With the concurrence of the Senate, the clerks will set the clock in accordance with informal arrangements agreed by the whips.

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to questions without notice asked by Opposition senators today.

The Labor government has kicked Australian small business in the guts. There is nothing clearer. I've just come back from three weeks in Queensland, and that is what I'm hearing across the whole state of Queensland, from up in Weipa all the way down to Ipswich, where my office is based. Small business feels like it is under attack. The last budget that was brought down by this Labor government is exhibit A: changes to the tax system, which were never taken to the last election; changes to the way capital gains tax is levied; changes to the way negative gearing works, which is having a huge impact on the property sector, small and large; and changes to the taxation of discretionary trusts. There were questions asked earlier today by Senator Nampijinpa Price in relation to the taxation of discretionary family trusts.

The Labor government has been in damage control in relation to this issue since the budget. They hadn't done their homework. They hadn't done their homework in relation to discretionary trusts, and these are trusts that are used by approximately 350,000 small businesses across Australia, from your local newsagent to farms. These are small businesses all over Australia. Discretionary family trusts are the vehicle that is being used by hundreds of thousands of small businesses. The government, in its ham-fisted way of trying to change the taxation to apply to those discretionary trusts, is causing great damage.

It's been estimated that the costs involved to address this toxic trust tax change imposed by the Labor government could cost small and family businesses across Australia up to $13.3 billion in restructuring and tax advice costs alone. What the Labor government wants businesses to do is to change their corporate structure—change from a discretionary family trust structure, which they could have had in place for decades and decades, to some other structure. But there are costs involved in doing that. There's legal advice. There's tax advice. There's stamp duty. And none of this was thought of by the Labor government, because they don't understand or don't care about small business. That's the truth.

It has been estimated that in my home state of Queensland it could cost a small business worth maybe $1.5 million up to $100,000 to restructure—that's nearly 10 per cent of the value of the business to restructure—as a result of these tax changes. That's dead money. That's money which could have been reinvested in the business. That's money which could have gone to employing an additional employee—including a young person—in a business. It's dead money; it's an albatross around the neck of small business.

Now, we're even seeing the Australian Taxation Office chasing small businesses for inadvertent mistakes they made under certain family trust tax rules. That has led to small businesses being asked, in at least one case where they are owed $47,000 in tax, with the affliction of time, to pay $890,000. Some small business made an inadvertent mistake paying its tax decades ago, and the ATO has now increased that amount payable to $890,000. Can you believe that? In the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, it's outrageous.

I rise to make my contribution to this debate too. I'm extraordinarily happy to talk about small business. For those that may not know, I come from a small business background, and I've been passionate about small business for many years. Let's go back and have a look at a few things, if I may indulge the Senate. Back in 1980, when I was a budding young truckie and could fit into a tiny pair of Stubbies and a blue singlet, I had three burning passions. One was football. One was my GTS two-door HQ Monaro. And I had a pretty spunky girlfriend from Willetton. Twenty-six years, two kids and two grandkids later, we're still together.

I remember that, at the age of 20, all I wanted to do was drive big trucks. I was a company driver for a small outfit called Ansett. Our jobs, overnight, were given away. Ansett, in their wisdom, decided, for all their employees—all of us young truckies and offsiders—that, if you wanted to continue doing all the bush work, getting all the overtime, you had two options: 'You can buy one of our trucks, or you can go buy one yourself.'

Mr Deputy President, you, I know, with your background, too—at the age of 20, I had no idea about being in business. I had no support. I had no idea. I didn't know what you had to do. All I knew was that the truck ran on fuel and tyres. Then, all of a sudden, I had to pay for the repairs and maintenance. But the bigger fright was: 'How the heck am I going to go and buy one?' I'd say I had about a thousand bucks in the bank, but I'd probably be fibbing; it was probably about 500 bucks. My father, who was a great supporter of mine, lent me a couple of grand to go and buy my first rig. I think the total cost back then was this massive $6½ thousand or $7,000, and I was thinking, 'How the heck am I going to get over this?'

There's one thing I do want to share with everyone and with the Senate, as the proud small-business man I am, regardless of some of the nonsense you hear coming from, particularly, Senator Hanson, and some of that mob over there. And I'm still tied up in the trucking industry, by the way. I still drive trucks. I still run road trains. But I do it for charity now.

Transport operators, small businesses, owner-drivers, transport associations and the Transport Workers' Union, for the last 20 years in this building, have been trying to get the message across to different coloured governments, on the way through, that we're small business. Truckies are small family businesses. The majority of freight in this nation is not carried by the big boys; it's carried by small family businesses. All these groups came together as one and came to Canberra to lobby, year in, year out, to get across to the members of the House of Representatives, and to the ministers from governments of both persuasions, and to senators, how they desperately needed help, because they are price-takers. We, in the trucking industry, don't set the rates—or we set the rates alright, but the mob down the road will undercut us because they're getting screwed and their fuel's going through the roof. We're price-takers. We pleaded with that side of the chamber—at the time, they were on this side of the chamber—'Would you please help us? Would you give us the opportunity to have transport reform in this nation, so we can have some safeguards?' Sadly, to all those listening up there—and I'm still so close to the trucking industry, it's scary; I can't get away from it, and, trust me, I'm looking forward to getting away from it one day!—every single one of those senators over there dutifully lined up behind their leader and they gave the trucking industry the middle finger.

