Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is for the Minister for Small Business. What is the Albanese Labor government doing to ensure small businesses thrive, as a key driver of jobs and innovation?

Anne Aly (Cowan, Australian Labor Party, Minister for International Development) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for McEwen for his question and welcome him back to this place to continue serving the people of McEwen.

Small businesses are in every town and every city, right across the country. They're your local Indian grocer, your hairdresser, your carer, your cleaner, your dentist, your sparky, your caterer and the place you go to get your best kebabs or banh mi. They're not just the engine room of our economy; they are indeed the heart of our communities. They sponsor kids' sporting teams, they support local jobs and they help communities recover from disasters.

I'm pleased to report to the House that, since we first came into office in 2022, under this Albanese Labor government there are now more than 800,000 new small businesses. They employ more than five million people. They contribute more than $590 billion to our economy. In our first term, we set out the key priorities for small business. To ease the pressure on them, to support small businesses to grow and to level the playing field, we delivered over $2 billion in targeted supports for small businesses, and we released the very first National Small Business Strategy. We extended the instant asset write-off, and we provided energy bill relief to small businesses.

This term we're going to continue to build on that record. We're going to further extend the instant asset write-off so that small businesses can invest in the equipment that they need to sustain and to grow. We've committed to tax cuts that will benefit 1½ million sole traders, and we'll continue to work with states and territories to implement the small business strategy.

I want to report to the House that last week I hosted a small business economic roundtable here at Parliament House. I charged those present to be bold and assertive in the recommendations that they will give us, to help us guide our reform agenda. I asked them to consider and to bring forth ideas and solutions for both incremental and structural change to ensure that small businesses are considered not as an afterthought but as being at the heart of our decision-making—as one of the participants put it, 'built in, not bolted on'. I've heard from small businesses and their representatives across a diversity of sectors: manufacturing, hospitality, building, farming and retail. Although they're diverse, their message is loud and clear: small businesses matter, economically and socially. They are the keys that unlock a future made in Australia, for Australia and by Australians. This government will continue to back them, just as they back Australia.