Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that small and family business insolvencies have exploded since the election of the Government, as its policies crush confidence and drive businesses to close;

(2) recognises that:

(a) the Government's industrial relations changes have replaced flexibility and fairness with confusion and compliance;

(b) the Government's energy policies have driven up power bills for shops, cafes, workshops and family enterprises; and

(c) small and family business are being forced to work longer hours for less return, while competing against government-subsidised sectors and ever increasing compliance costs;

(3) further notes that the voices of small and family businesses have been drowned out by union and big-corporate interests within the Government's decision making;

(4) condemns the Government for abandoning small and family businesses by:

(a) ignoring calls for tax relief and simpler regulation;

(b) pursuing workplace laws that punish entrepreneurship and flexibility; and

(c) failing to provide a clear pathway for small businesses to grow and employ more Australians; and

(5) affirms that the Opposition stands with small and family businesses who back themselves, create jobs and keep communities strong.

Nearly two million small businesses operate in Australia, often forgoing the safety of a salary for the opportunity for economic progress to back them and their families and to create economic opportunity for others. Most small-business people are just Aussies backing themselves. They're the engine room of the economy. They're also the creators of employment. Small-business people are often the people who give the next generation their first job in the community. They didn't wait for permission; they're just living out the full aspect of commercial hope. They are the best of what we should want for our country, but they live a brutal reality.

Last year 14,000 small businesses collapsed—record insolvencies. They're facing higher costs and regulation. State taxes like land tax and payroll tax are crippling them. We have a cost-of-small-business crisis. Often they pay themselves last, after they pay their staff and their suppliers. They struggle to get finance, and profit is normally more theory than lived. This government assumes they all have human resources departments, tax departments, and legal and industrial relations departments. It doesn't understand they're normally sole operators or have a small number of staff that they can employ. They don't want a handout from government. They just want a fair go. What they need is a champion. They need a movement to stand up and speak out for them. But from this government, they're not getting it.

Small-business people have a right to earn an honest living without being strangled by Canberra, because it's simply about having profitability. If you can't make a profit, you can't employ, you can't invest and you can't survive. It's about fairness because a system designed for multinational unions should not be imposed on a family cafe with three staff. It's about pride because every 'open' sign in every shop window is an act of defiance and of hope. And it's about our future because the next generation of Australian jobs, innovation and growth won't come from governments or bureaucracies but from the courage and creativity of small businesses to back themselves.

That's why we need a profitability revolution. We need people to employ Australians again, through a fair work reset. And we need local economic power, where small businesses go on to employ others and create opportunities for the rest of the community. There's never been a time when we've needed more people to stand up and speak out for small business against state governments and this federal government, who do so much to cripple them. It's so important now to be part of change, because when small business stands tall, Australia stands strong. And it's so important that we stand with small business because we need to fight for shopkeepers who can't find staff. We need to fight for the tradie who's drowning in compliance. We need to fight for the cafe owner facing yet another impossible bill. We need to fight for every small-business person that feels alone and abandoned. Well, you're not alone. Some of us believe strongly in what you're doing and want to stand up for you because when small business stands tall, Australia stands strong. And it's time we did that.

This government have no vision or no hope for small business, but the opposition do. We believe in backing you because you've backed yourself. The reality is that the status quo is not good enough. We need the two million small businesses in this country to be proud, to be confident and to rally together to stand up against a government that wants to cripple them. We need those small businesses to stand up, have their voice heard in this nation's parliament and call out the overtaxation, overregulation and all of the other limitations that are stopping them from being their best selves so they can support their communities.

So often, small businesses are on the front line of community service delivery. They're the ones that are sponsoring the local footy club and the local netball club, or making sure that they can meet consumer needs. They're often on the front line of making sure that people can get access to the goods and services they need in their community when larger businesses don't see it as economically or commercially viable.

That's why small business matters so much. It's not just about providing economic opportunities for families but also about creating that first step on the ladder of opportunity for the next generation of Australians. We'll always back in small business, because it's a central pillar of the Australian economy.

