Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The bluff and blunder of the productivity roundtable is finally over. We saw a three-day talkfest unravel with some potential policy outcomes, including copied parts of coalition housing policy and the expansion of schemes we put in place when we were in government. 'Was there more than this?' Australians might ask. 'What can we expect from this government?' There were ideas on spending more money and increasing government debt, and, of course, there was the threat of new taxes. The roundtable was just another way to demonstrate how Labor will never stop in their endeavour to continue taxing you in any way possible.

Perhaps after this parliamentary sitting fortnight, the Albanese Labor government ministers might focus back on the Australian people they represent, not just the corporates and the unions that they hosted here in Canberra. What about a tour of small and family businesses around the country to talk about productivity, burdensome taxes, industrial relations changes and red tape?

The Minister for Small Business held a roundtable hearing in Canberra last month. Following this, the minister went on the ABC, where was asked about small-business issues relating to industrial relations. The minister then admitted she was specific about which examples she wanted to talk about at the roundtable, and industrial relations wasn't one of them. This is extraordinary! The whole point of a roundtable is for ideas and information to be discussed to create action items to boost productivity. When I hold small-business and manufacturing roundtables in my electorate of Lindsay, I always listen to every issue the owners and employees are facing. That's my job as a member in this place, and I don't take it lightly.

Without the people who have a go and start up a small business, our country would be so much worse off. We have five million Australians who are employed in small businesses. In my electorate of Lindsay, we are surrounded by many amazing small and family businesses and manufacturers, from those in hospitality and market farming to those in earthmoving and defence manufacturing. These businesses are the heart and soul of Lindsay, of Western Sydney and indeed of our country. They provide good local jobs for Australians that support industry locally and globally.

But, instead of focusing on these small businesses and manufacturers and the need to boost productivity, the roundtable was an event to host new ideas about taxes—higher taxes, taxes on your superannuation, taxes on your home and taxes on family businesses. It's as if we've gone back in a time machine to 2019 and Labor's resurrecting their old policies which they lost an election on. Despite Labor's overreach, you can always rely on the coalition to back lower, simpler and fairer taxes, and we will always be the party of small business. You can't deny that.

Do you know what cripples small business? It's big government. This Albanese Labor government will not rein in its spending, which has blown out to 27 per cent of GDP. Government debt is spiralling to $1.2 trillion. Productivity is stalling and has gone backwards by more than five per cent under Labor. We have an unemployment rate that has increased by almost half a percentage point to 4.2 per cent. Living standards have slipped by more than six per cent under the Albanese Labor government. This is why it is astounding that they are again putting out ideas to tax individuals and small businesses more. What more can small businesses give?

I have small businesses and manufacturers in Lindsay that are on their knees and struggling to get by. This is the truth. I'm so concerned by the number of small businesses that are going insolvent. When I speak to them, they are genuinely distressed. They are desperate to keep their doors open. But high energy costs, incessant red tape and ongoing taxes are pushing them to the brink and closing them down. We need a government that listens to and respects small and family business and goes out there and actually speaks to them on the ground and sees them in their day-to-day operations, speaks to their employees and understands their stressors, not a government that's focused on PR fluff. They need to be focused on the people that keep Australia going.