Bruce Billson (Dunkley, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Small Business, Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to share with you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and the House my travels during the past sitting fortnight and the one we are currently in, which took me to North Queensland and Central Victoria, as well as to quite an extensive range of consultations, meetings and visits in my electorate in the Frankston and Mornington Peninsula area. There was an interesting response that the small business community in that vast area had to the coalition's very positive plan to partner with the small business community to restore small business hope, reward and opportunity at a time when they feel they are under siege. They look to Canberra and see what the Gillard Labor government are doing. They are not sure what the Gillard Labor government are doing, but they certainly know they are not doing things to help the small business community.

When I was able to outline that the coalition's commitment involves the abolition of the carbon tax; $1 billion of red-tape reduction; a root-and-branch review of the competition framework, which my colleague earlier touched on; an ombudsman with genuine teeth to support small business and family enterprises; small-business-friendly procurement and contracting at a Commonwealth level; protection from the organised and coordinated attack on independent contractors and the self-employed; a voice for small business on key economic and regulatory bodies; and a minister in cabinet whose primary role is to nurture and create a more positive environment for the small business community rather than having the title tacked onto some other roles, they were genuinely encouraged. They felt that they had a political movement, the coalition, genuinely committed to the success of small business people which recognised the sacrifice, the courage and the commitment that is shown by small business men and women to not only create opportunities for themselves—something we should all reward, encourage and celebrate—but also create opportunities for others and their communities.

This parliament seems to forget that half of all the private sector workforce in Australia works for small business people. Yet all you hear about from this Labor Gillard government is big business, talking to big unions, a big government talking about what is good for them and ignoring where all the real energy, the drive and the entrepreneurship, which has been so crucial to our economy, our livelihood and our wellbeing, comes from. That is the small business men and women right across our continent.

The carbon tax is particularly concerning for the small business community. They know that they will be hit with a direct energy cost impact. For some that has not landed yet. A number may have received their first monthly bill, but those who are billed quarterly know it is coming. They know it is coming and their suppliers are telling them that it is coming. The suppliers are telling them that it is in addition to the direct carbon tax impact on the operating expenses of that small business, whether it be their electricity or their gas. The refrigerant costs have just gone through the roof for refrigerant gas if you happen to have a leak or need to recharge your refrigeration or freezer system. They know there is also the input and the supply chain carbon tax impacts that are still on their way.

So, when you hear the Gillard Labor government say, 'The carbon tax came in on 1 July and, look, not much has happened,' well, that is not true. Plenty has happened. I point out to the Labor members in this chamber that 1 July was the carbon tax's least worst day. It is like the kind of day when someone thought that putting a cane toad in Queensland was a good idea to support the cane industry. Its best day was its first day because every day after that the harm and the hardship that that decision caused compounded and built to a point where there is now Kick a Cane Toad Day in much of Northern Australia, just as for many in the small business community they want every day to be Kick a Carbon Tax Day.

In this House we have asked question after question. I have asked some questions. I have pointed to a food processor and seafood retailer in Victoria, G&E Pitliangas Food Services, who have had an 83 per cent direct increase through the carbon tax on their off-peak energy bill. For these businesses that operate around the clock there is an enormous impact in that off-peak period, when their energy cost is less. If you have structured yourself—as have the engineering companies that I have met with—to make use of that cheaper energy, you are actually hit harder, because the carbon tax does not discern between off-peak and peak users.

We have seen questions from apartment operators, newsagency businesses and food processors—the list goes on—asking the government to turn its mind to the direct impact of the carbon tax on small business. All we have had is denigration, ridiculing the very concerns of these committed and, I think, very praiseworthy Australians who have shown courage to create opportunities for themselves and others.

The carbon tax is affecting their livelihoods and their profitability. They do not have the market power to push back on the impact. They cannot pass the costs through, as example after example has shown, but the Gillard Labor government do not care. That is what small business knows: Labor does not care about their needs.