Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

That's okay. It really breaks my heart when I talk to small businesses, because, having been in that world, I know just how hard it can be—that pit you get in your stomach on a Wednesday night. You are trying to figure out how you are going to pay your staff. For most small-business people, their staff is like their family. I've been there, where I have thought, 'I can either not pay my staff or borrow more money against my house.' Virtually every small-business person in this country will borrow more money against their house because, for themselves and for their business, their staff is their family. They know that it's not just the case that that family relies upon them. They know this person or people. They've worked with them for a long time. They know their families, and they want to be able to provide for them.

Energy's gone up since this government's been in power. Electricity's gone up 32 per cent. Gas is up 30 per cent. These are real costs that are unable to be avoided. Don't get me started on industrial relations. When I talk to small-business people, I've never seen the degree of pain and angst, and that's why we are now experiencing more small businesses failing—more over the last three years than in Australian recorded history. I want to retract that, because it's not the small business that's failed. That's unfair of me to say that. It's the small businesses that have gone to the wall under this government. It's the small businesses that have been unable to keep their doors open. They've done everything they possibly can. They've borrowed against their credit cards. They've borrowed against their home. But they just can't make ends meet. This government either doesn't seem to care or doesn't know what it is like to run a small business in this country.

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