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member. Is the motion seconded?

Andrew Willcox (Dawson, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Manufacturing and Sovereign Capability) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Dawson. The question is that the motion be agreed to, and I call the member for Deakin.

Matt Gregg (Deakin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We can all agree that small business needs all the support that we can provide, and I'm so proud to be part of a government that is dedicated to improving the operating environment for small business. I hope, taking the coalition at its word, that it's about supporting small business—that it will take a break from self-destruction and self-congratulation and be banging on the door of the minister for the environment in the hope of securing an EPBC Act reform that fulfils all of the needs of small business. And I hope that all of the benefits to small business are realised by the proper negotiation of that legislation. We've seen a lot of political theatre and a lot of performance, but, if you really meant what you said about helping small business, you would be doing everything you could to ensure the passage of that bill in the interests of small businesses around Australia.

Getting rid of red tape is certainly part of the mission in assisting small business, and that's why we're looking at about 400 different regulatory reforms proposed by regulators after the economic roundtable. We've got exciting innovations that will be coming in to support small business over the next few years. This is all part of the National Small Business Strategy that was released by the minister earlier this year. We have the momentum in government and in our agencies, and in working with other levels of government, to ensure that compliance is no more complicated than it has to be, that regulations are simplified, that we're not having duplication in processes and that we are being as fair, effective and efficient as possible when it comes to the regulation of businesses, because we know that regulation and red tape are holding back both small and large businesses. The focus of this government is on ensuring that we're dealing with regulatory reform in a way that makes things easier, that the reform is facilitative and that we are able to untap the potential of our economy—and that focus is going to be a defining feature of the next three years of work by this government.

In relation to tax, we've seen a tax cut for 1.5 million businesses acting as sole traders, which was opposed by the opposition. They talk about the lack of tax cuts, but they opposed a big tax cut to a whole lot of businesses not very long ago. We've also got small, discrete initiatives such as extending the instant asset write-off into the future, to ensure that tradies who need to update their tools or a cafe that needs to get a new barista machine are able to write them off straightaway to incentivise those investments within business. To have that program continue is going to be incredibly important for those small businesses to be able to invest in their future with confidence. We've also got a $400 million industry growth program to help entrepreneurs to commercialise their ideas and get the skills and support they need to have successful businesses, to ensure that their potential can be unlocked into the future.

We've got a government that is incredibly focused on easing the pathway for small businesses in the way we pay at a government level, the way we open up procurement and all of those things. To the extent that we have influence, we are doing everything possible to support small business. We have ideas that go beyond the coalition's standard 'Oh, let's just cut the working conditions of working people—that's what small business needs.' No: we need an economy that is supporting small businesses to succeed, to innovate, to increase their productivity and to thrive.

There are many aspects to this problem, and energy is one of them. I was kind of surprised that the member for Goldstein wasn't emphasising energy policy—well, not surprised, given what his own party has done since that motion was drafted. If you wanted to design a policy that would create uncertainty and a lack of investment, and fail to drive down power prices in the long term, you would have the coalition's 23rd consecutive pamphlet on energy policy—another one that says, 'Kick the can down the road and let's hope for the best.' That's been their policy since about 2009. It's achieved nothing over the last decade, and it's not going to achieve anything in the future. It's an embarrassing indictment on the coalition's inability to grapple with wicked problems that are affecting small businesses like the small businesses that might install solar panels on the roofs of people's houses or install batteries. Those small businesses matter too. Small businesses are working to be part of the energy transition. I've got a business in my own area that is using hydrogen generators—a fantastic opportunity for lower emissions power generation on islands and in small communities. There's a lot of good work being done by small businesses, and that's going to be undermined by policy uncertainty.

I would say if you want to reflect a commitment to small businesses this week, the best thing you could do is stop congratulating yourself for a minute and go to Senator Watt's office to make sure that the EPBC bill is passed and that all of the pro business aspects of it are safeguarded. That is what a serious opposition would do. That is what a serious party that cares about small businesses would be doing today.

