Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Environment and Water) Share this | Hansard source

My recollection of the figures is that, in percentage terms, the number of insolvencies that we're seeing now has not gone up. I can pull the figures out when we resume tomorrow that show, in fact, that it compares quite favourably to what we saw under the coalition. Of course, there are small businesses that become insolvent. That has happened, unfortunately, for those businesses forever. I mentioned some figures in question time today that showed that the number of small businesses in Australia is actually higher now than it was when we came to office. So I understand there are insolvencies, and that's really difficult for the businesses going through that and the people who work for those businesses. But there's no evidence to suggest that the government's changes have led to those insolvencies in the way that some people claim.