Tom Venning (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The small and family businesses of Australia are quite literally under siege. We must start by looking at the harsh economic reality that this Labor-Greens government has engineered. Headline inflation hit 3.8 per cent in January, but domestic inflation—the pain generated right here at home—is running even hotter at 4.9 per cent. Make no mistake; this is not just a cost-of-living crisis. This is a cost-of-government crisis, a cost-of-doing-business crisis, with inflation higher here than any other major economy.

Government spending is now at its highest levels outside of a recession in 40 years, and Labor's debt is racing towards a staggering $1 trillion. Every single minute, the Australian government is paying around $50,000 just to service this debt. And if you're in South Australia, where I'm from, we're only second to Victoria, both with big Labor spending governments. If you live in South Australia and you combine the state Labor government debt and the federal Labor government debt, it has now reached over $100,000 per worker and rising. Governments don't pay down your debt. Taxpayers do, your children do, and your grandchildren will. This is money that is adding demand to the economy and keeping relentless pressure on prices. After nearly four years of Labor, the numbers are terrifying. Insurance is up 39 per cent, rent is up 22 per cent, and food is up 16 per cent.

But perhaps the most devastating blow to our small and family businesses is energy. Labor have spent years papering over the crisis they unleashed on our energy system. Now that temporary rebates have expired, the truth is laid bare. Electricity prices have surged 37 per cent in the past year alone.

Last week, I had the privilege to be at a SIMEC mine south of Whyalla. That's the hematite and magnetite mine that feeds Whyalla and the export port. They have a 50-megawatt line servicing that mine, and only a few weeks ago the price in South Australia––the wholesale price, which the energy minister likes to talk about all the time––reached over $20,000 a megawatt hour. That is $1 million an hour just to run that business. They employ people to monitor the weather patterns. In South Australia we're at 82 per cent renewables, and the price fluctuates so much. Prices go from negative $200 to, in this case, plus $20,000.

This is the reality of Labor's energy systems. For the shops, the cafes, the local workforce and the family enterprises, these power bills are a death knell. Insolvencies have exploded since this government took office. Confidence is crushed. Instead of throwing a lifeline, what does this government do? It reaches for the handcuffs. That is exactly what this government is doing to small and family businesses. They are slapping handcuffs on our economic backbone. Through their draconian industrial relations changes, they've replaced flexibility and fairness with confusion and compliance. Our small and family businesses are being forced to work longer hours for less, bogged down by ever-increasing layers of red tape, and nowhere is this red tape felt more tightly than in our regional family businesses.

In the broadacre cropping industry, the final regulatory decision from the APVMA on paraquat and diquat will be handed down in mid-2026, but there is no plan to assist farmers with this transition. If no viable and affordable replacement is available at scale, the impact on farmers will be significant. There needs to be support for growers for the transition away from these chemicals, including support for the inevitable increased costs, yield reductions and additional labour requirements. Not only are farmers competing against government subsidised sectors overseas and fighting the elements but they are also now fighting against their own government just to stay viable.

The sheer volume of compliance regulation is punishing the very entrepreneurship we need to feed this country and grow agricultural exports. Small and family businesses are also suffering from a lack of commonsense support in the way of critical infrastructure. On the Eyre Peninsula, we are home to the Southern Hemisphere's largest fishing fleet and some of Australia's most fertile land, yet business owners still cannot access accurate weather forecasts via Doppler. That is why I've established a petition—and everyone should sign it—to get Doppler radar on the EP.

Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Australia's record 2.6 million small businesses are the backbone of this nation. We all know that. They employ people, they create the economy, and they work extremely hard as small-business people. I know this. I have relatives and friends who have small businesses, and I see the work that goes into it.

This government is continually improving the operating environment for small businesses across the country, creating an environment that will help them to thrive, and that's what we should be doing as a government. We should be ensuring that small businesses have all the tools required to thrive. As I said, they are the backbone of our nation. They employ people and keep the economy going, and they work extremely hard.

We know that 2.6 million small businesses contribute about $596 billion to our national economy. Australia's small businesses employ 5.16 million people right across the country. That's 39.1 per cent of our total workforce. Nearly 40 per cent of the total workforce in Australia is employed by small businesses. That is an incredible figure when you think about it.

