Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is always a great pleasure to rise in this House and speak about small business, the engine room of our economy, and I take the opportunity to speak today on the Treasury Laws Amendment (Accelerated Depreciation for Small Business Entities) Bill 2017 and to applaud this government's unwavering commitment to supporting one of the most crucial elements of our national economy.

Before coming into this place, I had the joy of running a small business, along with my wife, and I also came from a family of small business people. And it is interesting that I now see our two sons seeking to venture the small business arena on their own. While they are still working, they are trying to build their own businesses on the side. As many on this side have experience, it gives us a good understanding and a good appreciation of the trials and tribulations of those hundreds of thousands of men and women who strive every day to build their small businesses right around this great country.

There are many, many people who have today put everything on the line to build their business for not only their family's wealth but also the wealth of future generations. They put it all on the line. Their house supports the mortgage that supports the small business and supports the overdraft. That is where all their wealth is tied up. As a government we are seeking to support these people who are prepared to put everything on the line every single day. These people not only put their future on the line but, due to the fact that they employ nearly 50 per cent of the workforce in Australia, also support the hopes and dreams of many, many other Australians—not just their own.

Such people give their absolute all to their work in order to give their children and the children of their employees a brighter future. In doing so, they are also sustaining and strengthening a sector that creates more jobs for Australian workers and more opportunities to build a vibrant and inviting community across our country. Many of these small business people also contribute enormously to the communities in which they live by being involved in various community organisations, such as Rotary or Lions, or being involved in and sponsoring their local sporting clubs—righting sponsorship for the team so that they have their jerseys, training equipment and footballs or soccer balls. This is what we see our small business people right around this country do so very, very well.

It is for this reason that I am proud to be part of this government, which is continually seeking to deliver for our small business sector. In my electorate of Forde, there are more than 14,600 small businesses that have built the foundation of our local economy. Several of these businesses have already taken advantage of our instant asset write-off program, and they welcome the extension of this program in the 2017-18 budget. The instant asset write-off program, which first started back in May 2015, has become instrumental for our small business community to help them replace or upgrade machinery and equipment with ease. The program improves cash flow for our businesses, which in turn boosts productivity, giving our small business owners chances they may not have had to employ more staff or to pay their existing staff more. Furthermore, when small businesses purchase more or better assets locally, communities and other businesses directly benefit from the flow-on effect of that purchase. This is because every dollar spent in a small business is a confidence boost for that business itself and for the community as a whole.

In addition to the instant asset write-off program, the government is also delivering a tax system that supports enterprise, by backing small businesses to invest and helping ensure that Australia continues to be an attractive place to do business. Such a move will secure our future and create jobs for hardworking Australians, also managing our transition to a more diversified economy that can continue to expand and create job opportunities for the employees of the future. We see many businesses, as I travel around my electorate, that you would not think are necessarily competing in the global marketplace. There are many like Poppys Chocolates, who are doing tremendous work around the country. Like every small business, they go through their ups and downs, but they continue to build and grow and develop and look for new market opportunities. That is where these programs and these tax cuts give them the direct incentive to do that.

This government is backing small business through a tax cut to 27.5 per cent for those with a turnover of less than $10 million from 1 July. This will deliver a lower tax rate for over 870,000 companies, who employ some 3.4 million workers, including more than 15,000 businesses in my electorate of Forde. This is not all this government is doing for the small business sector. We all know that our small business owners and their staff are time poor. This is why we are working hard to develop a simpler business activity statement that will help our small businesses save time and money when they are completing the GST reporting, allowing them to focus on things that really matter in the day-to-day running of their business.

Alongside this, we are also seeking to abolish further red tape. In that regard we are providing some $300 million to the state governments in order for them to find ways to reduce the red tape that small businesses face every day. Reducing the complexity of regulation for our businesses makes it easier for business to get on with the job of doing business. As the member for Ryan quite rightly pointed out in her contribution, proportionately the impact of red tape is far greater on our small business sector than it is on our large corporate sector, because our small business sector does not have the capacity to manage the red tape burden. They do not have the accountants and the advisers and the in-house people that can manage all that red tape process. It is the owners of those businesses and their staff that have to manage that on a day-to-day basis. That is why reducing red tape for small business will be such an important achievement for those businesses, because the less time they are spending on red tape, the more time they can spend working with their customers, suppliers and potential new customers to build their businesses.

We are levelling the playing field for Australian small business retailers online by applying the GST to low-value imported goods. The $1.1 billion National Innovation and Science Agenda announced in December 2015 also contains a range of initiatives and programs to support small business to be more innovative. We believe that small businesses are where dreams and big ideas begin. This agenda will give them better access to finance and help them prepare to have a go at something new. I see that in businesses around my electorate on a regular basis. We are talking to people about getting new ideas off the ground and how we can assist them. As part of this we are creating the modern digital marketplace to make it easier for small businesses to compete for the government's $9 billion information and communications technology contract. We will also require government agencies to pay invoices for contracts valued up to $1 million within 30 days. The government has made it easier for small business to access Commonwealth contracts under $200,000 and made credit and debit cards the government's preferred payment method for purchases up to $10,000. We are opening up new forms of financing for small business by legislating the crowd-sourced equity funding framework for public companies, and in establishing the Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman we are providing a strong voice for small business.

All of these measures prove the coalition government is showing great leadership in managing and assisting the small business sector by helping to create a framework for small businesses to grow and prosper into the future. This government is about improving small business confidence, and we see this as a great way of encouraging Australians to support the sector whenever and wherever they can. The more Australians shop locally and access services locally, the more opportunity there is for business to create jobs and wealth for the future. I am looking forward to seeing the small businesses in my electorate continue to thrive over this coming financial year thanks to the support and dedication of this government, which is determined to give them every opportunity to do so. I commend this bill to the House.

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