House debates Questions without Notice

Small Business

Tuesday, 27 October 2026 House of Representatives

Anne Aly

Anne Aly Cowan, Australian Labor Party, Minister for International Development

3:01 pm

Thank you to the member for Brisbane for her question and for her consistent advocacy for the small businesses in her electorate. Every small business starts with someone who has an idea and the courage to back themselves. It's the young tradie who decides to go out on his own or her own, the family recipe that's passed on through generations into a thriving business or the migrant who arrives in Australia and sets out to build something of their own. As I visit businesses in our cities and in our regions, in our suburbs and in our towns, I'm constantly awed by the passion and the steely determination that they exhibit.

Small business is a story of aspiration, and it's a story of Australia. That's just part of the reason why the Albanese Labor government is focused on delivering the settings that businesses need to start to grow and to succeed. We've made the $20,000 instant asset write-off and the two-year loss carry-back permanent. We've invested $80 million in digital solutions programs, the Small Business Cyber Resilience Service and the Cyber Health Check since we came into office. We're delivering $10.2 billion in regulatory burden reduction. We've removed almost 1,000 nuisance tariffs, saving businesses $157 million a year in compliance costs. 1½ million sole traders received tax cuts, including our $250 Working Australians Tax Offset. We've invested more than $30 million to improve payment times. Our fee-free TAFE is ensuring that small businesses have access to the skilled workers that they need to be able to continue to grow and to thrive.

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