What has this government done to try and help and assist? We've created the National Small Business Strategy—the first of its kind to bring together governments across Australia to support our small businesses, creating efficiencies and reducing the duplication of effort; providing actionable policies and programs to support local small businesses across the nation; and elevating small businesses in the government decision-making process at each level of government.

We've investing $33.4 million to improve payment times for small businesses doing business with government. There's nothing worse than having to wait for money that you're owed, especially by government departments. So there's been an improvement in that area, including $25.3 million in the 2024-25 budget to support the overhauled Payment Times Reporting Scheme, enhancing the regulator's ability to deliver better payment outcomes for small businesses.

We legislated to extend the instant asset write-off measure to help small businesses manage their cash flow. This is about incentivising small businesses to invest in the equipment that they need to boost productivity, to create more jobs and to help them thrive. The threshold applies per asset, which means small businesses can claim multiple purchases—new tools for tradies; computers, tablets and office equipment; kitchen equipment and coffee machines for cafes et cetera.

We know that energy costs are a big burden on all of us—on families and especially on small businesses. That's why the $56.7 million Energy Efficiency Grants for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises program, which is now closed, provided up to $25,000 to eligible businesses to fund a range of energy upgrades.

There's been more than $80 million in supports through the Digital Solutions program, the Cyber Wardens program, the Small Business Cyber Resilience Service and the Cyber Health Check. We know digital technology is key to productivity and a stronger, more resilient economy.

There's the Buy Australian Plan, helping small and medium-sized businesses compete for and win more government contracts. We're updating the Commonwealth Procurement Rules to significantly increase the small and medium-sized business participation target and improving AusTender to make it easier to identify small and medium-sized businesses on government panels.

There's much more that we've done. There's more than $30 million to help small businesses through the tough times, supporting the mental health and financial wellbeing of small-business owners through the NewAccess for Small Business Owners program and the Small Business Debt Helpline.

This government understands the pressures facing small businesses. That's why we've put all these measures in place. There are many family owned cafes and small businesses that switch their lights on before dawn, tradies who keep our cities moving— (Time expired)

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm in furious agreement with member for Adelaide when he says that we need to do all we can to help small businesses. Indeed, he is right. He talked about the instant asset write-off, but what the member for Adelaide didn't tell the chamber was how much the instant asset write-off is worth. I can tell you: it's $20,000. What was it worth under the coalition? It was unlimited. Admittedly, that was a COVID stimulus, but before that it was a lot higher than $20,000. They say it's a promise and that they've written it into the next budget. This is something that our small businesses look to to provide the investment that they need in their businesses, but Labor just trots it out each year.

Why not just put it in as a permanent rate and make it unlimited? Yes, it's a cost to the economy. Yes, it's a cost to the government. But it gives small businesses the assurance that they can invest, knowing that this is something they are going to be able to bank on in the future. What they can't bank on at the moment is this government. What the 2.7 million small businesses of Australia can't bank on is reliability from this government.

We ask ourselves, 'What is the definition of a small business?' Well, it was probably a medium sized business when we were in government. Deputy Speaker, as the member for the fine city of Gladstone in the fine electorate of Flynn, you would know full well the benefit of small business. You would also know full well—I'm not trying to badger you—the fact that small businesses are at the moment encountering a 32.2 per cent rise in electricity costs just in the last 12 months. How do they cope? How do they, as the member for Adelaide says, keep the doors of business open when they're paying more and more and more for their power bills? Energy is the economy. While Labor have got energy policies that are going to hurt small business by way of rising power bills, you're going to hurt those small businesses—small businesses, I might add, which are going out backwards at a rate of a thousand per day. That's an alarming figure. In four years we've actually seen 40,000 of them go bankrupt—not just close their doors but indeed go belly up.

Labor come in here with talking points about how they're securing the prosperity of small businesses. Well, they are not. Labor members—most of them—have never seen a small business that they wouldn't like to run a picket line out the front of. Not many of them have actually ever run a small business. They've come up here through the staff or they've come up here through the union movement, but none of them have ever got their fingernails dirty owning and operating a small business, starting at dawn, finishing at midnight and doing it every day, day after day, and then taking home less pay than the workers themselves. I say shame on Labor because they should go into their own electorates, go into a small business and see what's driving them. See how hard they're hurting at the moment, because they are indeed hurting. They're really, really doing it tough.

