Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this motion from the member for Forde, Mr van Manen, which notes in part that 96 per cent of all of Australian businesses are small businesses, employing more than 4.5 million people and producing more than $330 billion of the nation's economic output. Of particular interest is that in 2013-14 Australians started more than 280,000 new small businesses.

I have spoken many times in this place about the dynamism of the small business sector in my electorate of Ryan. Ryan is full of creative, smart people who are achieving innovative outcomes. It is therefore no coincidence that we have more than our share of small business success stories. The coalition government understands that businesses—not governments—employ people. Indeed, smart people can lead to smarter commercial outcomes when backed by smart government policy. That is why this year's budget was so warmly welcomed by small businesses in my electorate. They welcomed the tax cut for small businesses and they welcomed the ability to immediately deduct expenditure on items of capital equipment with a value of up to $20,000. They welcomed the array of other cuts to red tape that make it so much easier for small businesses to employ and, importantly, to grow.

The coalition government believes in small business because, with a combination of good management and good government policy—and perhaps, sometimes, some good luck—the small businesses of today can become the big businesses of tomorrow. When I travel around my electorate I am frequently inspired by the creative spirit of new small businesses and their owners. In the last sitting week I spoke about Ryan-based start-up, Ethos, a family-owned company that has developed an app to help companies improve their workplace culture. In recent weeks I have visited Ethos to congratulate husband-and-wife team, Andrew and Connor Baillie, for successfully securing a $209,000 grant from the Commonwealth to further commercialise their app.

Small businesses come in all shapes and sizes, and so too their customers. There is no truer example of this than Jogs for Dogs, a new Ryan small business catering for the canine segment of the exercise market. Jogs for Dogs provides an exercise service in Brisbane's western suburbs to help dog owners provide their dog with regular physical and mental stimulation and socialisation. For their canine clients, they offer nature walks, dog park play dates or private walks. This is a great initiative that caters to caring, but time-poor, dog lovers who do not have the ability or time to give their dogs the exercise they need.

Talking about small businesses growing to be bigger businesses, I want to pay tribute to people like Julia Matusik, who started off with a small stall at the monthly Moggill Markets at Brookfield, where she had delicious temptations for us once a month. Julia has now expanded to a shop at Kenmore, where not only is she open every day of the week with wonderful temptations but she now employs several staff, including chefs, to cater for the business that she has grown and, indeed, expanded into a catering service as well.

There are so many new and innovative ideas. I know of a new business that has grown up out of some of our larger furniture shops, where they offer to pick up your order and put it together. Perhaps 20 years ago we would not have thought of a flat-pack service, but now that is a thriving small business. There are many other companies expanding and being innovative in this space.

I applaud the many and varied small businesses in my electorate for not only having a good idea but for being courageous enough to take a risk to make their idea a reality. In doing so they add vibrancy to our local community and provide thousands of local jobs. I look at the people from Cafe Tara, who started at The Gap and have now expanded to a second shopfront in Kenmore, where they have opened up a coffee shop for locals in a different suburb.

The coalition government is proud to stand side-by-side with small businesses, and has taken clear and decisive action to ensure that they are provided with the right taxation and regulatory environment to give them the best chance of success. Indeed, it is said of small businesses in our country that if only half of them employed one more person then we would not have an employment problem. I commend this motion to the House.

See this speech in context