Andrew Willcox (Dawson, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Manufacturing and Sovereign Capability) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Goldstein for raising this important topic. Small businesses aren't just part of our economy; they are the backbone of our economy. They are the beating heart of every main street and every regional town—someone with a dream decides to have a go. They are the bakers opening before dawn, the mechanics working late and the cane farmers handing down the family legacy from one generation to the next. They are the families who back themselves often risking everything, and today that spirit is under threat like never before.

Small and family businesses right across Australia are being hit by a tidal wave of pressure that the government either can't understand or simply refuses to acknowledge. This motions asks the House to confront an uncomfortable truth—small and family businesses are being crushed not by market forces but by government choices. Costs are spiralling. Power bills are sky rocketing. Leases are rising. Insurance is blowing out. Interest rates are pushing many to the brink. Every week I hear the same thing: 'I'm working harder for less, and I don't know how long I can keep it going.' That is not economic management. That is economic neglect.

The reasons are clear. The government's industrial relations changes have replaced flexibility with confusion, fairness with compliance, and replaced opportunity with fear. Business owners are scared of making paperwork mistakes, worried about hiring and terrified of growing because every change seems designed for big unions and big corporates, not the people who actually create the jobs. Labor needs to stop looking after their election cash cows and start looking after real Australians.

Power bills for shops, cafes, small manufacturers and workshops have surged because of this government's reckless energy experiment. Small businesses operate for customers and production timetables, not electricity markets. In regional Australia, where distance adds cost, these increases aren't inconvenient; they are lethal.

Record immigration has made the situation even worse. Labor is bringing in more people that ever, yet small businesses can't hire the skilled workers they desperately need. Businesses in Dawson are constantly telling me workshops can't find mechanics, plumbers and sparkies can't secure skilled trades and medical practices can't hire GPs. Meanwhile, the people we do want—surgeons, dentists, builders—are trapped in visa queues for up to two years. What's worse is that small family businesses can't find unskilled workers to pick fruit, to serve drinks or to deliver pamphlets because the government rolls out the red carpet to refugees, places them on welfare and hoards them in Sydney and Melbourne to build their voter base while mum-and-dad business owners work around the clock to pay their taxes that support these new arrivals.

This isn't leadership. It's bureaucratic chaos, and it's leaving Australians behind. Every new rule, every new layer of red tape, every shift of industrial requirement lands hardest on the smallest operator. A large corporation can hide behind a compliance department. A family business only has itself, its time and its courage. This is why insolvencies are exploding—the highest level in years—in a country that's growing faster than ever. That should terrify everyone who cares about Australia, because small business is not optional. If small businesses collapse, Australia collapses.

Small and family businesses employ nearly half of our workforce, train the majority of apprentices, invest their profits locally, keep regional communities alive and build generational wealth that strengthens families. When a family business closes, we don't just lose a shopfront; we lose the legacy of hard work, sacrifice and Australian ingenuity. What small and family businesses need is simple: lower power bills; a cheaper, better, fairer energy policy; a simple regulation; a visa system that delivers skilled workers they need; a tax system that rewards effort; and, above all, a government that actually backs them. On this side of the House, we stand with small and family business because we understand one simple truth: when a small business wins, Australia wins.

Jerome Laxale (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Anyone who has spent time in or around a small business knows the truth: the pressures are real, the hours are long and the loads on families are heavy. Small-business stress doesn't stay in the shop. It follows owners home. It affects sleep, relationships and, too often, mental health. I know this because, before coming into this place, I ran a small business for 25 years, working in the family business before making the move to federal parliament. I know the stress exists. This reality deserves honesty and respect, and yet here we are debating a motion that takes those real pressures and tries to turn them into a political punchline. We heard some of those political punchlines from the member for Dawson—all fear, no solutions. Small businesses deserve better than these fear campaigns and slogans that the opposition roll out when it comes to small business. They deserve practical support, calm leadership and serious policy, and that is exactly what this government is delivering for small business.

