In Grey, small business is the town. It is the cafe that opens at dawn, the pharmacy on the main street and the tradie who gives a local kid their first job. Under this government, they have been asked to carry more and more and more. Since 1 October, small business can no longer surcharge for card payments. The Prime Minister says that this will save Australians money every time they tap, but the cost of processing a card does not disappear just because it is no longer on the receipt. Someone still has to pay, and that someone is small business—and that is you, the consumer, through higher prices. At the end of the day, you still pay the surcharge; you just don't see it.

Many say this ban is bad because it removes the transparency that was there before. On the very day the ban started, the government's own tax office announced it would stop taking credit cards. Why? The commissioner said it would cost the ATO too much. If the taxman can't swallow the cost, then why are small businesses expected to do it? That's the double standard at the heart of this motion. After intervening and humiliating his Treasurer, the Prime Minister has pushed the tax office's credit card ban to the end of the next financial year. And who will pay the tax office credit card fees in the meantime? Well, the taxpayer. We do not need it delayed; we need it scrapped. Small business should not find out about decisions like this in the newspaper.

Then there's Labor's new 30 per cent minimum tax on trusts. Around 350,000 small businesses use a family trust. These are tradies, farmers and local shops—not tax dodgers. Some estimates have put restructuring and advice costs north of $10 billion. That is money spent on accountants and lawyers, instead of investing in staff, stock, equipment and new productivity measures. The Housing Industry Association has warned it would amount to 'a new tax on tradies, builders and small family businesses'. On Insiders, the Assistant Treasurer would not rule out the fact that some small businesses would be paying tax of up to 60 per cent. Why would anyone want to open a small business if you have to give 60 per cent to the government?

The Treasurer likes to boast about record numbers of new company registrations and business therefore booming, but CPA Australia pointed out the bleeding obvious—company registrations are growing much faster than GST registrations. That is not record business creation; that is record restructuring because of the changes to trusts and CGT. The only people celebrating are the accountants, and the costs keep coming. Power bills are up. Interest rates have risen 16 times under this government, which hasn't even reached five years. There was one interest rate rise in nine years of the coalition government.

A new car dealer in my electorate wrote to me about Labor's New Vehicle Efficiency Standard. He told me, 'The current pace of the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard may have unintended consequences for customers who rely on affordable, available and fit-for-purpose vehicles for their work, businesses and everyday lives.' That's from a small-business owner who is worried about his customers, who are also small-business owners. This carbon tax on cars will push up the price of the utes and the vehicles our regions depend on. It must go—and it will go—under a Taylor coalition government.

More than 14,000 companies entered insolvency last year. That is almost 40 every single day. When one shuts down in a country town, another one isn't opening. That is why the coalition is fighting for a small business act. It will give small businesses a right to be heard. So, instead of having the rug pulled out from under them, small businesses will have a seat at the table. We will scrap Labor's trust taxes, back the people who take a risk, employ locals and keep our towns alive. Small business should be backed, not billed.