Craig Emerson (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Finance Minister on Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

I will seek to clarify an earlier statement made by the shadow minister for small business: that my background in small business may have related to one or two contracts with the government of the day. The government of the day was the National Party, Borbidge government when I was in small business, and I did not have contracts with the Borbidge government. I do not think we ever applied for one. We had contracts with the major gas-producing companies of Queensland, with international gas-producing companies and with electricity-generating companies, so I do profess a background in small business. That is not the most important part of this debate by a long way.

The shadow minister for small business referred to government cash splashes in the most derogatory terms, which is consistent with the approach that has been adopted by the opposition in relation to the cash payments of December last year and of the early part of this year. Those cash payments were welcomed at the time by business organisations, large and small. They were very grateful for the fact that those cash payments were timely, targeted and temporary and that they certainly played a role in keeping the Australian economy out of recession. Of course, recessions are very destructive of small businesses and it is very disheartening to hear the coalition arguing that those cash payments should not have been made. After the initial welcoming of those cash payments by the Leader of the Opposition, who said, ‘We will not quibble with them,’ it took him only one day to start quibbling with them and then to reverse the position to oppose those cash payments.

What did the payments do in the retail sector, which employs 1.5 million working Australians? Of course, they provided such a welcome boost that retail sales in Australia from that period of around October last year to now have been very strongly positive overall compared with negative retail sales in just about every other developed country in the world. It has been said that this has only benefited the large retailers. In fact the growth in retail sales was stronger for small businesses and for smaller retailers than it was for large retailers. So the derogatory term ‘cash splashes’ hides the fact that the coalition did not and has not given any support to policies that were vital in keeping small businesses afloat and in keeping the economy out of recession during that critical period.

Then the shadow minister for small business went on to criticise what he described as ‘Julia Gillard halls’. Here is a great example of hypocrisy. It is true that they voted against the entire $42 billion stimulus package, but it is really hard to find any of them in their local electorates saying, ‘This school should not have been supported; this infrastructure should not have been put in place,’ and many of them have turned up to be photographed. So they have supported the package in their local electorates and condemned it in the House. In condemning the greatest school modernisation program in Australia’s history and voting against it in the House, they have voted against and condemned measures which have supported the tradespeople of this country.

There was a time under the previous government when it pretended to put out its hand to the independent contractors of this nation. It brought in a ‘you beaut’ Independent Contractors Act saying that they were the party of independent contractors. What do we have now? In 2009 we have a coalition, a Liberal Party, who would betray the interests and indeed the very livelihood of independent contractors in this country—the electricians, the plumbers, the plasterers, the carpenters, the builders and all of those people who are building the greatest school modernisation program in Australia’s history. What do we get? Nothing but criticism for this government’s support for tradies, independent contractors, small businesses and apprentices. Businesses now have a limited capacity to put on apprentices, which is very important for those young people leaving school and for the nation’s future.

The shadow minister for small business referred to surveys. In going through his speech bit by bit we find that he said that the surveys do not really prove anything and are not very supportive at all. Let us have a look at the National Australia Bank quarterly business survey released two days ago, which said that the business conditions index recorded the first positive reading since June 2008. Well, that is good news, isn’t it? I thought it would be welcomed by the shadow minister for small business. Indeed, the business confidence index also increased to levels last seen in early 2002. That is saying that business is confident in the support that this government has provided to all businesses, large and small.

Let us now turn to small business in particular. The Sensis business index of small and medium-sized enterprises was released on 17 September this year, and it showed that small business confidence rebounded strongly and had the biggest rise in the survey’s 16-year history. We heard from the shadow minister for small business that he goes around the country—and I think he said that he uses Facebook and lots of other websites—and hears people say they do not support the government’s policies which are supporting them. But the Sensis business index says that support for government policies, which included cash payments and tax rebates for business investment, rose strongly in the past quarter. I do not know who the shadow minister is talking to, but the Sensis business index records a very big increase in support for the government because of the cash payments—which the coalition condemns—and because of the tax rebates for business investment. Indeed, those same small and medium enterprises are reporting growth in capital expenditure.

One of the reasons for that growth in capital expenditure is the very tax measure that the shadow minister for small business has criticised—yet again—today and this is the small business tax break. I wrote it down . He said that has proved it has largely been a flop. Really? I do not know who he is talking to on Facebook and Twitter but he is certainly not talking to the small businesses who have taken to that small business tax break with gusto. They think it is terrific. He said that all they have done is buy a few cars.

Let the record show that the shadow minister for small business does not support the Australian automotive industry, including the production industry and the distribution and retailing industry. And who does that? A very large part of that work is done by small businesses. It is done at the retail and distribution level by small businesses in areas such as Moorooka on the south side of Brisbane. This affects real people with real jobs and real families. These businesses are trying to support them, and we have the shadow minister for small business saying it is a flop and all they have done is spend a little bit of money on cars!

What about all the component manufacturers in Victoria? I see that a number of Victorian and South Australian Labor MPs are here. They are always barracking for the component manufacturers of Victoria and South Australia, a vital industry in supporting jobs in this country. But they are just makers of a few cars, according to the shadow minister for small business. He said that this has been a flop, that it has not really been taken up. More than a third of small businesses, according to surveys, have availed themselves of this small business tax break. It has been supported on television by companies who obviously see opportunities for economic stimulus through that measure.

But it is not the only measure that is designed to support small business. We have worked with the tax office to reduce tax liabilities. We have provided an upfront discount for small businesses to directly deal with this issue of small business cash flow. The pay-as-you-go instalment was reduced by 20 per cent at a critical period for small business so that it could keep more of the money that it earns, so it did not just flow straight into the Treasury. That was a very good measure. I have not heard the shadow minister for small business saying that it was a good measure—other than he thinks that he created it, which he did not.

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