In Bennelong, I speak to small-business owners every week, from cafes in Gladesville navigating high merchant service costs for accepting digital payments to family restaurants in Eastwood juggling staffing to big and small tech companies in Macquarie Park struggling to find trained and skilled workers. None of these businesses I speak to are asking for the political theatre that we're seeing from those opposite. They're asking for certainty, for practical support and for government to have their backs through what is a tough economic cycle. And that's what we're doing. Nearly one million small businesses have now accessed targeted energy bill relief—up to $800 in support—since the last budget. Small businesses around the country have accessed our small business energy efficiency grants, upgrading technology in their business just like the IGA supermarket in Epping, who upgraded their equipment to save 30 per cent on their energy costs, or AustGrade Swim School at Top Ryde, who got new pool covers to trap heat from their swimming pools to save on their energy costs too.

We've got Labor's instant asset write-off giving businesses the confidence to invest and help with their cash flow. Our payment times reforms are making sure small businesses get paid faster and reliably. Our digital and cyber programs are helping small businesses navigate a really tricky policy area with the Small Business Cyber Resilience Service and the Cyber Wardens program as well. Our campaign to end surcharges and to reduce costs for small businesses just for accepting digital payments will deliver tangible savings to small businesses across the country.

Now, if you read this motion, you see that the Liberals want us to believe that small businesses are being abandoned, but the facts are very different. They tell a very different story. There are 2.66 million small businesses operating in Australia today. They contribute nearly $600 billion to our economy and employ over five million Australians. While the opposition wants to pretend that the pandemic, global inflation and geopolitical uncertainty never happened or haven't had an impact, this government has been doing the real work to help small businesses recover and rebuild.

If the opposition were serious about supporting small businesses, they would have been supporting the practical steps of this government or putting up their own solutions themselves. Let's be very clear on their record here. Energy bill relief was opposed by the opposition; tax cuts for 1.5 million sole traders were opposed by the opposition; better payment times were delivered by Labor and ignored for a decade by those opposite; Labor's instant asset write-off a couple of years ago was held up in the Senate for months and months and months, providing uncertainty for businesses across the country; and who knows where they stand on reducing merchant and payments costs for small businesses accepting digital payments. When the opposition claim small businesses have been abandoned, they mean that they've opposed the very measures that this government has put out to support small business—and it won't stop there. We'll continue to have the back of small businesses across the country.

Leon Rebello (McPherson, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the motion moved by the member for Goldstein because it is indeed a matter of the utmost public importance. Small and family businesses are doing it tough under this government. Across my community of McPherson, from cafes and pubs to local grocers, sole traders and manufacturers, it's becoming harder to operate and more costly just to keep the doors open.

When small business succeeds, Australia succeeds. Creating the conditions for enterprise to flourish is critically important to repairing our economy, driving real private-sector wage growth, reducing consumer costs and building a more prosperous nation. Those opposite fail to understand that when they make life harder for small business they make life harder for every Australian. Many Gold Coast businesses do everything they can to shield their customers, but they simply cannot absorb every new cost and every new regulation imposed by this government. Those costs inevitably flow through to consumers, compounding the cost-of-living crisis.

In Labor's last term, Anthony Albanese oversaw the worst rate of business insolvencies of any other prime minister since Federation. Let that sink in. During this period, Queensland recorded more than 4,500 insolvencies. Nationally, that figure was around 25,000, with businesses in the construction sector hit the hardest. What does that tell us? Construction is becoming less viable under this Labor government. Between union pressure, mounting red tape and higher operating costs, the sector is being strangled. As a result, Australia is falling behind in infrastructure, roads and housing.

