill rebates for small business, you lot voted against them, despite that being something that small business was telling us was a big issue for them. In this budget alone, we are providing support for small business, with $640 million in practical support, including the instant asset write-off and energy bill relief. This is an area we will continue to focus on to do what we can. There's another big piece of work in cyber and ensuring that small businesses are given the right support to deal with some of the cyber challenges that they are facing. But providing responsible and effective cost-of-living support for Australian small businesses is something that this government has done.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Canavan, a first supplementary?

Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, Australia's construction industry had the second-highest business failure rate, with a 12-month average of 5.3 per cent. The recent COSBOA report revealed that the costs of doing business and increasing red tape remain one of the biggest cost pressures amongst Australian businesses. Do you accept that the Albanese government's industrial relations reforms are playing any role in these increasing cost pressures and resultant insolvencies?

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

I accept that there's a view put by some in the business community who have not been supportive of our industrial relations amendments, which have supported significant employment growth and wages growth in the last two years. What we have seen is a million new jobs created. The highest number of jobs that have been created in any parliamentary term have been created under this government. We have seen—

James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In Canberra.

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

That's not correct, Senator McGrath—I take the interjection. That is absolutely not correct. I know the coalition have a view about what are good jobs and what are not good jobs, but there have been a million jobs created and we have got wages going again. All of those things are good for business.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Canavan, a second supplementary?

Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Aside from red tape, businesses are grappling with the cost-of-living crisis, just like every Australian household is, record interest rates, sticky inflation, sky-high energy bills, record insurance premiums and increasing rents, making it near impossible to stay afloat under this government. Minister, how many more businesses have to fail before this inept government will put forward a credible plan to bring down inflation and boost productivity?

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

As we know—the data is clear—there have been more businesses created under this government. I know you like to hand-pick and select your own statistics to try to paint the worst picture, but the reality is that more businesses have started, more jobs have been created, wages have got moving and we have looked at ways to support small business, including with energy bill costs, which you voted against but which you cited in your question there, Senator Canavan. What are we doing about energy costs? We're providing energy bill rebates for small business to help them with some of those increased costs. We are dealing with all of the issues, such as unfair contract terms. We're dealing with those. We've been trying to put forward—and we have—a significant small business agenda, and we will continue to do so, because we know that small businesses are the engine room of the economy and they have, as I said, been increasing in numbers since we came to government.