Bernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Small Business) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you! If you listen to the government, small business and the economy are doing great. But if you actually check the facts, they tell a very different story.

Last week the Westpac–Melbourne Institute Index of Consumer Sentiment fell 6.9 per cent from 102.4 in May to 95.3 in June. That is not good news; they are not good numbers. But this is what Westpac senior economist, Matthew Hassan said:

This is a surprisingly weak result. It now appears that last month's surge of optimism was a brief 'relief rally' following the RBA's May rate cut and a Budget that was less 'damaging' than many feared.

Less damaging than many feared! He continued:

With these factors now behind us, sentiment has reverted back to a level more reflective of broader concerns about the outlook for the Australian economy. At 95.3, the Index is 1% below its pre-Budget level and the weakest read since the start of the year.

This is not good news. It was noted that consumer spending and business investment is weak. Mr Hassan went on to say:

Individual components of the index highlight these renewed concerns about the economy. By far the biggest fall in June was in the sub-index tracking expectations for 'economic conditions, next 5 years' which plunged 17%—

Under these brilliant guys here, the Liberals—

reversing all of last month's 20% jump.

He continued:

Job loss fears remain a major concern. The Westpac Melbourne Institute Unemployment Expectations Index rose 3.8% to 152.8 (recall that higher readings indicate increased expectations that unemployment will rise over the year ahead)—

not good news. Looking into the future, the long-term outlook is also not good:

Since the last Board meeting, evidence of weak consumer spending and a deteriorating outlook for business investment along with this survey result will keep the Bank alert to disappointing economic progress.

Finally Mr Hassan said:

Our current view is that rates will remain on hold throughout 2015 and 2016 while recognising that since the last Board meeting the case for even lower rates has strengthened.

This motion from the Liberal Party suggests everything for small business is just sweet, rosy and hunky-dory because of the actions of this brilliant government. This could not be further from the facts or the truth. I acknowledge that the small business measures in the budget are a positive initiative, but what is missing from the government is any acknowledgement that what they did in their first budget in cutting more than $5 billion in tax assistance measures, and their continued talk of debt and deficit disasters for pretty much the last four years, has all destroyed consumer and small business confidence to boot.

They are a strange mob, the Liberal government, because they were fantastic at talking down the economy while in opposition but, when they got to government, they forgot to stop talking down the economy. They are supposed to talk it up and actually do a good job, and they just kept talking it down, down and down further. Now the government have been in power since September 2013, coming up on two years. You would have thought that, if the actions the government were taking were good and positive for small business, you might see an improvement over time in the trend of consumer and business confidence. But have we seen that improvement? Have we seen that trend? No, we have not. It is just not happening. If anything, the long-term outlook under the Liberal government, when considered by any respected commentator, is not good by any reading of the facts.

So I say to Mr Van Manen and his good colleagues: this is your watch. You are now in government. That is the whole point of winning government: you get to implement your policies and take responsibility for what your policies actually do. We supported the government in bringing back the tax measures that were cut just 12 months ago under their previous budget. They cut the assistance to small business, and they go: 'Oh, what we have done? This is actually destroying small business.' So they are bringing back those measures again. The honourable thing for the government to do would be to acknowledge at least that they got it wrong last year when they cut the instant asset write-off—and then they reintroduced the instant asset write-off—and cut the loss carry-back for companies and accelerated depreciation for motor vehicles. What genius did it take to think of those cuts? Instead of motions that are nothing more than government propaganda about criticising Labor, they could actually do something a bit more to lift the confidence of small business. You might guess also that, when the Liberals say they are doing a good job on the economy and the budget, they would not have doubled the deficit and also added a further $35 billion in debt.

See this speech in context