Craig Laundy (Reid, Liberal Party, Minister for Small and Family Business, the Workplace and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Bonner for his question, and I look forward to joining him on Friday to meet with many small and family business operators in his electorate. We have a plan on this side, and the Treasurer has been speaking about it up hill and down dale, as has the Prime Minister. He delivered at this dispatch box last night the latest addition and update to a plan for a stronger economy where we create more jobs and businesses create more jobs, and that allows us to support more essential services for hardworking Australians.

I was looking back at the plan of those opposite. In the last financial year that the Rudd-Gillard government ran this economy, there was a net decrease of 61,000 businesses in this country, irrespective of size. Under the Turnbull coalition government's plan, updated, as I said, last night by the Treasurer, in the last financial year there have been—keeping in mind that the decrease of 61,000 for Labor was across businesses irrespective of size—65,000 new businesses started just in the small and family business space.

That's why it's important that we legislate tax relief for small and family businesses—some 3.3 million of them. Why? Because they employ 6.8 million hardworking Australians. This is where you get the thousand jobs a day from this plan. This is how you enable and empower businesses and people that are prepared to take on bank debt, back themselves and employ people—something those opposite would know nothing about. They are prepared to put their family's home on the line, get out there and employ hardworking Australians.

Mr Perrett interjecting—

Ms Husar interjecting—

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