Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to take this opportunity to highlight the ever-increasing burdens this Labor government has been piling onto our small and medium businesses. In my electorate of Cowper and, in fact, in the majority of regional and rural electorates, small and medium businesses are the backbone of the community and of the local economy. Collectively, they represent our largest employers.

I ran a small business, my own legal practice, for 18 years. I understand how difficult it can be to operate a small business and the pressures that keep employers up at night-time: cash flow issues, making sure you've got money to cover the salaries each month, payments for insurances, rent, replacing stock, doing BASs in the middle of the night—you name it. At the same time, running the complexities of your day-to-day business and ensuring that you provide that service to your customers or clientele is what will bring them back every single time. It's tough; it's tough on small business and medium business.

I'm hearing that every single day in my electorate. In fact, I advertised for two new positions in my office just today, and I asked the people I interviewed what the feel is out there? What is the feel? They said that it's tough. They've come from small business and they know how difficult it is for small businesses to operate, particularly family-owned small businesses. Every day my social media feeds are filled with small business references, celebrating their staff. Small business owners look after their staff, welcoming newcomers or start-ups, or wishing well old favourites who are moving into retirement. These are businesses like Seasalt Cafe & Restaurant in Port Macquarie, which posted pictures of their family dinner online, celebrating their young casual staff moving on to study or to another full-time career. This is a wonderful small business that is the quintessential example of how regional small businesses are managed and run.

At the end of 2023 there was a bill passed through this House and through the Senate which, unfortunately, doesn't help our small businesses, particularly in the regions. I want to highlight a couple of things in it for those small business owners in my electorate and around the country which they need to be aware of. Do they know that as a result of the bill passed in December, as of 1 July changes will be made to all existing enterprise agreements and awards to include delegate's rights? Delegates' rights will see any employee who is a union member able to be appointed by the union as a union delegate within a small business. This will mean that as an employer, no matter the size of your business, you will be obligated to allow paid time off and travel expenses for the delegates to undertake training and union duties. These changes allow unprecedented union access to small and medium business, and are designed to increase union numbers. And the Labor government are proposing changes, currently before the Senate, to the definition of 'casual employment' as part of their extreme industrial relations agenda, making it more cumbersome for small business to employ multiple casual staff. Businesses like Seasalt Cafe and Restaurant—who employ our teens as casual—train them up, show them the value of hard work and set them on a positive path.

I have to refer to Akubra, which has just been sold off after five generations to, fortunately, Twiggy Forrest. But a friend of mine, Steve Keir—from the fifth generation—said to me, 'Pat, it is all too much.' He was referring to same job, same pay: 'Why should I be paying someone who's been here for 20 years the same as someone who's been here for two minutes?' I urge small-business owners to get their head around these changes because they will hurt you.