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

My question is to the Minister for Small Business. How is the Albanese Labor government continuing to deliver for Australian small businesses in the face of global uncertainty?

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

I want to thank the member for Moore for his question. On Thursday, the member for Moore and I visited Industrial Automation in Joondalup. Industrial Automation is the brainchild of Hank. For over a decade, Hank has been helping local communities to adopt technology that saves them both time and money. Businesses like Hank's are the very reason that we're focused on supporting Australia's 2.7 million small businesses. Since we came into office in 2022, we've worked diligently to deliver for small business. I want to go through the whole list, but it's quite significant, so I'm going to try and get through it all in under three minutes.

We've made the payment times reporting regime work for small businesses, with faster payment times, and we've issued our first ever fine. We're taking steps to streamline the National Construction Code. Our free TAFE has increased the pool of skilled workers for small business. We've incentivised more apprenticeships. We've halved the fuel excise and reduced the heavy vehicle road user charge to help buffer the impacts of global events. We've strengthened the enforcement of the Franchising Code of Conduct. We've increased penalties for unfair contract terms and extended protections for unfair trading practices. We've invested in digital solutions and cyber-resilience and the Small Business Debt Helpline. We've made changes to the Commonwealth Procurement Rules to ensure Australian small businesses get a bigger slice of government procurement opportunities—and that's not all.

Last week's budget goes even further to ensuring small businesses have the settings that they need not just to survive but also to thrive. It includes $3.5 billion in new measures that deliver business tax relief to support resilience, investment and growth. For small businesses, this includes making the $20,000 instant asset write-off permanent; making the two-year loss carryback permanent; introducing loss refundability to support startup businesses; expanding tax incentives for venture capital—

Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Increased taxes, increased taxes, increased taxes.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Page is now warned.

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

reforming the research and development tax incentive, including allowing young businesses greater access to the refundable tax offset as they grow; reducing red tape across the economy with the 'tell us once' approach—and that's going to cut regulatory costs by $10.2 billion; removing another 497 nuisance tariffs, saving businesses around $127 million in compliance costs; tax cuts for sole traders, including the new $250 working Australians tax offset; further work with states on payroll tax and retail tenancy harmonisation; and programs to ensure small businesses benefit from the uptake of digital skills—all things we've done in just four years. We know there's more to do, and we'll continue to back small businesses because small businesses back Australia.