Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Treasury Laws Amendment (Accelerated Depreciation For Small Business Entities) Bill 2017, which for convenience I will call the TLAB. Obviously Labor support this bill—of course we would. It is basically our bill. There is only cheap politics involved in the coalition playing ducks and drakes with this sector in the first place. This bill extends until 30 June 2018 the period in which small business entities can temporarily access expanded accelerated depreciation rules.

I know that small businesses make an enormous contribution to the Australian economy. There are around 18,000 to 19,000 small businesses in Moreton. I see the great work that they do and how much of a struggle it is and how much sweat so many people have often invested in setting up a small business, and I know the heartache that can come with a small business going belly up. Sadly, nearly a third of them do that. In my time as a lawyer I worked in commercial law. In fact, I still see some of the buildings that have leases that I helped draft as a young lawyer. So I know how hard and how difficult it is to start a small business, with all the associated red tape. And Labor understand that—I saw that in our time in government from 2007 through to 2013. I know the valuable contribution that the thousands of businesses in my electorate of Moreton make—the sole traders, the partnerships, the small employers. They keep the economy ticking over and employ numerous people.

Labor has led the debate in this policy area. In fact, I remind those opposite that Labor introduced the instant asset write-off. I say that again, because from the speeches preceding mine you would think that this is a coalition initiative, but it was the Labor government that introduced the instant asset write-off. When in government in 2012, Labor increased the threshold for small businesses from $1,000 to $6,500. The coalition government, on the other hand, wound back that very successful Labor initiative in its horror 2014-15 budget, again reducing the threshold to $1,000. So, for all of the platitudes and the narrative put forward by those opposite, I need to remind them that those of them elected at the 2013 election got rid of Labor's increased threshold of $6,500 for small business and the opportunities that came with that increased threshold. In what is becoming a trademark of the coalition government, just 12 months later they reinstated the instant asset write-off and extended it to $20,000.

Labor welcomes this extension of the $20,000 threshold for instant asset write-offs until 30 June 2018. However, at a cost of $1 billion in 2018-19, I know that this measure should be evaluated to ensure it is delivering the predicted economic benefits and that people are taking advantage of stimulating the economy. I call on the government to prudently evaluate this measure and release that evaluation before there is a further extension. If the benefits are there, obviously Labor will support such policies.

We do understand small business. As I said, I have worked as a lawyer with clients who were small businesses. We know that the Labor Party has produced practical policies that will nurture small businesses and help them thrive. At the last election one year ago we had plans that included a responsible plan to cut company tax for small businesses with a turnover of less than $2 million, a plan to level the playing field for small businesses by ensuring that multinationals pay their fair share of tax, a plan to help small businesses incorporate without additional red tape, along with a range of other innovative policies to assist small businesses to better access finance and help entrepreneurs start their own businesses—something that Australia does not do as well as we should. Labor is still working with small businesses across the country, listening to their needs and developing policies that will benefit them.

This year, Labor introduced into the Senate a bill to help small businesses take cases of anticompetitive behaviour to court. The Competition and Consumer Legislation Amendment (Small Business Access to Justice) Bill 2017 would level the playing field so that small businesses who challenge a large business for anticompetitive behaviour would not risk having to pay the often very large legal fees of the large business if they lost. Remember that competitive behaviour is what best benefits the Australian public. The prospects of a costs order sadly often deter small businesses from making a claim of anticompetitive behaviour against the top end of town. Small businesses could request a no adverse costs order early in the court case, giving them the confidence to pursue their claim. I am hopeful that the government, the self-proclaimed champions of small business, will support the Labor legislation.

The member for Fenner has also recently announced a package of reforms to crack down on phoenixing. Labor believes that we need stronger laws to make sure that directors cannot simply strip the assets out of a company and then set up a new one, often to the detriment of employees and creditors. Illegal phoenixing activity costs the economy billions of dollars annually. I know that it can be legitimate, that companies do make bad decisions or markets change and people want to start again. There is no problem with legitimate businesses failing and then trying again—that is not a bad thing at all. But illegal phoenixing is what this legislation is about.

Among the measures announced by Labor are requiring all company directors to obtain a unique director identification number with a 100-point identification check, so we would know if people are repeatedly doing this; increasing penalties associated with phoenix activity; introducing an objective test for transactions depriving employees of their entitlements; clarifying the availability of compensations orders against accessories; and consulting on targeted integrity measures based on the recommendations of the Melbourne Law School and Monash Business School phoenix research team recommendations. As one expert said recently, under current laws it is almost possible to register your dog as a company director. Currently, setting up a bank account requires a much more rigorous process than becoming a company director. At Senate estimates this week, the tax commissioner noted that in other countries proper identification checks are required for anyone wanting to become a director. We need to have the same rigour applied to prospective Australian company directors.

