Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

It's wonderful to be speaking on this legislation, which we are not opposing, but I say so in the context that it's always amusing to hear Labor members of parliament get up and speak about the relevance of legislation to their electorate, while they repeat the same talking points that every other Labor member of parliament repeats, but it rarely operates in reality. We just heard about how productivity has been tickety boo under this government, which is why the Treasurer called a crisis conference on productivity and a roundtable to bring together Australia's leading business minds, plus the ACTU, to come up with a solution to the productivity crisis that apparently doesn't exist because productivity is tickety boo.

We're told about how, under the Albanese government, small businesses have never done it better and how everything's tickety boo with them too. It's not really what the data shows. In fact, a paper by e61 Institute a couple of weeks ago showed a long-term decline in the number of self-employed and small-business people, including people who have small businesses who employ others. We've seen this cascading decline over time, but it's been particularly bad under the Albanese government, sufficient that you literally now have record small-business insolvencies. That doesn't say to me that things are tickety boo under the Albanese government for small business. In fact, yesterday was, I think, one of the most challenging days for small business in this country's history. In addition to the challenges of the Iran conflict and the impact that's having on supply chain and prices, not just in the context of fuels but also in accessing other goods and services in the economy where prices continue to rise, which is putting huge pressure on small businesses—large businesses have the logistics and capacity to be able to adjust around that, but that doesn't mean they don't carry those costs, too—we had the Reserve Bank turn around and say, 'Well, business can basically now absorb all the costs they've been passing on to consumers.'

We're all happy that we've seen a ban on surcharging, but let's just remind ourselves that someone picks up the bill and that supermarkets get a disproportionate favour in comparison to small businesses under this plan. Supermarkets, as an example—large retailers, supermarkets particularly—do things on scale, so they have preferential terms with banking. They get very favourable terms in comparison to small businesses, who have to absorb all the costs. So, against a global backdrop of challenges and a domestic backdrop of small business insolvencies, we now have a situation where businesses are being told they need to absorb more costs.

Then, on top of that, we had the Fair Work Commission say yesterday that they're going to, over the next four years, increase the wages of 18- to 20-year-olds by 42 per cent. I have no doubt that everyone who's a beneficiary of that is happy about that; that's not in contest. But there's someone who has to pick up the bill associated with that, and that is, of course, small businesses. So I imagine a lot of them are looking at yesterday—between the global context and rising prices, the domestic context and record insolvencies, and the challenges of the lowest consumer confidence on record plus increased costs for surcharging, skills and labour—and going, 'This is pretty tough.'

But clearly that's falling on deaf ears in at least some of the corridors of Canberra, because I was just told by the member for Maribyrnong that everything's tickety-boo. I actually think we have a responsibility in this parliament to speak plainly and honestly about the state of challenges, particularly in times of crisis, and we're in a time of crisis. Do you remember, Member for Mitchell, a few weeks ago when the Minister for Climate Change and Energy said that there was no problem and that everybody in the House of Representatives was overegging the situation about fuel? Three days later he went, 'Okay, yes, we're in a national crisis.' I don't say that with any glee. That is the state of denial that has permeated this government. They have a denial on the fuel crisis, a denial on the productivity crisis and now a denial on the small business crisis, as well.

This is why Australians are losing faith. We need people to come in here, speak plainly and honestly about the challenges and the realities that Australians—and small businesses, in particular—are facing, and then they need to turn to the government and ask whether they're taking steps and measures to improve the situation. What we do is come up to the Federation Chamber and see the member for Maribyrnong—and I have no doubt it's in the talking points of others, as well—doing a kind of happy dance on the spot like they're Snoopy, thinking that they're the great heroes saving productivity, fuel and small business. Australians don't feel that way. Instead, they're looking at it and going: 'Well, what's next? If this is the delusion of the government that's supposed to be standing up for me, then I have lost faith in the government.' And that, of course, is where we are right now.

Now is the time where we need a government that's going to stand up and fight for the future of this country. More important than that, we need the measures to back-in Australians to be enterprising and to take command of their own destiny. We need Australians to be respected to take control of their own lives, and we need their hard work to pay off. We need a policy framework which focuses clearly on how we empower Australians to be able to back themselves—not simply to live with the consequences, slavishly, of factors outside of their control or of a government that's in a state of delusion and that doesn't understand the challenges confronting us. What we need is a government of strength, of confidence and of hope so that, by working together, we can take our nation forward. But that is not what we have.

What we've got is a government that is in a state of denial. When you look at this legislation, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Delivering an Efficient and Trusted Tax System) Bill 2026—Orwellian as it is called—it's about whether or not there are tax incentives that can be taken advantage of by tobacco and gambling companies. Let's be fair: why would a tobacco company need to take advantage of R&D investments when all of the innovation has been taken care of for them by organised crime gangs? They're the ones investing in the supply chains to profiteer out of the consequences of both the stripping of trademarks from tobacco products and the excise. Why would gambling companies need to do the same when, in practice, gambling companies are the ones that are profiteering off a febrile environment in terms of incentives? What we have is this delusional approach from government, a state of denial about the full consequences of the measures it's introduced. People are profiting, and it is all the wrong people; it's the corrupt entities.

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