Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to talk about issues facing small businesses. Small businesses are incredibly important to Australia. There are 2.1 million small businesses across the country, and about 15,000 of those are located in my electorate of Berowra. Small businesses make an enormous contribution to our economy, contributing almost $380 billion every year. Small business owners employ more than 4.7 million people—around 45 per cent of the national workforce.

Our government has very strong support for small business, and we are actively pursuing our goal of economic growth. We are standing up for small business because we are the party that understands small business. We understand that it is small business and not the government that creates jobs and provides opportunities and security for Australian families. Our party understands what the small businesspeople of Australia need. They need a reduced tax burden, less red tape and lower energy prices. Each of these elements allows small business owners to grow and provide more jobs.

In 2001, during the Howard years, Australia had one of the lowest corporate tax rates in the world. Now it is uncompetitively high, one of the sixth highest in the OECD. The coalition government's enterprise tax plan will reduce the company tax rate for Australian small businesses to 27½ per cent, and to 25 per cent by 2026. It will give tens of thousands of small businesses the tax cut they have been wanting. A reduction in the company tax rate will give small businesses the opportunity to invest more in their businesses, to employ more people and to grow. While the coalition has a plan to cut company tax for small businesses, Labor wants to stand in the way and keep in place a globally uncompetitive company tax rate.

Moving on to cutting red tape, Deloitte put the cost of compliance with regulation across federal, state and local governments at $67 billion in 2014. To reduce the burdens of red tape and regulation on small business the government has introduced the National Business Simplification Initiative. This agreement between federal, state and territory governments simplifies the business environment in Australia by creating a one-stop shop with all the government information, assistance, forms and services small business owners need to plan, start and grow their businesses. Reducing the time that businesses spend complying with regulations and interacting with government means they can focus instead on growing their business, creating more jobs and developing new products and market opportunities. Improving conditions for business is a key priority for the government in building a stronger economy and ensuring growth in productivity and jobs.

Another important issue for small businesses is energy security and reliability. I often hear from small businesses in my electorate who are feeling the financial pressure of increasing power bills. We need a considered and balanced national energy policy that ensures energy security and reliability, but not at the expense of business budgets or household budgets. Tony and Joanne Fajloun, who own the Pennant Hills dry cleaners, told me that their power bill has grown four times over the last 10 years. The increase in their power bill makes a massive cut to their bottom line. They are second-generation dry cleaners and they just want to keep the lights on and continue to employ people and run their business. They want to see electricity increases brought under control, not Labor's unsustainable energy policies of implementing a carbon tax and championing overly aggressive renewable energy targets. Just 18 months ago the Labor Party supported the 23½ per cent renewable energy target; now we see the Leader of the Opposition pushing for a 50 per cent renewable energy target. This will not only lead to higher energy prices and cost jobs—it will destabilise the system, as we have seen in South Australia. We must provide a reliable source of affordable baseload power that makes use of our natural resources.

The government is taking action on all of these issues. The Labor Party, by contrast, does not understand small business; if they did they would not oppose the measures the government has proposed to enable small business to grow and provide more jobs. We know that business confidence is crucial to employing people and seeing the expansion of our businesses, but how can small business owners possibly place their trust in the Labor Party when their leader continually flip-flops on all manner of issues? Let us look at the Labor Party and 457 visas as just one example. The Labor Party has constantly said that they are opposed to 457 visas. As we know, 457 visas are designed to get people into the economy who have skills that Australians cannot provide, but that is not how Labor used them. The number of 457 visa holders peaked when the Leader of the Opposition was the employment minister, with Labor even establishing the fast food industry labour agreement that allowed fast food stores like McDonald's to bring in foreign workers under 457 visas. Our government has restored 457 visas to their proper purpose. We are committed to giving priority to Australian workers, particularly young Australians, and we are taking real action to put Australian workers first. The opposition leader claims he puts Australian workers first, but instead—and unsurprisingly—he keeps rolling over to the ACTU.