What they're going to be encountering next, particularly in regional Australia—I'm glad the member for Leichhardt is here—is a rising cost of fuel. Indeed, there's a price spike caused by what happened in Iran at the weekend. Following attacks on Iran, oil prices surged on 2 March, with Brent crude rising around 7.4 per cent to up to as much as $82 per barrel. It was $67 a barrel before this happened. Shane Wright, the economist from the Sydney Morning Herald, suggested yesterday on Insiders that it could get as high as $100 a barrel. I know Labor came in, and the Treasurer, the member for Rankin, was very fond of saying that the fuel price was caused by Ukraine. He'll use this as an excuse now. It's always, 'The dog ate my homework,' with the Treasurer. There's always that excuse.

Labor, and the Treasurer in particular, have the levers available to them to fix the economy, to help small business, yet all they do is to come in here with their talking points and read them assiduously. Do something about actually genuinely helping small business. Go into a small business—not just a coffee maker but the little owner-operators, the bespoke stores, the unique stores in your own electorates—and talk to them. More importantly, listen to them. Then come back and explain to the parliament what you're genuinely doing to help those small business operators who are doing it really, really tough at the moment. They need our genuine help, not just as a parliament but as consumers ourselves.

Jo Briskey (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What a motion! It's not surprising that this has come from the member for Goldstein. He's always on hand to complain about the issues that have come as a direct result of his party's failed decade in government. They're good at the rhetoric, and they're good at the manufactured outrage. The member talks about crushing confidence, but let's not forget where our economy was, where our energy grid was, and where our small businesses were when Labor came to government in 2022. Our economy was in freefall, our energy grid was neglected and small businesses were crying out for help. So those opposite shouldn't be talking about crushing confidence, because they left a trail of destruction on their way out the door.

The motion claims our energy policies are driving up bills. That's rich coming from a former government that had 22 different energy policies and delivered exactly zero of them; a former government that watched energy bills skyrocket and, instead of trying to bring them down, passed legislation to hide the reporting from the very small businesses they are now claiming to care so much about.

But the member for Goldstein need not worry, because Labor is cleaning up after their decade of delay and denial. Wholesale electricity prices fell by a third last quarter. We've delivered $56.7 million in energy efficiency grants and there's the Cheaper Home Batteries Program, which has seen installations by more than 2,800 small businesses in the first six months of the program. It must be odd for the members opposite to see a government that isn't just talking about power bills, but is actually doing something—helping small businesses buy the kit to lower them permanently—because we know and the experts know that the lowest-cost form of energy is renewable.

Now, to the 'confusion and compliance' claim regarding industrial relations—the member for Goldstein loves a good scare campaign. He isn't one who always deals in facts and—surprise, surprise—he has conveniently forgotten the carve-outs we negotiated with the sector. We didn't just barge in; we didn't force change. We listened to groups like COSBOA. That's why there is a 12-month delay for casual conversion in small business, a 12-month delay in the right to disconnect and a voluntary wage compliance code so honest employers aren't treated like criminals for administrative errors. We've invested over $20 million into the Fair Work Ombudsman's employer advisory service. We are giving small businesses the HR support that they can't afford on their own, support the previous government never bothered to provide. Just to be clear, when those opposite stand up and say they want to repeal our industrial relations reform—they use small-business owners to advance this position—what they're really doing is trying to screw over the working people, usually those on low incomes.

The motion says we've abandoned small businesses. Really? We've legislated the instant asset write-off extension. We've delivered tax cuts that benefit 1.5 million sole traders. The former shadow treasurer, now Leader of the Opposition, called these tax cuts 'a cruel hoax'. I'd invite him to come to my electorate and tell the sole trader that more money in their pocket is a hoax. But, more importantly, he should tell them that it was under his direction the coalition voted against these very tax cuts. On the topic of tax cuts, a further tax cut is coming later this year and another one next year—all thanks to this Labor government.

