Leon Rebello (McPherson, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the shadow minister for small business for putting forward this MPI, because it's not only giving me an opportunity to voice the concerns of the thousands of small businesses across my electorate of McPherson on the southern Gold Coast but it has also given this chamber and the Australian people an insight into the arrogance of the Minister for Small Business and, in doing so, an insight into the arrogance of this Albanese Labor government. The member for Bonner has just given us all these reasons for why we should end this MPI and, in effect, congratulate Labor. She started talking about the things that Labor has supposedly delivered. Well, what have Labor delivered? They've delivered 13 interest rate rises, they've delivered the highest government spending outside a recession in the last 40 years, they've delivered the sharpest fall in living standards across the developed world, and they've delivered budget blowouts left, right and centre. This is the record of this government, and it's affecting small businesses in my electorate of McPherson and across the country.

If you actually look at what this minister said—and this goes back to the arrogance—her interjections, when the shadow minister for small business was raising legitimate concerns felt by small businesses across this country, went to the fact of 'if you're a small business that's going out of business, it's probably because you're dodgy'. That is absolute contempt for small businesses in this country, and it's consistent with—

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