Tyron Whitten (WA, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

As someone that grew a small business from two brothers, a ute and a wheelbarrow into one that employed over a thousand people, I have more experience than most people in this place to talk on this matter. Helping small businesses is a topic that I'm passionate about, so, when a bill like this comes along from bureaucrats and politicians that have never built a business and have never had to manage books or employees or cash flows and they add more onerous compliance measures to struggling businesses, I see red. We're seeing record numbers of businesses go to the wall as they try to navigate the utterly toxic landscape that all levels and all sides of government have presided over. Federal, state and local government have all contributed to the demise of small business. I couldn't agree more that people are entitled to their superannuation, and we need to ensure that businesses are making those contributions. But what most people won't appreciate is just how much those couple of months to pay employee's superannuation matter to a small business, especially when times get tough. It gives employers some breathing room to plan resources, to make sure they are staying afloat and to make sure their employees get paid. Superannuation arriving a few weeks earlier, which you still can't access for 30 years, will cripple some small businesses through lean times.

I've never been involved in or come across a small business that doesn't value their employees, but it shows how little people in this place understand how the world really works. So let me help you out. If the business folds, you don't get paid it all, and we've lost another small business. As if to show how little Labor cares about small business, they are also going to shut down the Small Business Superannuation Clearing House, a facility that was designed to make it simple for small business to make a single lump sum payment of their super obligations and then let the ATO split that up to eligible super funds. This small concession to ease the red tape on businesses is gone. To replace it, just go out and get some commercial software—more cost for small business—like money grows on a tree when you have a small business. Nobody here really cares.

The sad reality for the mum-and-dad businesses out there is that Labor makes the demands, Labor changes the rules, and small business foots the bill. They don't care. They'll act like they're doing Australians a favour as they make owning a small business impossible and push every Australian into the arms of big multinational employers—the only ones that can afford to comply with the never-ending mountain of red tape. But it shouldn't surprise anyone. This is the same Labor government that introduced their much-touted same job, same pay rules, forcing businesses to overpay some workers and underpay others. What about 'same effort, same pay'? Or 'same skill, same pay? What about 'same value proposition to your employer, same pay'? The Labor just sees workers as numbers on a spreadsheet.

In their socialist haze, they don't realise that every worker is different. Some work incredibly hard, are very talented and deserve to see the rewards for their efforts, while others are happy to sit back and let the slack be taken up by others. We've all seen it. Of course, Labor is full of lifelong politicians, coming through the union pipelines, who have never built anything in their lives. They don't care about hard workers getting ahead; they only care about making their union friends happy. Once again, small business suffers as their best workers leave for higher paying jobs because the business can't afford to raise the wages above an average worker to keep them.

People are individuals; they are not interchangeable. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. It's not the government's job to prescribe the value of workers. Even if a business survives the ridiculous industrial relations laws of Labor, they still have to contend with one of the most complex and oppressive tax systems in the world. Australia is in the top three countries in the world in length of tax codes—income tax, payroll tax, FBT, GST, stamp duty, excise, royalties, levies. Australian businesses pay almost $100 billion a year to manage their tax affairs, and that figure only includes the deductible costs, not the value of time lost in dealing with this nightmare. Every time a new tax is brought in and every time a new regulation is brought in, we lose more Australian mum-and-dad businesses to the abyss of bankruptcy. The big end of town might be able to deal with the changes. They can afford to comply with them at a moment's notice with deep credit lines. Small businesses just go under. Who would be an entrepreneur in today's climate? Then the workers have fewer employers to choose from. They have less bargaining power as options diminish. Australia is heading towards complete capitulation, where the only reasonable jobs left will be government jobs, as we snuff out anything that resembles innovation with our ever-mounting rules and regulations.

One Nation won't sit idly by and let small businesses and real competition die out. Successful businesses mean more choices for Australians—more real opportunity. When was the last time the government at any level had any idea to help a small business? One Nation is the only party that will help small business in a meaningful way and bring back an innovative and dynamic Australia where small business can flourish and employees have more options. In summary, I am not advocating that employees shouldn't get their super on time. I am shouting from the rooftops, 'For the love of God, somebody please help small business!'