My question is to the Prime Minister. Last week I met with Carolyn and Shane, business owners in Lilydale who have employed hundreds of locals for over 20 years. Through tears, they shared how it's never been harder to keep a business going and cash flow positive. They are losing hope. Inflation, 16 interest rate rises, red tape, soaring fuel costs and Labor's budget of higher taxes have made it even harder to survive. When will the Prime Minister start listening to Australians who have a go, like Carolyn and Shane, and axe his taxes on small businesses?

I thank the member for his question. We do engage with small business. Indeed, I'm very conscious of the fact that the Treasurer has some meetings later today with small businesses who've visited, and I certainly engage with small businesses. During the last sitting week I spoke with ACCI and I spoke with AiG. I spoke with a range of businesses, as I do consistently. We know there is pressure on small businesses in the global economy. We know that has occurred. And you can't just dismiss something like global oil prices that rise up and have an impact on everything that goes onto a supermarket shelf or—

What about government spending?

The member for Gippsland will cease interjecting for the remainder of question time.

What I do know is that objectively the global ratings agencies have all made comments about Australia in recent times when confirming our AAA credit rating, including the last one, just this month—Fitch—who said:

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Australia's Long-Term Foreign Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'AAA' with a stable outlook.

And we are one of the few advanced economies that haven't gone through a recession or a single quarter of economic contraction over recent years. That is something that has happened right around the world. We have faster economic growth than Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the UK. We have a lower unemployment rate than Canada, France and Italy and the same as the UK. We have stronger economic growth, stronger employment growth, than all seven of the G7 and higher worker participation rate.

And when it comes to the interjections about government spending, well, the truth is that we have a smaller budget deficit as a percentage of GDP than the entire G7, the major economies of the world—Japan, Canada, Italy, the UK, Germany, France and the United States. So what we will do is continue to work each and every day. We'll continue to engage with small business. The member didn't say what the small business is that his constituents have, so I'm not sure of the circumstances in which they find themselves. But what I do know is that small-business people take risks, they invest and they make a positive difference to this country, and I applaud each and every one of them.