The opposition love to claim they are standing with small business, but, in reality, they're simply standing around complaining. How do we know this? You just have to look at their extensive plan on how they will stand with Australian small businesses—but you don't have to look too hard because you'll be wasting your time. They don't have a plan. We are the ones with a national small business strategy. We are the ones that have put the small business portfolio into cabinet. We are the ones helping small and medium businesses compete and win more government contracts through the Buy Australian Plan. We are the ones helping start-ups and small businesses through our Industry Growth Program. We don't just stand with small businesses; we invest in them, we consult with them and we respect them enough to provide actual policy instead of just complaining. This is a ridiculous motion, and I stand against it.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—There's never been a more important time than right now to talk about small businesses because small businesses are facing the brunt of not just domestic shocks but, indeed, the reverberation of what is happening around the world. I spoke a little earlier about the Iranian situation, which will cause a spike in the price of energy, as in fuel—and fuel, like electricity, is the economy. Certainly, we know this in regional Australia.

It might be all well and good for the energy minister to spruik about the 34 days of available diesel and fuel in Australia. We need to, in fact, increase that—we do—and we could well do it. I certainly know that, when we were in government, there were bids to have a fuel supply in Toowoomba, a fuel supply in Parkes—on the intersection of the east-west and north-south rail lines—and a fuel supply in Western Australia, to help not only the mining industry, which I know is so prevalent in Flynn and elsewhere in Queensland, but, indeed, agriculture. Agriculture provides food and fibre not just for our domestic use but also internationally. We grow far more food than we could ever hope to feed to our own nation; that's why it's such a huge export. More than that: when we talk about small business in this place, it often gets forgotten that farmers are small-business owners and operators. At the moment they are very much being cruelled by bad water policy.

I know there will be a by-election in the electorate of Farrer, and I note the Prime Minister was in Albury a week or so ago. Interestingly, Albury was the birthplace of the modern Liberal Party in 1944, when Menzies talked about the forgotten people—and, indeed, they were being forgotten. The Liberal Party will contest that by-election, as will the National Party. It will be a contest for the ages. But I'll tell you who may well not be there—the Labor Party. Labor has already signalled it may not run a candidate. I think when you're the government of the day it's beholden upon you to run a candidate in a by-election, particularly a by-election in a seat such as Farrer, where the Labor Party—and I will say the true believers, because that particular seat, which was founded in 1949, has always been held by either the Liberals or the Nationals.

Monique Ryan (Kooyong, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Not for long!

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Don't let hubris take you over, Member for Kooyong! We had Tim Fischer, who was a former deputy prime minister. He loved small business, let me tell you. Tim Fischer understood, appreciated and valued small business, and whomever the Nationals put up will be of the same ilk as far as backing small business is concerned. National Party members always back small business—and you know why? Because most of us have run one.

I ran my own small business for eight years and it was hard work; it was absolutely hard yakka running a small business. Quite often you work late, you always start work early and often you take home less pay than the workers you employ. But there's nothing more rewarding than knowing you are employing someone. There's no better feeling than knowing not only you are directly employing someone but also, through your perspiration and endeavours, you're often employing somebody indirectly. In my case, it was printing firms. I well remember that Active Print put out a new four-colour press and hired more people to churn through the work we were providing. We were just a small business, with just three directors, and we were proud of those years.

To every small-business person out there, I say—and I think I speak on behalf of the parliament—a very big thankyou. They are doing the hard yards, and they're not getting the support they need. That's why so many businesses, sadly, are going to the wall as we speak, and that is such a shame. They deserve better policy because they are helping to grow the food. They are helping to grow the fibre. They are helping in so many areas of endeavour. Whether they're farmers—the world's best environmentalists—whether they're on the high streets or the main streets of country towns right across Australia, whether they're in the central business districts of our capital cities, we owe them a debt of gratitude. What we don't owe them is debt—and that's all they're getting from this Labor government.

Ash Ambihaipahar (Barton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to respond to this motion from the member for Goldstein. Let me say this upfront: if there was an Olympic sport for talking down to small business while claiming to champion it, the member for Goldstein would be on that podium every single time. Here's the truth: while those opposite are busy delivering us lectures, this government is delivering outcomes—real support, real reform, real relief—for the 2.66 million small businesses which are the pillar of our economy and the beating heart of our communities. It's the cafe that opens very early, like The Little Cup and Saucer cafe in Canterbury. It's the tradie in Kingsgrove who backs himself to go out every day. It's the family run chicken shop, Hariri, in Kogarah, sponsoring the Banksia Tigers Football Club. Small businesses don't just operate in our communities; they hold them together. And what have we done? We've backed them. We've delivered tax cuts, some already in place and more coming out this year and the next, benefiting 1.5 million sole traders—the very tax cuts those opposite labelled a cruel hoax. Imagine telling Australian sole traders that their relief is imagined. That's not economic policy; that is political theatre, and we've seen it today.

