House debates

Wednesday, 1 September 2021

Questions without Notice

Small Business

3:11 pm

Photo of Nicolle FlintNicolle Flint (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

Great, let's go! My question is to the Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business. Will the minister please update the House on why sticking to the national plan is vital for Australian small and family businesses, especially in light of today's national accounts and especially for those residents of the member for Mackellar's electorate?

3:12 pm

Photo of Stuart RobertStuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business) Share this | | Hansard source

I thank the member for Boothby; I was expecting the member for Grey to ask the question. Today's national accounts, of course, have got a pleasing number at 0.7 per cent growth for the June quarter. But, importantly for small business and whilst the results are better than many expected, small businesses still are doing it tough.

Unpacking the numbers today, we see one of the biggest contributors to the 0.7 per cent growth in the quarter is household consumption driven by expenditure on services, and many of the providers of those services are our small and family businesses—services like cafes, restaurants, hotels, transport services and the like. This demonstrates that the fundamentals of the economy, under the stewardship of the Morrison government, are strong and they bounce back strongly once restrictions are lifted. It also shows that Australian households are doing their bit by supporting our small to medium enterprises through local consumption, and it's important that we continue to do our bit as well.

It's clear that supports the Morrison government has put in place during the pandemic are working and they're working well, but it is fundamental that we continue to stick to the agreed national plan if we're going to follow this through. The national plan is our national hope. It's the national hope for small and family businesses right across Australia. If we stick to the national plan, our small and family businesses, our families operating them, can actually plan with certainty. If we move away from our national plan, we will take national hope away from them.

Our small businesses have been fundamentally impacted by COVID-19. We all know that. It's why the Morrison government has put in place the largest package of financial supports in our nation's history—$291 billion worth, everything from JobKeeper to business support payments and the SME Recovery Loan Scheme, all there to assist small and medium enterprises. They buy us time, but they aren't a permanent solution for our small business community. The Prime Minister has said that, as we fight our way towards 70 and 80 per cent vaccination rates, as per the agreed national plan, we can open up Australia, and that means our small and family businesses can open up. The national plan gives us certainty. The CEO of COSBOA, Alexi Boyd, made this point very well, saying, 'Small businesses need to be able to plan.' She welcomed the national plan. Her words were: 'It's great we've now got this. It's imperative all states work together to support the reopening as fast as we can.' The Morrison government is on a unity ticket—we're all on a unity ticket over here—with small businesses on the national plan. It's now important that everyone else, and every other parliament, joins that unity ticket with us.

Photo of Scott MorrisonScott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | | Hansard source

I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.