Henry Pike (Bowman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I spend a lot of time talking with small businesses across my electorate in the Redlands. They're the family-run firms, the tradies, the shopfronts and the service providers who put their own money and their own time on the line. I'll tell you what they're telling me—that it's getting harder, not easier, to make ends meet. They tell me about the risks of putting on new staff. They want to grow, they want to invest, but the barriers are stacked against them. Costs keep rising, red tape keeps piling up and the confidence that drives investment has been sapped. We have a productivity crisis in this country. Both sides of the parliament will agree on that. The heartbreaking thing is that, when I talk to local businesses about how they can grow their production, how they can employ more people, their response is far too often to say, 'Unfortunately, it's just become too hard.'

Last week, we saw three days of talk right here in Canberra. Sadly, there have been no outcomes from the government's productivity summit that offer a shred of relief for families or businesses—nothing to reverse Australia's nosedive in productivity growth and the biggest fall in living standards in the developed world. Instead, we saw big unions opening the door to higher taxes—taxes on superannuation, savings, housing and the family business. This is the same old agenda that we see from the other side of this place, unfortunately. We've seen the government outlays blowing out from 24 to 27 per cent of GDP, debt is climbing to $1.2 trillion and the Treasurer's only answer is more taxes.

Business groups are warning that this approach will drive down investment and productivity, and that's of course the exact opposite of what's needed. Unfortunately, productivity is in freefall in Australia. Australia's competitiveness ranking has slid from 13th to 18th in just two years. We've seen annual growth running at 1.3 per cent, less than half the long-term average, and Australia has fallen from 20th to 60th in the world for growth per person. Of course, that measure is critically important when you're boiling these stats down to what they mean to Australian households.

I recently surveyed businesses across the Redlands to get a true picture of how things are going on the ground. The results should ring alarm bells for every member of this House. Ninety-six per cent of businesses in my electorate expect their operating to costs to rise over the next year; more than half the local businesses believe the economy will shrink this financial year; price pressures are identified as the single biggest handbrake on growth; and only 11 per cent of businesses in the Redlands believe federal policy is helping to drive jobs or investment. These aren't just statistics; I believe they're warning signs. They are the lived experience of employers who are the backbone of the economy in my community.

Labor's answer to all this is just another summit—another roundtable, another talkfest. Sadly, this latest effort mirrored last term's Jobs and Skills Summit and Kevin Rudd's 2020 summit: heavy on hype and light on delivery. Rather than more talk, local employers are telling me they want more action. They are proposing practical reforms. Some of the ideas that I've heard from local businesses include bringing back full expensing so businesses can instantly deduct capital investment; cutting unnecessary regulation, especially for small firms; simplifying awards and workplace laws so enterprise bargaining is actually flexible; backing business investment with a competitive tax system; and ending this government's habit of picking winners and handouts for favoured sectors.

Productivity doesn't come from a minister's press release; it comes from the ground up. It comes from the hundreds of local businesses in the Redlands who back themselves every day and who create jobs for our community. They deserve a government that gets out of their way and gets off their back.

And here is the truth. If we want to turn around our nation's productivity, if we want to restore living standards, if we want our children to inherit a country that is stronger, wealthier and more secure, then we need to back small business—not with talk, not with summits, but with real reform, because, when small businesses succeed, Australia succeeds. When local employers thrive, families thrive. And when we've put our trust in the enterprise and the hard work of our small-business people, this sector of the economy has never let us down.

Napoleon once sneered at the English that they were a nation of shopkeepers. He meant it as an insult. But history proved it to be a compliment—a nation built on enterprise.

In Australia, that inherited tradition of small business runs deep. Menzies of course reminded us of the great middle class—the men and women who run the corner stores, the workshops and the farms. John Howard often spoke about small business being the backbone of the economy, and he was right. These businesses aren't just numbers in the accounts; they're families; they're livelihoods; they're the spirit of self-reliance and independence that has always defined this country. Supporting small business is the path to higher wages, to stronger growth and to restoring the great promise of Australia.