Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Small business is the heart and soul of the Australian economy, including in my electorate in the south-west of Western Australia. Of the more than two million actively trading businesses in Australia, almost 96 per cent are small businesses and 3.8 per cent are medium businesses. Small and medium businesses combined employ 70 per cent of the nation's private sector workers, or 59 per cent of all Australian workers. Small business alone—those with fewer than 20 employees—account for 46 per cent of all of Australia's workers in the private sector.

That is why small business is so important to the coalition government, and why the federal government has moved to make life easier for small business. The first step has been to reduce the compliance burden that employers face when making superannuation contributions for their workers by having the Australian Taxation Office take over the running of the Small Business Superannuation Clearing House. This is an online service that helps small businesses meet their superannuation guarantee obligations by allowing employers to pay superannuation contributions in one transaction to a single location to reduce red tape and compliance costs.

Another step has been to ensure small businesspeople who call the Fair Work Ombudsman now receive priority service with reduced waiting times. This will help them to efficiently improve their understanding of workplace laws so they are confident to grow, to invest and to create even more jobs. These moves are part of the government's commitment to cut $1 billion of red tape out of the economy and they will certainly make life easier for small business.

There is another important plank in our small business policy. This coalition government will undertake the first comprehensive review of competition laws and policy in more than 20 years. This root-and-branch review delivers on a key election commitment and will help identify ways to build the economy and promote investment, growth and job creation. The competition review will examine not only the current laws but the broader competition framework to increase productivity and efficiency in markets, to drive benefits to ease cost-of-living pressures and to raise living standards for all Australians. An integral part of any such review will be the need to create a more level playing field for small businesses competing with or supplying major national and multinational businesses. Any review of competition laws will need to look at section 46 of the Trade Practices Act and in particular the definition of 'substantial market power' and its misuse. The federal government has provided the states and territories with draft terms of reference for the competition review, and I look forward to engaging with the review panel over the coming months. I will encourage all interested parties in my electorate to participate through public hearings and submission processes.

The reason we are concerned is that since Labor came to government there has been a decline of 3,000 employing small businesses. That is a major concern given the impact small business has not only in my electorate but right across Australia. Many of these small businesses are family owned and run. Small businesspeople in rural and regional areas often support local events and fundraising efforts. They donate goods and prizes, and small towns rely on small businesses, as do the residents of rural and regional towns. They rely on small businesses in their communities to provide their daily needs, whether for family use or in their own small businesses. If you are a farmer or a grower, usually the small business in your community is the one that you use most, that you rely on and that you need open, no matter what time it is, for the produce or spare parts you need. Whatever it is you need, these are the businesses that provide it.

So I am very pleased that the coalition has shown a distinct commitment to small business. We can see that as well from the fact that we have had the same small business spokesman and minister for an extended period of time. When Labor was in government, we saw perhaps five different small business ministers. We have a dedicated small business minister, and he is as committed as the rest of us are to progressing the interests of small business in what we do as a government.