Trevor Evans (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to focus my questions today around the Turnbull government's support for small business, such as the extension of the instant asset write-off announced in the budget. Could the minister please outline to the chamber what economic impacts this extension will likely have on our local economy, including in Brisbane, considering the benefits that we have already witnessed from previous extensions and this policy? I understand that the measure was initiated in the 2015 budget, and it was otherwise scheduled to finish on 30 June this year. It has now been extended in the 2017-18 budget just announced last month.

Having spoken with many local small businesses, I must say that their feedback to me has been overwhelmingly positive. Local small-business owners have told me about their greater confidence and their greater willingness to invest in their businesses or to invest sooner. This is the type of positive and constructive economic activity that we should be trying to encourage, especially to the extent that it activates those economic multipliers, meaning that that cycle of greater investment, trade, consumption and therefore prosperity grows in our local economy.

As we know, Deputy Speaker, a strong small-business sector means more jobs for Australians. Small businesses are, after all, the backbone of our economy. They are the engine room for opportunities and the creation of prosperity. I have said before, maybe countless times in this place, that, if every shopfront in Australia would employ another two workers tomorrow, our unemployment rate around the nation would be zero. That would mean that the majority of young Australians, mature-aged Australians, Indigenous Australians and the disabled who are looking for work would find the dignity they want and deserve.

Of course, there is no silver bullet there. There is no single measure that is likely to cause that to happen in one fell swoop. We need to grab every opportunity that we can, whether it is opportunities like this to encourage investment, whether it is red tape reduction, whether it is tax cuts for our small-business sector, whether it is help to give jobseekers a chance and a foot in the door, whether it is the innovation agenda or it is focusing on those economic fundamentals around stability, consumer sentiment and business confidence. I consider that this measure, this proposal, is one more initiative, one more indication of this government's continued strong support for our small-business sector to grow and to deliver more and better-paying jobs—in this case, by helping them to upgrade their businesses by replacing or upgrading their machinery or their equipment. New capex means more efficiency and more productivity, and higher productivity is, after all, the only truly sustainable way to raise wages.

This could be for that new coffee machine or that new kitchen equipment or other new investments for, say, a local cafe in Paddington. I just visited the Naim cafe, in Paddington in my electorate, on Sunday. It used to be called Shouk, and it has recently been through a very successful reinvention, including its name and its menu and its facilities. Or this could be for, say, a new set of tools for a local carpenter in Albion. It could be for the great extension and expansion that is planned by the Green Beacon craft brewery in Newstead in my electorate or maybe for a hoist, say, for a local mechanic. This measure provides immediate benefits for those willing to invest in their business, and ultimately, therefore, it benefits our economy. When cash flow is king, and it really is for so many small businesses, this immediate write-off is exactly what so many small businesses need.

In my electorate of Brisbane, I understand there are approximately 28,000 small businesses that could qualify under this measure, and I would naturally encourage each and every single one of them to take advantage of this and to explore it as an investment option for them before the end of the financial year. The evidence of how this measure has been utilised in recent years is very clear to me and hopefully to everybody, and maybe the minister would like to expand on these numbers. I understand that, as of a few weeks ago, with about 60 per cent of 2015-16 returns counted, over 200,000 small businesses had taken advantage of this measure last financial year, and that is up on about 150,000 the year before that and on about 120,000 the year before that. So that is 200,000 claims, and I understand that they are about $8,500 on average. If I have done my sums right—and the minister may wish to correct me—that is $1.7 billion in total of investments under this scheme, and a significant proportion of those investments would have been made, or brought forward and made sooner, as a consequence of this government's initiatives.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 16 : 15 to 16:31

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