Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to ask a follow-on question. The Australian Shareholders Association have written to the committee and to senators saying that they're very concerned that the Business Growth Fund could lead to the disenfranchisement of retail investors by excluding them from investing in SMEs that otherwise would have been conducted by initial public offerings on the ASX. We heard evidence last Friday from a company specialising in offering IPOs. Why haven't you consulted with the stockbroking fraternity on this, given their clear concern that, due to the prudential advantages, which have been outlined in our second readers, from the taxpayer funding, the Business Growth Fund will have an unassailably low cost of capital that no other investor will be able to match?