Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Industrial Relations) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the motion moved by the member for Gilmore. This is an important motion and I agree with many of the comments made by the member for Gilmore, particularly with respect to her concerns that larger conglomerates have a greater concentration of market power and therefore place many small businesses in a vulnerable position, and that should not be tolerated. There is an inherent contradiction in some of the comments made, intentionally or otherwise, by the member for Gilmore. On one hand, she would argue that the federal government has done all it can and refers to the buoyant economy; on the other hand, she says that little has been done to protect small businesses from larger businesses. 

Notwithstanding the rhetoric, it is the case that this government has not been a protector of small businesses. Despite the mantra from many ministers and indeed from government members, there has not been sufficient protection for small businesses to enter the market, to allow them to conduct their business in a way that provides them an opportunity to succeed. Therefore, while I agree with much of what was said by the member for Gilmore, there has to be some blame directed towards a government that has been in power for 11 years.

I would understand if this were the first term of the Howard government and a government member wanted to draw to the attention of the executive the failings of a government policy, but this is the fourth term and the 12th year of the government and there is no excuse for the failings—which I am sure the shadow minister for small business will articulate fully soon after I have spoken. It is symptomatic of a tired, out of touch and arrogant government that presumes support of a particular group of people or a particular sector and then really does not do much to attend to their needs. It is as foolish for the coalition to think it can presume overwhelming support from small business proprietors as it would be for Labor to assume that union members would vote for them. That is not the case. The fact is that significant numbers of those two groups, for example, do not vote for one party; they vote for both and it should never be assumed that there is a particular constituency which will, without fail, vote for a particular political party.

I believe the government has begun to believe its own rhetoric with respect to the support it has among the small business community. This has been pointed out by the member for Rankin and others in a number of debates in recent times. When you look at it, you see that small businesses are looking for assistance, but what was the first thing government chose to do with small business when it was elected to power? It was of course to force them to be tax collectors for the goods and services tax. And what did the government do after that? After that it made the business activity statement so complex so as to make businesses very difficult to run. If you own a very small business—the businesses to which the member for Gilmore referred, the mum and dad businesses—the last thing you need is to spend your time weighed down by and buried in red tape having to deal with departments requesting more and more information of you when you are just trying to go about your core business. That is a failing which has not been attended to sufficiently by this government, largely due to the fact that it presumes small businesses vote for it and will continue to vote for it.

That is why it was quite interesting to see the results of a recent survey by MYOB software company which showed that no, there was not an overwhelming groundswell of support by small business for the Work Choices legislation. In fact, more people believed they would not employ people as a result of Work Choices than those who said that they would employ people as a result of Work Choices. Indeed, 44 per cent were dissatisfied with the Howard government. This is after 11 years in power. A government member quite rightly puts a number of things to the parliament but the government have failed to attend to those matters. In the fourth term it is all too late. It is symptomatic of government that assumes people will vote for them, that they will have to vote for them. In the end, small businesses, like any other cohort, will make their decisions as individuals and they will not be voting for the Howard government. (Time expired)

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