Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

They are—thank you—small-business owners, who do more hours than I like to think of, and they deserve a break. I know that, when we put that policy out there, I was getting phone calls, text messages and emails saying, 'Thank you for thinking about us.' This is not about us making money; this is about us reinvesting into our communities to ensure we're here for the future, to ensure that we can spend that money on the Saints soccer team or the Rovers Cricket Club or a charity for cancer. This is what the pubs and clubs do, and so do the small brewers. They're small businesses. They're out there contributing to the economy of regional and rural communities, and, at the end of the day, the government coffers. Not only do we have an obligation to revisit this—and, again, we will support it; it is a fraction of what is required to ensure the longevity and sustainability of the hospitality industry.

On that note, this bill is a small and temporary step in the right direction. But Australians deserve more than small steps; they deserve a real plan to bring prices down, lower inflation and deliver tax relief.

See this speech in context