Among the thousands of collapsed businesses are hardworking tradies—Australians who backed themselves, took a risk and set up their own business to contribute to building our country. Instead of supporting them, this government is doing everything it can to hinder their growth. Why would Labor want a thriving small-business construction sector? That would hardly suit the interests of their big-business-aligned union mates at the CFMEU. Instead, this government piles on 5,000 new regulations, hundreds of new laws and nearly 3,000 pages of construction codes—enough to drown small operators and keep aspirational builders firmly at bay. In doing so, Labor is directly tilting the balance away from ambition in enterprise and towards big-business monopolisation and union power.

The government abolished effective construction oversight, looked the other way as union militancy pushed up costs and drove down productivity, and then pretended it was all somebody else's fault. These decisions are not victimless. When projects are delayed or costs blow out, Australians pay the price. When the CFMEU's grip on residential construction inflates costs by 30 per cent, it's not just the developers who feel it; it's every family trying to build a home or every small business that's trying to fit-out a shopfront. These decisions drive up rents, price out first home buyers and deepen the housing crisis.

Productivity is down five per cent. Our competitiveness has slipped. The government should clear the path, not block it. Yet, under Labor, small and family businesses aren't treated as partners in prosperity. They're treated like an ATM for taxes, a test case for regulation, and are punished for creating jobs and supporting local communities.

Energy policy is no better. On the southern Gold Coast, businesses are doing it tough, and they're staring down higher power prices while ministers chase ideology over outcomes. The greatest cost increase for business under this government has been energy. Labor failed to grasp the basic economic understanding that when business costs rise so, too, do the costs for consumers. Their mismanagement of energy policy has driven power prices up by nearly 40 per cent, fuelling cost-of-living pressures for every Australian and every Australian business. Pick ideology over affordability and you get more insolvencies, fewer private sector jobs, lower productivity and a weaker economy, followed by higher government spending to clean up the mess. Labor's energy policies are fuelling inflation and fuelling the cost-of-living crisis.

That's why we in the coalition are committed to an energy policy focused on affordability whilst lowering emissions responsibly, at a pace that technology and the economy can sustain. We want to accelerate new supply, keep existing generation online and allow investment to flow where it delivers the lowest, most-reliable prices, because when you reduce the cost of energy you don't just lower household bills; you ease one of the largest expenses facing small businesses. When energy becomes affordable again, that relief will flow through to the entire economy.

Tom French (Moore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to oppose the motion moved by the member for Goldstein. We all know that the member is never short on rhetoric, but today he is desperately short on facts, and small-business operators deserve better than that. Labor is and always has been the party of the real economy—the workers who power small businesses and the small businesses that power our communities. That's not just talk; that's our economic record. When Hawke and Keating modernised the nation they laid the foundations that every small-business owner relies on today. They floated the dollar. They cut tariffs and opened markets. They deregulated financial systems to expand opportunity. They introduced compulsory superannuation, creating the multitrillion-dollar national capital pool that underpins Australian investment, including the lending capacity that small businesses rely on. And let's be honest: the coalition fought Hawke and Keating on every major economic reform—the float, the tariffs, superannuation and deregulation—and they were wrong every single time. Those reforms created a competitive, stable, modern economy that allowed millions of small businesses to thrive.

The Albanese Labor government continues in that tradition. We back the 2.66 million small businesses that contribute $596 billion to our economy and employ 5.16 million Australians. Small businesses keep our suburbs vibrant. The cafes, the gyms, the clinics, the tradies and the retailers make my northern corridor a great place to live. And when small businesses thrive, Australia thrives. This government actually acts on that belief; we don't just talk about it.

This government has delivered energy bill relief to around one million small businesses. We backed that with $56.7 million in energy efficiency grants that help small businesses to permanently lower their power bills. The member for Goldstein talks about being pro small business, but his party's record tells another story. The coalition opposed Labor's tax cuts that benefit 1.5 million sole traders. They opposed the last round of tax cuts for small business. That's the coalition's record.

