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

I would like to thank my friend and colleague the member for Braddon for his question and for his continued commitment to small business, the backbone of northern Tasmania. The Rudd government supported small business through the global recession, the deepest global recession in 75 years. We did that through the economic stimulus package, including the small business tax break. Now we want to support small business through the recovery phase and that is what we are determined to do. From 1 July 2012 every small business in this country would get the ability to write-off the value of any asset up to $5,000 instantly—not spread over time, but instantly, in the year in which they buy it. That is a very good initiative for every small business in this country.

I refer to a statement made by the Leader of the Opposition when he announced that they would oppose these small business tax breaks by denying the funding that would be used to fund those small business tax breaks. The opposition leader said that only incorporated small businesses, only companies, would benefit from the tax initiatives that have been announced. That is completely untrue. Sole traders, partnerships and companies all would benefit from the ability to write-off assets to the value of $5,000 each. In addition to that, the government would provide a head-start reduction in the company tax rate from 30 per cent to 28 per cent for all incorporated small businesses—that is, 720,000 incorporated small businesses. So 2.4 million out of 2.4 million would get the instant write-off; 720,000 would get this small business tax reduction head start.

I was asked about reaction to it. Reaction, I am pleased to report, has been very favourable indeed. The Council of Small Business of Australia said:

The new tax measures are set to help improve small business cash flow, support increases in production and productivity and promote innovation and entrepreneurial activity.

That is good. That is terrific. Even just yesterday, the Australian Newsagents Federation issued a warning that said:

The Australian Newsagents’ Federation (ANF) is concerned that small businesses may lose the urgently needed tax relief that has been recently announced by the Federal Government.

How would they lose that initiative, that tax relief? They would lose it at the hands of the opposition leader. The opposition leader has said that he will try to use the coalition’s numbers in the Senate to block the passage of the Resource Super Profits Tax, which is financing these small business tax breaks. What has the opposition leader got against small business? He does not care about small business because it is the revenue source. Let us find a little bit more about reactions to this tax initiative and the stance of the opposition leader on it. When he made his headland speech very recently on 30 March he said this:

The economic stimulus wasn’t necessary to strengthen Australia’s economy at a time of global recession.

He is saying that economic stimulus was not necessary. We know their position on the economic stimulus that supported small business. They are opposed to it. They voted against it and they remain opposed to economic stimulus. He said that if you look across the Tasman New Zealand has done just as well as Australia. New Zealand had five quarters of negative growth. New Zealand went into recession. The opposition leader says, ‘If it is good for New Zealand it is good for Australia.’ This is a man who has cultivated this ironman image. He has an iron fist in the face of small business. He has an iron fist in the face of working Australians and says: ‘Here’s a bit of discipline for you, pal. Here’s one up the bracket. We’ll show you a little bit of discipline. We’ll make you hurt. We’ll make you work harder.’ That is the attitude of the opposition leader, because he is extreme, he is erratic, he is risky and he is dangerous. He is an extreme, erratic, risky, dangerous opposition leader and he would be an extreme, erratic, risky and dangerous Prime Minister. He betrayed small businesses and the Australian people during the global economic recession and he wants to betray small business and the Australian people during the recovery. The Rudd government is the best friend that small business has ever had.

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