Craig Laundy (Reid, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to my good friend the Minister for Small Business. He is aware of the 19,200 small businesses that operate in my electorate.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There will be silence on my left!

Craig Laundy (Reid, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He is aware of the 19,200 small businesses that I have in my electorate of Reid. Could he please explain to us how the government is supporting those small businesses not only in Reid but throughout every electorate in Australia?

Bruce Billson (Dunkley, Liberal Party, Minister for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a pleasure to answer the member for Reid's question. I would be thrilled to explain how our Economic Action Strategy is supporting small business. The member for Reid shares the characteristic with so many on this side of the House. Small businesses and family enterprises run through our veins on this side of the House. As we have shaped that Economic Action Strategy to deal with the debt and deficit legacy, small business interests have been very much front of mind. And they had to be. Who could forget the 412,000 jobs lost in small business under Labor? They seemed to never miss an opportunity to hurt, harm and punish small business. We saw the small business share of private sector employment fall from 53 per cent to 43 per cent.

So as we shape this Economic Action Strategy, re-energising small business, giving those courageous men and women who mortgage their house to create opportunities for themselves and others, a fair go is crucial. I will give you one example. No small business could possibly accept Labor's argument that racking up debt and deficit, paying interest payments on your VISA card, is some strategy for the future. No small business or family enterprise could do that. They hope to hand on their family enterprise to the next generation. Do you think they could hand it on saddled with debt that just keeps growing and that needs to be paid for by a VISA card? Small business people understand that and that is why change was required. That change not only gets the budget back on track; it creates the economic conditions in the business environment to get small business again being the engine room of our economy, giving us the jobs growth, the chance to turn around that job loss that Labor oversaw in its office.

What have we offered? We have got tax cuts, the incentive of lower company tax, getting rid of the carbon tax that has been so punishing to the small business community and getting that infrastructure package going not only to shift commuters but to shift commerce to energise enterprise in our country. We have properly funded the ACCC. It seemed not to matter that small business needed the ACCC as consumers did. They ran that into the ground as well. We have unfair contract terms protections; improvements in government procurement; a chance to encourage people back into work, whether it is a mature aged person looking to be a part of a small business; and the PPL program. What a great set of initiatives.

I know under the previous government no small business thought the previous Labor government was on their side, but I tell you what: with Labor's reaction to this plan to put our country back on track, they know the only friend small business and family enterprise have is the Abbott Liberal-National party government.