My question is to the Minister for Small Business. After Labor's bungled ban on small business using credit cards to pay their tax bills, one of your Labor colleagues said:

We have a small business minister … who knows nothing about small business.

When was the minister first informed of the credit card ban and by whom?

I thank the member for Moncrieff for her question. We on this side of the House understand how important small businesses are for our economy and for our communities. Just last week, I was out in regional Queensland, in the member for Maranoa's seat, meeting with small businesses there. I had a roundtable with small businesses at the local cafe there, speaking to them about the issues that matter to them. Shortly after, I went up to Darwin and met with small businesses in Darwin as well.

Every time I meet with small businesses, I ask them about their challenges and their opportunities. Now, there's no doubt that small businesses are doing it tough. The costs of doing business are getting higher, margins are getting thinner, and businesses are struggling through. But that's why this government, in the last budget, dedicated $3.8 billion to assist small businesses. That's why this government has made permanent the $20,000 instant asset write-off, and businesses right across Australia have been using the instant asset write-off to ensure that they have cash flow, to ensure that—

The minister will pause. The Manager of Opposition Business on a point of order.

On a point of relevance, Mr Speaker, the question was very specific: when was the minister first informed of the credit card ban and by whom?

We'll just do this in an orderly way. The Leader of the House.

Mr Speaker, the Manager of Opposition Business—and I presume this was accidental—has just misled the House in describing what the question was. The question was about twice as long as he just described, and, in being directly relevant, it is the right of a minister to be directly relevant to any part of the question. The first part of the question, the political sledge, effectively allows a much broader action.

Order! The Manager of Opposition Business further to the point of order.

On the point of order, Mr Speaker, yes, there was some preamble.

It was quote. It was a quote from you!

It was a quote which was directly relevant to the question: when were you first informed of the credit card ban and by whom?

We could spend all day going through these types of questions. As long as question time has been around, if you're adding extra things to a question—a quote, a comment or an interpretation—with a political edge to them—There was a specific question in that, I agree. But as everyone knows, and the leader is correct, if you're going to put a political connotation into a question, you'll get a pretty political answer. The minister hasn't gone down that path yet. She's being directly relevant. I can't compel her to give the name, time or date, as you request—I think everyone knows that—because the standing order doesn't enable me to do that. What I can do is make sure the minister is being directly relevant. She is. If she strays off topic or if she's starts not being relevant, I can assure the House I will bring her to order.

As I was saying, it's all very well to talk about small businesses, to cosplay as small businesses, to make reels where you're pretending to be a small business, but actually going out and speaking to small businesses means that we have a government that acts in the interests of small businesses by making the instant asset write-off permanent, by making the two-year loss carry back permanent and by delivering assistance to small businesses where they need it most and when they need it most. Importantly, every time I go and speak to small businesses, whether it's in the member for Maranoa's seat, whether it's in Darwin, whether it's in rural and regional Australia or whether it's in the cities, the thing that they ask for the most is access to workers. That's why we have free TAFE. That's why we have apprenticeship schemes to enable those businesses to access the workers that they need.

Now, the Prime Minister went through some numbers earlier. I think they warrant repeating, because those numbers mean something. Those numbers—the more than 600,000 new businesses that have started—show record numbers of new businesses starting since we came into government. Those record numbers every day and every month demonstrate something. They demonstrate something beyond numbers. They demonstrate the initiative—

Yes, yes, and the hopes and dreams of Australians at.

Order! The minister will pause. Leader of the Opposition, and all of the opposition—I will not—

The Leader of the Opposition will be silent while I'm speaking. I will not have that sort of abuse to any minister from anyone in the chamber. I just ask that the tone of the House—please show respect and some decorum. The minister is not being provocative. She is answering the question. I just ask everyone lower the temperature today. Minister, I want you to be directly relevant to the question.

Anyone with even a cursory understanding of numbers will understand that the number of businesses opening compared to the number of businesses that are closing— (Time expired)