This is our record. We're delivering the National Small Business Strategy, co-designed with states and territories to cut red tape and reduce duplication. We invested $33.4 million to strengthen the Payment Times Reporting Scheme so that big corporates can't sit on invoices and choke small businesses' cash flow. We extended the $20,000 instant asset write-off so that small businesses can invest in tools, technology, equipment and machinery. That means tradies in Heathridge upgrading tools, cafes in Hillarys buying a new coffee machine that doubles output, and Joondalup office businesses upgrading their CRM systems, all with immediate deductibility, supporting cash flow.

We also delivered more than $80 million in digital support programs, digital solutions, cyber wardens and the Small Business Cyber Resilience Service, because modernisation is not optional for small business; it is essential. We strengthened the franchising code and invested in the ACCC to protect small franchisees from unfair contract terms and power imbalances, We expanded unfair trading protections so that small operators are no longer steamrolled by large corporations. On workplace relations, we worked directly with COSBOA and employer groups to stage reforms and introduce exemptions for small business. We established a voluntary wage compliance code so genuine small businesses aren't criminalised for administrative errors. And we funded the Fair Work Ombudsman and Fair Work Commission to give small businesses practical, accessible guidance—something the coalition never bothered with.

The member for Goldstein neglects to mention all of this because none of it fits the narrative he wants to sell. But small-business owners see through it. They know the difference between the government that shows up for them and the opposition that simply shows up to talk about them. Small businesses don't want culture wars; they want practical support. Labor delivers on that. The coalition does not.

So, yes, the Labor Party is the party of small business because we back the people who start them, run them, employ locals and keep communities strong. We invest in their tools, their training, their energy bills, their digital capability and their long-term success. The member for Goldstein wants small businesses to believe that this government has walked away from them. But small-business operators are not fools. They know who actually delivers for them.

I oppose this motion. I stand with the Labor government that is carrying forward the proud Labor tradition of supporting small businesses. I stand with the small businesses of Moore and across Australia who deserve a government that backs them every single day.

Mary Aldred (Monash, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the member for Goldstein with this motion because, like me, the member for Goldstein grew up in a family-run small business. He knows what it's like to see his parents answer phone calls at all times of the night and put their customers and their staff first, before they look after themselves. My parents and his parents had small businesses like 2.6 million other small businesses right across Australia, which represent 44 per cent of our workforce. And that's a really important workforce because, for a lot of young people in our community, particularly in regions like mine, small-business employers represent their first shot at a job. They represent their first opportunity to learn processes, teamwork, feedback and resilience—all of the things that you get to learn in a small business that help set you up for life.

But, right now, it's never been harder to be a small-business person in Australia. The facts really back this up. MYOB, the accounting business, put out a survey in October that showed that energy was the No. 1 challenge that the majority of small-business owners were grappling with, where they've got high costs and unreliability. This federal government is not doing anything to address that.

The next biggest challenge was inflation, which is affecting consumers and families right now, coupled with, of course, interest rates remaining high. That's affecting consumer confidence. It's affecting small businesses and retailers in communities like mine, where this should be a bumper season right now, heading into Christmas. Unfortunately, the economic conditions visited upon us by this federal Labor government are impacting small businesses right across Australia.

ACCI, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, put out a survey just a couple of weeks ago, and that shows that half of small businesses are suffering from high levels of stress because it's so hard to be a small-business owner in the Anthony Albanese Labor government's Australia. It's actually impacting the mental health of a lot of people who run a small business and causing them significant amounts of stress. Together with energy, inflation and the economic environment that we're in, red tape is also significant, with 30 per cent of people surveyed worried that their businesses might be forced to close over the next 12 months.

This government has never met a piece of red tape that it didn't like. There are many examples that I could cite to support this. But, to pick one, the recent Franchising Code of Conduct reforms have lumped on a huge amount of unnecessary red tape for small-business owners. Disclosure documents will now have to be printed out—you're talking about 100 pages to be printed just to be given to prospective franchisees when they're looking at entering into a new business. Now, you don't print out an entire copy of the Corporations Act when delivering a share prospectus, to provide another analogy. But this is just one example of the onerous amount of red tape and regulation that is suffocating many small businesses across Australia.