Small business owners know that rising energy prices are having a devastating impact on small businesses right across Australia. Rising energy prices are the result of the failure of the Turnbull government to put in place an emissions intensity scheme. Just this week the energy minister has again confirmed that the Turnbull government will not be imposing an emissions intensity scheme on the power sector. An EIS would send a positive signal to investors encouraging them to renew our ageing electricity infrastructure. An emissions intensity scheme is supported by experts, industry and the states. It will cut electricity costs by up to $15 billion and will support new investment. But what do we get from the Turnbull government, after four years? We have, horrifically and horribly for business, wholesale electricity prices that have doubled since the member for Warringah became Prime Minister. Try as they might to duck and weave, the Turnbull government is ultimately responsible for these price hikes and costs for small business.

Another topic associated with small business is the NBN. The Turnbull 2017 budget has brought no joy to businesses still waiting for the rollout of this second rate NBN. The member for Wentworth promised in 2013 that the Liberals would deliver the NBN to everyone by 2016, but it will still be years before businesses in my electorate of Morton are hooked up to this second rate NBN. In 2013, during that election campaign, businesses on the south side expressed concern that a change of government would delay the rollout of the NBN. It was actually the number one topic at the business forum organised by the local Quest papers. The local media said in an article that business owners in Rocklea, in my electorate, were worried about this possible delay. They were right to be concerned, despite the assurances given by the LNP candidate. The NBN company's website shows that the rollout of the NBN has not even started in Rocklea yet, and will not start until next year at the earliest.

In 2013 I had no idea how badly the member for Wentworth could wreck the NBN. That is what he was asked to do by the member for Warringah, and he did it. In the two years that the member for Wentworth, our now Prime Minister, was communications minister he did not connect a single paying customer to his second rate fibre-to-the-node network. Where his second rate network has now been switched on, sadly it is not working properly. The member for Wentworth's management of his NBN as communications minister and now as Prime Minister, where the buck stops, has been an absolute disaster. Because of the Prime Minister's dastardly deeds, the productivity gains and business opportunities that would have flowed have not eventuated.

I have been contacted by people all over my electorate who tell me how disappointed they are and tell me about the business opportunities they have missed out on. The NBN is behind schedule, over budget and not designed to meet the future needs of Australian businesses. Businesses need access to high-speed internet to compete in a highly competitive global market. In my electorate, being particularly multicultural, many people have business connections with the rest of the world, and they would benefit from an NBN but instead we get a rollout that is slow and speeds that are even slower. The 2017 budget has not provided any solution to this crucial problem, which is preventing businesses from growing and selling their products and services around the world, particularly in South-East Asia. Small businesses will continue to struggle with one of the slowest and most expensive internet services in the developed world. When medals are handed out for being connected, Australia is not even in the stadium. We are going further and further back while governments in other countries have been forward-thinking enough to invest in the digital revolution. The member for Wentworth's failures are bad for productivity, they are bad for our economy and they are bad for businesses—and dare I say, as someone who comes from country Queensland, there has been a betrayal of the bush as well. That is where the great opportunities lie. Agricultural producers could be hooked up with markets around the world, particularly with that expanding middle class in China, India and the like, and our near neighbours.

Labor supports the measures in this bill because Labor supports small businesses. We do not just say we do—we have shown our support while in office. The Turnbull government have looked up at the top end of town in their 2017 budget but they have failed to address the real concerns of small businesses. They have been so focused on delivering an uncosted $65 billion tax giveaway for big businesses that they have forgotten small businesses. They have failed to address rising energy prices and the fact that they impact on businesses all over Australia. As I have pointed out, prices have doubled under the coalition government. They are about to start their fifth year of government, and prices have doubled. I was in the 42nd and the 43rd parliaments, and I heard promise after promise about a sensible price on carbon and what would eventuate, and instead we have seen a complete betrayal of those utterances.

The payment terms problem exposed in the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman's recent report has not been addressed by this government. Obviously a most pressing issue, the one raised more often with my office than almost anything else, is that small businesses, when they go to set up, do not have access to high-speed internet. Moreton is in the southern suburbs of Brisbane—not out the back of Burke—but we are still not getting the benefits of the National Broadband Network that the then shadow communications minister promised would come. It has been a great betrayal, and a great productivity gain has been missed. The 2017 budget was a missed opportunity in so many of these areas, and sadly that has impacted on small businesses. The small businesses of Australia do the heavy lifting when it comes to employing, when it comes to taking risk and when it comes to participating in their local communities, and small businesses deserve better. I wondered where the rot set in, and I can see that it was perhaps when they got rid of Bruce Billson from the cabinet table—someone who was a champion for small business. We had a new Prime Minister come in and he got rid of Bruce. Bring him back. (Time expired)

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