We've legislated the instant asset write-off so small businesses can invest in the tools, tech and equipment that they need to grow productivity and jobs. We're improving payment times with a $33.4 million investment, including an overhauled Payment Times Reporting Scheme and a fast payers list to shine a spotlight on small businesses that aren't paying on time and small businesses that are, because we know cash flow is very important for small businesses. We've rolled out more than $80 million in digital and cyber supports, from the Digital Solutions program to Cyber Wardens, because we know resilience in the modern economy isn't just about foot traffic; it's also about firewalls. We've backed energy efficiency grants, helping businesses cut bills and emissions, and we're reforming procurement rules through the Buy Australian Plan so small and medium enterprises get a fair crack at government contracts, not just the big end of town with the biggest lobbying budget. And yes, we're fixing franchising laws with a stronger code enforced by the ACCC because small operators deserve transparency and fairness, not fine print set-ups.

And let's address the elephant in the room: interest rates. The independent Reserve Bank has increased the cash rate by 25 basis points. That is tough news. It will hurt households and small businesses, and we acknowledge that. Unlike those opposite, we don't pretend these pressures don't exist or come into this House complaining about problems; we actually respond to them. We're delivering responsible cost-of-living relief with further tax cuts this year and next, and we're strengthening the budget while tackling productivity—the real long-term driver of sustainable growth for small business.

When it comes to fiscal credibility, let's compare records. We've turned two big Liberal deficits into two Labor surpluses. We more than halved the deficit in the third year. We found 114 billion bucks in savings, including $20 billion in the most recent update, while the coalition failed to deliver a single cent of savings in their last budget. Not a single cent—doughnuts. Yet we have to listen to lectures on economic management.

Real spending growth averaged 4.1 per cent under the coalition compared to 1.7 per cent under us. So, when we hear crocodile tears about spending, forgive us if we have to check the receipts. Let's talk about energy, because small business owners don't pay their power bills on ideology. After a decade of delay, dysfunction and denial, we are rebuilding the grid with the lowest-cost form of energy, renewables. Wholesale electricity prices fell by a third last quarter, and our job is now to get that relief flowing to the retail bills of households and small businesses. We're reforming the default market offer to ensure small businesses pay a fair price. We've rolled out the Cheaper Home Batteries Program, with thousands of installations already helping businesses take control of their energy bills rather than holding them hostage to price increases. We've invested in the Fair Work Ombudsman advisory services, in the Fair Work Commission and in tailored resources so small businesses can understand new laws without needing any in-house legal team, because we recognise that small businesses don't have HR departments; they have owners who do payroll on a dining table after closing shop.

So when the member for Goldstein stands here, implying small businesses are somehow being ignored, I say this: small businesses don't need slogans; they need support. And that is exactly what we are delivering. Here's the bold truth: small business owners see through this. They know who's turning up with real solutions. (Time expired)

Tom Venning (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—Small business is under siege. There's no doubting that. I like to think of a society like a home. To build a society, you need foundations, and unfortunately those foundations are not sound in regional Australia right now, where our small businesses are absolutely under siege. Those foundations are access to health services, access to housing, access to child care and, importantly, access to the skills and training which feed small businesses.

This government talks about free TAFE. Well, come out to regional South Australia and look at what's happened to TAFE out there. You can get your boat licence at Coober Pedy, but you can't do anything in that local TAFE towards the local industry. It is absolutely ridiculous. It is all spin. We need to bring back technical skills to our regional TAFE centres to keep feeding in to our small businesses. Why is it that Labor does not care about small business? It's very clear: you cannot unionise small business. That is why small business is under siege and will always be under siege by this Labor Party. The Labor Party is run by unions and union bosses. You will not find that in small business.

