House debates

Wednesday, 12 February 2020

Questions without Notice

Australian Bushfires

2:36 pm

Photo of Scott MorrisonScott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I'm responding to the member's question and the suggestion being made that somehow the government should be providing an insurance for income loss across the country in relation to any natural disaster. If that were to be the case, that would be in stark contrast—

Mr Albanese interjecting

If the Leader of the Opposition wants to make a contribution, he can wait till after question time or he can ask a question. I'm trying to address the very serious question of supports for small business, which the member has asked me in good faith. It is not the government's policy to provide cash flow assistance for businesses with income loss that have not had a direct impact from natural disasters. That was the policy followed by the Labor government when they were in power, and it is the policy that we applied to other natural disasters, in particular up in North Queensland, whether in Townsville or across the other areas affected by those floods.

In the areas the member is talking about, there are some 165,082 businesses that have employees. If we were to follow the approach that Labor seem to be suggesting, that alone would be some $8 billion, and if we were to apply it to all businesses it would be $22 billion. The opposition cannot be taken seriously when they're suggesting those sorts of proposals. (Time expired)

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