Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

They work damned hard to make some money in order to give their families the quality of life that they would like to have. The coalition is the best friend of Australia's small businesses. One of the things that illustrates that is that last year more than 200,000 new businesses were started up in Australia—a record level of new businesses. It is the coalition that understands the challenges that small businesses face. That is why the Prime Minister identified that we have to remove the challenges that small business was facing under the Labor Party, such as the carbon tax. We got rid of the carbon tax and all of the pain associated with the carbon tax. We got rid of the red tape. Seventeen thousand pages of red tape were abolished by this government in just the first 12 months in government, with dedicated days in this parliament to repeal red tape. Importantly, we are starting to see the benefits flow through in retail sales figures, which are up by 4.1 per cent over the year. We are starting to see a fairer deal for small business on interest rates. But there is still much more work to be done.

The federal government, in operating its own budget, is no different to small business. We have to live within our means. Under the legacy of the Labor Party, the federal government spends $100 million a day more than it collects in revenue. That is the equivalent of two new schools every day. That is the equivalent of 14 kilometres of new road. If we did not have to borrow that $100 million a day to pay for excessive spending, we could build a new teaching hospital in Australia every week. On top of that, we have to pay $40 million a day on the interest of Labor's debt. Just like any family business, the Australian government has to live within its means—and we will.

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