I now want to give a shout out to a few fantastic small businesses in my electorate. We've got the Waterboy Cafe in Cowes. Their coffee is gold medal-worthy. We've got Froyo in Cowes, which is a new startup. They just opened in Leongatha a few years ago and have now expanded to open a second site in Cowes. We've got Coastal Bulkfoods in Wonthaggi; it's an incredible business. We've got the Fig and the Bay in Corinella. I love grabbing a coffee there. There is Sth Drop in Wonthaggi. Greener Life in Inverloch is an amazing nursery, and I am a huge fan of their work. When times are tough in small business, you cannot underestimate the importance of businesses like Greener Life and people like Monique, who runs that amazing business. We've got Mookah in Inverloch and Warragul, cafes like Lyon & Bair and Number 9 Dream in Leongatha, Leongatha Garden Supplies and the Foster Pharmacy—just to name a few. The coalition backs small business. I back small business. Small business needs a better go from this government.

David Smith (Bean, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's Monday morning of the last sitting week of the year. The government is getting on with delivering its promises to the Australian people, and here we are, once again, responding to a private member's motion by the member for Goldstein, with all of the accompanying characteristics of ardour and illusion. Talk about ending the parliamentary year in a blaze of glory!

I want to acknowledge my colleagues who spoke before me today in this debate, and pay credit to their efforts to set the record straight on this government's support for small and family businesses. Let me be very clear. This government has a strong record of support for small and family businesses right across Australia. This is a record support in immediate and practical terms that I see every day as I travel around my electorate of Bean talking to small business owners and their employees. This is what we are delivering for small and family businesses. The National Small Business Strategy is the first of its kind to bring governments across Australia together in support of our small businesses. Through this, we are supporting the creation of efficiencies and the reduction of the duplication of effort. We are providing actionable policies and programs to support local businesses right across Australia, elevating small businesses in the government decision-making process at each level of government.

An area of challenge and opportunity for all businesses, but particularly small and family businesses, is in the cyber domain. The risks and dangers caused by exposure to ongoing and evolving threats is a real and present danger for small and family businesses. But we cannot allow these risks to get in the way of opportunity. Digital technology is key to a strong, productive and resilient economy. Small and family businesses need protection and support to take advantage of this technology. Our government recognises this, and we have taken action. We have introduced digital supports, including more than $80 million investment in the Digital Solutions program, the Cyber Wardens program, the Small Business Cyber Resilience Service and the Cyber Health Check tool. Our $18.6 million Digital Solutions program helps small businesses adopt digital tools and grasp the opportunities that going online offers. It provides support in the areas of websites and selling online, social media and digital marketing, use of business software, cyber security and data privacy. Our $23.4 million Cyber Wardens program helps small businesses build resilience against online threats, and our $11.1 million Small Business Cyber Resilience Service provides free, one-on-one tailored support for small businesses to prevent and recover from cyberattacks.

The responsibility of all of us in this place is not just to criticise but to offer an alternative action or arrangement. Let's look at what those opposite have actually offered for small and family businesses. One thing they did do was to stand in the way of a tax cut which was of benefit to 1.5 million sole traders. In fact, they didn't just didn't stand in the way of a tax cut; they, through the then-shadow treasurer, the member for Hume, called our plan a 'cruel hoax' without proposing an alternative view. In fact, the only plan they announced to support small and family businesses was to offer some personal income tax cuts. I wouldn't quite categorise that as an affirmation that those opposites stand with small and family businesses.

We are getting on with the job of helping small and family businesses to grow and prosper. We want to see them become medium and large businesses. The member for Goldstein is right about one thing. Small and family businesses create jobs and keep our communities strong. The Albanese government will always stand up for the engine room of the Australian economy and stand side-by-side with small and family businesses.

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.