Celia Hammond (Curtin, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to take this opportunity to raise a number of issues with the minister regarding the government's measures to rebuild the economy from the COVID-19 recession. I'm sure that the minister is aware that, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the rate of employment in my electorate of Curtin was extremely high and, outside the city of Perth, it had the highest number of small to medium sized businesses in WA, being in excess of 26,000. Like the rest of Australia, the pandemic has hit the people in my electorate extremely hard. To get some sense of that, in February, there were 1,981 people in Curtin receiving JobSeeker. By May, the number of people in Curtin receiving JobSeeker had, sadly, climbed to 5,297. And, while the number of people on JobSeeker in Curtin is slowly coming down and stands at roughly 4,800, these figures show that there are still many people in Curtin who are actively looking for work.

The 26,000 businesses in my electorate have worked very hard to keep their businesses going and to keep people employed. They are grateful for the initiatives which have been put in place to support them. I note that the government's JobKeeper payment has supported 7,300 businesses in Curtin, making sure that they kept connected to their employees through the worst of the months that we had. The cashflow boost has helped around 6,500 small and medium businesses, helping businesses in Curtin to stay afloat. One business owner told me that, in the very week he received the cashflow bonus, he was just about to close the doors and sack everybody, but this enabled him to keep going and get through the worst time. I'm really pleased to say that he's now back trading to about 85 per cent of his pre-COVID levels. Thousands of businesses have used the instant asset write-off to do things ranging from upgrading their facilities, which was a great initiative when they were shut down, to installing new IT operating systems and replacing old and outdated equipment. I note that none of the business owners I've spoken to want a handout. They don't want to have to rely on government. One told me, 'I set up my own business so that I could do something I love on my own terms and to be financially independent.'

Australia has benefited from 29 years of economic growth and this puts us in a good position to address the economic downturn we are now facing. However, having had 29 years of economic growth also means that the economic recession we are now facing, not just here in Australia but globally, is actually more confronting. For good reason, the people in my electorate, like the majority of people across Australia, are concerned about their own financial security in the years ahead and, more generally, about the economic future of our country. In order to assist everyone facing the brunt of this economic downturn right now, the government has implemented numerous measures, which the minister has outlined. However, to ensure that our recovery is as fast and as thorough as it can possibly be, we also need to implement new measures which will give people confidence in the future. It is only with this confidence that people will take the steps they need to take to rebuild the economy, whether that's increasing consumer confidence and encouraging people to spend money personally or increasing business confidence and encouraging businesses to continue to invest in business and employ people.

There are approximately 150,000 people in my electorate of Curtin and more than half of them pay income tax. As I said before, there are in excess of 26,000 small and medium sized businesses and all of those businesses pay a multiplicity of direct and indirect taxes. I ask the minister to inform the chamber how the Morrison government is supporting hardworking Australians across Australia by providing simpler, fairer and lower taxes.

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