Karen McNamara (Dobell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Small Business. Will the minister inform the House how the government's jobs and small-business package will benefit the whole economy and, in particular, small businesses in my electorate of Dobell?

Mr Perrett interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Moreton will desist or leave! The choice is his.

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

That is a great question from the member for Dobell. She is a great advocate for her community. Small business and family enterprise runs through her veins because she knows it is at the heart of her economy.

As we have travelled around Australia, do you know what the response has been to the small-business budget? It has been fantastic. Everywhere we have travelled the reaction has been, 'What a great budget for small business.' We are happy about that on this side, because what we are trying to do is energise enterprise. This is an historic budget for those enterprising men and women—the next step in our government's responsible long-term economic plan to build a strong and prosperous economy and, through that, a safer and more secure future.

There are a range of measures in this package that help small business and family enterprises, but at its heart this package is about getting behind those enterprising people and their decisions. We are not coming in telling businesses how they should run their business. We are not even taking money off taxpayers, saying, 'Government knows best.' No, we are not doing that. We are saying to enterprising people, 'You are deploying your resources to grow your businesses in the way that you think is best.' We are providing an incentive, an encouragement, for them to do so—in Dobell and right across our country—to support investment growth and more employment opportunities. At its heart, it is about turning those entrepreneurial ideas and ambitions into economic action and supporting enterprising people to have a go.

On Friday, Prime Minister, I was with our friend the member for Corangamite in Torquay and we met some Tony's tradies. It was fantastic! There was Steve Jewson and his son. They are painters. They said that because of this budget they will invest in new tools and new kit to grow their business. He said as a result of these budget measures it will give him an opportunity to expand the business and therefore employ more people.

Isn't that great? Everywhere we go we are seeing a positive and optimistic response to this budget. CommSec said: 'The measures in the federal budget to support small business would have been a key driver in the lifting of confidence.' This is true. This is what we are seeing, and that is what the field evidence is showing us. That is why this package has been so widely welcomed. Measures to cut tax for both small companies and sole traders will also underpin a reboot of confidence for builders, homebuyers and consumers. MYOB CEO Tim Reed said budget night was 'a fantastic night for small business owners', who should be celebrating all around the country. The Business Council of Australia pointed to the support for the economy as a whole.

The only thing that stands in its way is Labor. We need no more of this shiftiness, no more game-playing, no more of Labor's blah, blah, blah. Do you know what the small businesses of Australia are saying, Bill? 'Pass the budget measures.'