Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I think it is a really good place to start, and I am sure Senator Back will look forward to telling us about his small business experience, which I respect. But let's look at this. There are two million small businesses across this country. They make up the backbone of the Australian business community. Everybody knows someone who runs a small business. My wife and I have run two small businesses. They are the lifeblood of our communities and our economy.

What action has this government taken to help small business in this country? We have had an announcement of a 1½ per cent tax cut, which the Greens support. Before the federal election we brought in a policy to cut small business tax rates across this country by two per cent. We also wanted to increase the depreciation allowance for small businesses to $10,000. At that time the depreciation allowance in this country was $6,500, which allowed small businesses to go out and spend money in their economy, buy capital and immediately depreciate it to help their cash flow. It was very useful. We wanted more because we feel small businesses in this country deserve more.

What has happened to that $6,500 that these small businesses relied on? It has gone. That depreciation allowance was removed when this government scrapped the mining tax. The revenue that was going to be raised from the big end of town from some of the wealthiest companies in the world was going to go towards supporting small business in Australia. Because a lot of small businesses have what we call 'lumpy' cash flows, the loss carry-back provision allowed small businesses to write their losses off against incomes in different years. It was also a very useful strategy for helping small businesses thrive. That was also taken away when this government arrogantly and stubbornly removed the mining tax without any thought for small businesses.

Senator Back aside, why is it that the LNP take small business for granted in this country? Do they really think that small business owners will only vote Liberal at the next election? I have got news for you. The Greens have the best small business policy of any party in this parliament. We have had for a while. I will admit it is sometimes hard to get that message out there, but eventually people will understand that we have been out there leading on small business. That is why Senator Milne came out this week and said she was happy to support a small business tax cut in this country because it has been our policy, supported by our members, for over two years now.

We want to see a bigger cut to small business. We are happy to see a two per cent cut. It is still only two per cent, but it makes a big difference if your cash flow is only $50,000 or $60,000 a year. While we are talking about business confidence, we have had the FoFA debacle, the attempt to repeal laws in this country for the big end of town and the damage that has done to a lot of small businesses in the financial services industry. Then we have these information leaks about tax evasion, private individuals and corporations. We have a set of laws that supposedly we are tackling through the G20, through APEC and through other forums to get rid of tax dodging by big, wealthy corporations. Where is the information-sharing plan between companies? We are going to be the last mover of all the APEC countries on sharing information to cut down on corporate tax deduction.

What about profit shifting and parallel pricing? These things are actually legal. They are loopholes that allow corporations to dodge tax while the man and woman on the street have to pay their fair share. These laws are unfair and they are unjust, and the Greens—hopefully, along with other people in this chamber—will stand up and make sure we get effective action on tax avoidance, because it ruins the morale of small businesses and workers in this country who work hard and pay their fair share of tax when they see big businesses getting away with tax evasion. So we need to do something about that, and if that is not a lack of confidence in this government's business abilities then I do not know what is.