John Alexander (Bennelong, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Small Business. Will the minister update the House on steps the government is taking to grow the economy, create more jobs and boost productivity in the small business sector?

Bruce Billson (Dunkley, Liberal Party, Minister for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very delighted to receive that question and want to thank the member for Bennelong not only for his work for his small business community but for the great campaign he runs to encourage local members of his community to shop small and to shop local. I was there just a couple of weeks ago. We had a West Ryde small business forum, and you could not help but be encouraged by the positive response that we got to the program that we have already implemented and the progress we have made in supporting small businesses and in energising enterprise.

We all know we have a lot of work to do to recover the 519,000 jobs lost in small business under Labor. We know we have a lot of work to do, and we are delivering on our commitments: repealing the carbon tax; the free trade agreements; support for entrepreneurship; a fairer, healthier competitive environment through franchising reforms; the food and grocery code; and unfair contract terms protections. We are doing this because we know that small businesses are not just the engine room of our economy but the key to our economic future and jobs growth.

Tonight we will hear about the government's excellent jobs and small business package. Who is for a small business package?

Government members: Yes!

We are, on this side, because we know tonight it is what is needed to build on what we have already achieved. These are important next steps to help small business invest, grow and employ more, because we know that small business is the engine room of the economy and we want the environmental settings right for enterprising men and women to have a go, to invest in their business and to create jobs. We know, as the mining investment declines, small business will be the key to our future economic opportunities, wealth creation in our economy and jobs growth. That is why we will be announcing an outstanding package tonight.

Small business are telling us that red tape continues to be a bane of their life. We have made a good start—more than $2½ billion of red-tape reduction to date—but the Treasurer and I were pleased to announce last week even more measures that will make it easier for small businesses to start, to get going, to grow and to transform themselves to meet new opportunities: immediate deductibility of professional costs to start a business, to restructure and to pitch for crowdsourced equity funding; a streamlined online business registration process; the capacity to change their business structure so they can support growth, succession planning and new investment; and employee share schemes.

All of these things are the actions that we have in train, and tonight there will be another important instalment, another significant step, in our plan for our nation's economic future. It is about encouraging enterprising men and women to boost creativity—the dynamism in our economy—to stimulate investment. A strong and healthy small business economy is essential for a strong Australia, for healthy jobs growth, for job security and for income security, so we are about enterprising; we are about energising; we are about creating support for small business, because we are the best friends small business has ever had in this place and— (Time expired)