Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

We have heard from the member for Goldstein, the shadow minister for small business outline the coalition's position on this particular bill, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Payments System Modernisation) Bill 2025. We have before us amendments put forward by the shadow assistant treasurer, the member for Cowper, which I encourage the House to adopt. We just heard a very animated speech by the new member for Hughes, and I applaud his enthusiasm. A person who obviously has studied economics and finance at university, the Wollongong university, he talked about payments and 'the plumbing of commerce'. It's a good line—a very, very good line. As somebody who has run a small business, I know that is very true. I know he got very worked up about the speech, which he and/or his staff have taken quite a bit of time to prepare. But, if you're out listening to parliament today or if you're viewing proceedings, you would be questioning, particularly if you had your superannuation tied up with First Guardian and Shield Master, why this place is not spending time questioning that. Whilst I appreciate that this treasury laws amendment bill is important and whilst I understand full well that, for small business, it has time constraints and limitations and is an important piece of legislation and law, the real finances that this place should be discussing today and isn't have to do with the collapse of this particular superannuation company.

The coalition does support this particular bill's objectives, but we do have concern over the lack of parliamentary oversight over the Reserve Bank and the Treasurer's decisions, particularly this treasurer, the member for Rankin. We're not the only ones. The former RBA governor Philip Lowe has also expressed those views very much lately. I know that the RBA needs its independence. I get that. It's Australia's central bank. Obviously, it's got a very important role, which it's had since 1960, when it took over various functions from the Commonwealth Bank. But, if anyone who had superannuation tied up with that particular company I mentioned—$1.2 billion has gone from that company; it has ruined lives—is listening in to this parliamentary broadcast, they must be wondering why we are getting so worked up over legislation which, whilst it's important, is perfunctory legislation. It is going to go through whether or not our amendments are adopted and accepted. I know the member for Hughes was very excited by it all, but tell that to the likes of Adelaide couple Garry and Michelle Thomas. They've had a $240,000 nest egg tied up, and it's vanished overnight. These people are financially ruined. They are going to have to work every day for the rest of their lives to even make up some of the shortfall. I say 'some' because it will be only some.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission is investigating what its deputy chair, Sarah Court, described as misconduct on an industrial scale. There are now 40 people working on finding out about the 12,000 Australians who are victims of this. Forty people—it's too little, too late. We should have better oversight of these sorts of things. Evidence of misconduct was mounting long before investors saw their balances drop to zero, and the government has every right to feel as though it lacked complete oversight of this. When I say 'every right', it probably should be 'every wrong'. It's facing backlash for sitting on a Senate report into ASIC's failures for more than a year, with the watchdog being criticised for failing to stop the collapse before it happened. Here we are, in the House of Representatives, whilst this collapse is taking place and 40 people are working feverishly to find out where the money has gone, why the money has gone and how the money went, and these poor people are left high and dry. We are spending an inordinate amount of time—and I am, too—talking about the treasury laws amendment, about whether, quite frankly, it covers pay-and-go and tap-and-go and all these sorts of things. We should be thinking about our priorities just a little, because it's absolutely no comfort for those people sent to financial ruin by the criminal collapse of this particular fund, this particular superannuation situation.

I heard the shadow minister for small business talking about small business in his contribution and how it related to this particular amendment bill before us. It's interesting to look at some of these statistics on small businesses. In 2025, bankruptcies in Australia increased from 1,309 companies in June to 1,362 companies in July. Bankruptcies in Australia averaged 679.61 companies from 1999 until 2025, reaching an all-time high of 1,448 companies in March 2025 and a record low of 192 companies in January 2021. I ask a couple of questions: who was in government in March 2025? That would be Labor. Who was in government in January 2021? That would be the Liberal-National coalition. It's no surprise, it's no coincidence and it's no great shock that Labor is not the government for small business. The definition of a small business can be varied, but, if I were really sarcastic, I'd say a small business these days is what would have been a medium or large business when we were in government, because Labor has this unique way of turning medium and large businesses into small businesses.

In Australia, a significant number of new small businesses close within their first few years, and that's just the way small business operates. It is tough being a small business operator. I know; I've run one. I've been in a partnership with two others running a media and publishing company in Wagga Wagga. It's tough work because, often, you are taking home less pay than the workers you employ. It's a great reward to employ someone—it really, truly is—because you're giving somebody the hope and opportunity to have a better life, improve themselves and develop their skills, but it is really tough work to keep the doors of a small business open. The rate of failure of a small business—a proven statistic—is around 20 to 30 per cent closing in their first year, increasing to about half or more within three years. However, these figures can also be interpreted by entry and exit rates. For example, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that 362,893 businesses exited in 2023-24. That was a 14 per cent exit rate, proving my point about how very tough it is.

I do question—as part of this bill, which is obviously related to small business—why the government has chosen not to renew the employment, the commission, of Bruce Billson. I believe Bruce Billson was the best small-business minister this country has had, and I say that being a former small-business minister myself.

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