Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Jobs, Industrial Relations and Women. Will the minister update the House on why the government believes in a fair and sustainable taxation system and what the government is doing to act on this belief through its support for small business? What are the risks for small business from different ideas?

Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party, Minister for Jobs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Robertson for her question. She is absolutely passionate about the more than 15,000 small businesses in her electorate of Robertson and is a very powerful voice for them. She is someone who, like every member on this side of the chamber, believes passionately in small business. That is one of the reasons why our government is delivering tax relief to small and family-sized businesses sooner, the more than three million small businesses that provide jobs for more than seven million Australians.

Unfortunately though, those opposite don't really support small business. Those opposite believe in higher and higher taxes for small business. For those small businesses, for instance, that have a trust, they will tax those small businesses. For those small businesses that actually employ people who want to salary sacrifice to save for their retirement income, they would, in fact, scrap that. They don't support small business and they certainly don't support the people who work for small business.

But it's not just on the issue of tax where those opposite would damage small business and the people who work for them. At the behest of the donors of the Labor Party, the ACTU, they would shut down entire industries at a time, costing jobs and closing down small businesses. The Leader of the Opposition has a plan to scrap the tough cop on the beat in the building and construction industry and he would allow militant unions to run riot, to bully and intimidate small-business people and the people that work for them.

We are all aware of and familiar with the rule of law. It applies equally to all, whether you be a barista, a cleaner, a doctor or a lawyer. But, under the Leader of the Opposition, there would be a new law of the land. It would be known as Sally's Law and says that you can break the law whenever you like. We certainly know that Sally's Law would very soon become Bill's Law, and he would make the lawbreakers the lawmakers. The coalition supports small businesses and the people that work for them. While the former leaders of the Labor Party have given the militant unions an IOU, this Leader of the Opposition would give them a blank cheque, and it will be every single hardworking Australian who will be footing the bill.