Whether you're a farmer, a publican, a fencing contractor, a fisherman, a truckie or any of the other small business owners and workers that live in the electorate of Grey, you are absolutely struggling. Whether it is increased inflation and goods or the lack of skills, we are all under pressure. Earlier this year I wrote directly to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry about the absolute crisis facing our wineries. These are predominantly small family owner-operators who have poured generations of sweat into their vines, and right now they are drowning. They are drowning under immense commercial pressure. They are drowning under systematic regulatory failure, and they are drowning under the crushing weight of rising costs—pardon the pun! Where is this government support? It is completely absent. Labor has abandoned small and family business. They have ignored desperate calls for red tape relief. They've ignored the plea for simple regulation. They have failed entirely to provide a clear pathway to grow and employ Australians.

The opposition stands firmly with small and family businesses, the farmers of which I am one, the fishers, the viticulturists who back themselves. We are losing that ability to innovate and think for ourselves in this nation, even in our regional communities. Look at all the small tool shops and the small tackle shops getting overrun by centralised corporates coming out of our cities and taking our regional jobs and innovation. We stand for lower inflation, lower interest rates, lower taxes and taking the handcuffs off Australian enterprise.

In closing, small business is the backbone of Australia, and particularly regional Australia. If we support small businesses and family businesses, our society will prosper and grow once again. Right now, inflation is killing us. There is no real growth in our economy, particularly in our regional economies, and we need to focus on small business.

Rowan Holzberger (Forde, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak against the motion. It's a shame that I missed the member for Goldstein being able to make a speech here, because he usually provides enormous material to respond to that the member for Venning, unfortunately, in what was essentially a very sensible speech, wasn't able to provide.

I'm somebody who has run a small business. I'm somebody who came into small business in my late 20s when I had a contract mustering business around my home town of Broken Hill, which essentially was a bike, a ute, a pack of dogs and the will to win, which is the most essential part of any small business. It did give me an experience to learn what it means to create something out of nothing. When I say that, it's not necessarily out of nothing; small business is about putting together all of those sort of disparate elements together into something where the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts.

That gave me my first taste, and then I got right into business. I really was taken by the idea of what entrepreneurialism actually meant. I ended up running a construction company for many years. What I learnt from that is that it's a bit like that saying, you should run a country in the same way that you run a business. There are two ways to run a business. One is to strip all the profits out of it and run it into the ground. And the other is to invest in your plant and your people. And I think that we know what the Labor way is. It is to invest in your people and in your infrastructure in the country.

Running a business in Australia is dependent on so many of those infrastructure things around it. That's why, in postwar Australia, Labor and the coalition really did work together on this idea that we would build public housing, not out of the goodness of our hearts and not necessarily just to look after the people that were really battling but for railway workers, for car workers and for teachers. The whole idea was that we would provide that public housing to keep the cost of living down, to keep those rents down and to take the pressure off wages, which, in turn, would help business.

It's the same as it was with public energy. We used to provide public energy as a way of keeping that cost of living down and also keeping those costs down for business—which also helped business. And it's the same with something like Medicare. Before Medicare was introduced, paying medical bills was one of the biggest causes of bankruptcy. Medicare helps small business. In the United States it's up to small business to provide those health cover costs, but in Australia we're able to provide a direct service not only to keep the workforce healthy but also to take economic pressure off an individual or off a business having to provide that health insurance themselves. It's the same with training. It's the same with tax cuts and with superannuation. It's about taking a collective approach to these things which are effectively essential services in the economy, to help the economy grow and to help businesses to succeed.

Unfortunately, as I said, we missed the member for Goldstein—now the shadow Treasurer—who I think would have been able to defend some of his statements on why he doesn't believe in superannuation, why he doesn't believe in Medicare and why he is probably the most radical person to ever take the position of shadow Treasurer in the coalition. It's a shame that he is not here to explain why he thinks stripping away all of those benefits is actually going to help small business. It's a shame that he's not here to explain why he thinks that privatising Medicare would actually help small business. It's up to him to explain why he thinks taking away superannuation would ultimately help small business. So it's a shame. This debate, which he moved, has been the poorer for it; it would have really exposed where the coalition is on this. The Labor Party is the one that's taking the sensible position of growing our economy, of investing in our people and of investing in our infrastructure for the benefit of the whole economy.

Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There being no further speakers, the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made in order of the day for the next sitting.