Wyatt Roy (Longman, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have some great small businesses in my electorate, owned and managed by some very passionate and hardworking people. Last week I went to visit some of these people and their businesses. I visited Specsavers, Nextra, Subway, Australian Country Living, LensPro, Hairhouse Warehouse and Price Attack, all in the Morayfield Shopping Centre. Earlier this year, these businesses were nominated for the Longman Small Business Achievement Award for the hard work they had been putting in to build their business and the business community. All of these businesses deserve to be congratulated for their outstanding efforts.

When I am out speaking to local businesses, people ask me about how a coalition government would ease pressure and kick-start the local economy. Unlike this Labor government, the coalition believes in small business. We believe that small business is the engine room of the economy and that we as policy makers need to be doing everything possible to ensure that small business can prosper. We understand that in order to prosper, small businesses need certainty—that is why we have a clear plan to help small business. The coalition will alleviate the pressure on small business by cutting unnecessary taxes. We have made it very clear that we will abolish the carbon tax. This is a bad tax that is hurting small business through electricity costs, refrigerant costs, transportation costs and rising overheads, and the list goes on. We will also cut $1 billion of red tape by restoring a bit of common sense and practicality, something that has long been missing from this Labor government. A coalition government will also conduct a root-and-branch review of competition law to ensure federal legislation and policy settings promote competition rather than penalise small business. We want to help small business get ahead. We want to make it easier for them to get on with the job of running their business. That is why the coalition will protect the rights of independent contractors and the self-employed by recognising and preserving the PSI tax treatment. We will also institute a policy that ensures government departments pay their bills to small businesses on time—and, if they do not, they will be forced to pay interest.

The coalition will ensure that small business has a strong voice with the key decision makers of this country. We will establish a small business ombudsman to advocate for small business and champion their concerns. This will also exist as a gateway for government support and services. Small businesses will receive stronger, more effective representation on regulatory bodies, and small business policy will be a priority of a coalition government, with a federal small business minister appointed to cabinet to ensure that small business concerns are of the utmost priority in policy decisions.

It is my strong belief that, as policymakers, we need to listen to what our small businesses are experiencing. They are at the coalface and only they can tell us what can be done to assist them in getting on with the job of running their businesses. It is for this reason that I created the Longman Executive Business Branch earlier this year. The Longman Executive Business Branch provides local small businesspeople with a platform to speak directly with the key decision makers and to share with them the challenges facing business.

Earlier this year the Longman Executive Business Branch was launched, with a breakfast featuring the shadow minister for communications and broadband, Malcolm Turnbull, as guest speaker. This was a great event, and there was a lot of enthusiasm for the opportunity to speak to a policymaker about how communications infrastructure and policy affect local businesses. Next week, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, the shadow minister for foreign affairs and trade, Julie Bishop will be a guest at the breakfast of the Longman Executive Business Branch, sharing her insights gained from her role in business as the shadow minister for trade. Next month, I will be hosting the shadow minister for small business, Bruce Billson, at another function for the Longman Executive Business Branch. Small businesses from my electorate will have the opportunity to put questions about the coalition's initiatives to help small businesses get ahead and relieve the pressure they are facing.

Should the coalition be re-elected, we will once again see a government that will scrap unnecessary taxes. It will cut wasteful spending and reduce the tax burden on business. We will see higher productivity, higher job growth, sustainable development and a modern enterprise economy that eradicates barriers to opportunity and engagement.