And they go on about small business and how they love small business. Well, you tell us truckies: why don't you love us? What's the difference between us and the small business you pretend to love? Why don't you give us any love? We're the ones that put the clothes on your back. We're the ones that put the fuel in the tanks of your cars. We cart all that. We're the ones that cart your building material—

Senator Sterle—

Can I have an extension? I'm just starting to warm up, Mr Deputy President!

your time has expired. I'm sure you'll get future opportunities, Senator Sterle.

I will respond directly to Senator Sterle. We do love truckies. We never said we didn't love truckies. In fact, I was with Angus Taylor just three weeks ago, up on the Central Coast, at a trucking company, talking about the hard time that that trucking company has had, with the regulations and the fuel prices, and with, every single day, the cost of compliance going up and up and up for the trucking companies that are just trying to make a living and move things around Australia for Australian families.

We listen to them. We consult with them. But that is the difference between the coalition and the Labor government. We go out there and we talk to them and we say, 'Hey, what's going on? How can we make life better for you?' That is why we come back with policies and a plan—and we do have policies in here for the trucking companies and the fuel excise and the price shield that will bring down the cost of fuel when the price spikes, when crises, like the one that is happening in the Middle East, affect the Australian economy. We do help.

I want to stick on small business. We heard from the Leader of the Government in the Senate, Senator Wong, that our claims about small business and the punching down on small business were rhetoric. Again, we are out there every single day talking to small business. The leader of the coalition has been all around Australia holding small-business forums and hearing directly from them. We hear from Minister Wong that they are doing everything they can for small business and that all these small businesses are opening. They don't dare to mention all the small businesses that are closing—50,000 under Labor. There are 50,000 businesses closing.

These are the people that are taking a risk to build a better future for their children and their families. They are taking a risk to grow this economy and to grow the prosperity of this nation, and Labor are simply not backing them in. They hit them with taxes. They hit them with higher power bills. They hit them with compliance costs. They hit them with credit card surcharge bans. They think that, just because you say the surcharge is not there, everything is all of a sudden free. Well, somebody has to pay for it, and guess what? That is that small business—those families out there taking the risk for us and for our nation. They're trying to pit small business against working Australians, as though small-business families aren't working for this great nation. I'll tell you what: they're out there working seven days a week. The reason we are in here in the chamber giving small business a voice every single time is that they're too busy out there working. They don't have time to stop and protest and make their voice heard. So, again, we go out there and we listen to them.

We heard today from Senator Nampijinpa Price that there is fresh data estimating that small and family businesses will face up to $13.3 billion in restructuring fees and tax advice to deal with the changes of this government. Labor don't care. They don't care about that. All they care about is the $4.5 billion that they're going to raise from these tax changes—$4.5 billion—and they think that small business will cope with that. Well, they simply won't. This will be the straw that breaks the camel's back. I want to say to all the small businesses out there: we back you in.

I also rise to take note of answers given during question time today, and I want to start by saying that it really is quite bold to come in here and lecture a truckie about the trucking industry. It really was quite bold, I thought. If anybody knows the ins and outs of the trucking industry, it is the great senator I have the privilege to sit beside in this chamber, and that is Senator Sterle.

I want to cover a number of topics that were raised today during question time and cover some of the things that this government is doing to take the pressure off Australian families and small business. I also want to say something about the gall of those opposite pretending to care about the pressures that working families are under when it comes to fuel and cost-of-living relief, because their record in this place does tell a really different story. When this parliament considered closing loopholes and same job, same pay, those opposite opposed reforms designed to stop workers being undercut and create a fairer playing field for responsible business. They opposed minimum standards for gig workers and microbusinesses dealing with powerful overseas technology platforms. In road transport, they resisted measures that give small and medium operators a way to recover unavoidable costs—protections that matter even more when global fuel pressures squeeze already thin margins.

Cost-of-living policy cannot be reduced to slogans. It is about whether workers receive fair pay, whether a family can afford a prescription or see a doctor or whether a small business can keep its doors open with the costs of inputs rising. People feel these pressures in ordinary decisions every day at the supermarket checkout, when the electricity bill arrives, when they fill the car or when they put off an appointment because the family budget is stretched. Small businesses feel the same pressures through higher energy, transport and supply costs, while they are still trying to pay staff, serve customers and remain a part of their local communities. That is why wages and workplace standards matter to the cost-of-living debate. When people are properly paid for the work that they do, they are better able to meet essential costs, and, when responsible businesses are not undercut by operators relying on insecure work and unfair contracting practices, the whole economy is stronger.

That is why the Labor government has acted. We've reduced the cost of medicines and expanded access to bulk-billing. We've cut taxes five times, delivering nearly $3,000 a year more for workers on average by 2028. For small businesses, the instant asset write-off supports investment and cash flow. For transport operators, the standards established through closing loopholes provide a fairer way to deal with rising costs and powerful contracting parties. These measures protect jobs, strengthen supply chains and support the businesses communities rely on.

This is also about economic resilience. If a transport operator cannot recover the cost of fuel, vehicles come off the road, businesses fail and goods do not arrive where they are needed. The consequences are felt well beyond one company, by farmers, manufacturers, supermarkets and families across the country. Sensible minimum standards help prevent the race to the bottom. Labor understands that household relief and small-business support go together. (Time expired)

Well, you've really got to ask why. Why is Labor waging war on small business? Family businesses should not live in fear that an historic paperwork error could destroy everything they built. Jim Chalmers should be fixing these unfair outcomes, not creating new problems with another complex trust tax. Labor's approach is always the same: more tax, more complexity and more red tape.

Family businesses are the backbone of the Australian economy. It is family businesses—and businesses—that employ Australians, that support regional economies, that invest in local economies and that create opportunities for the next generation. The last thing they need is more uncertainty created from Canberra. Small business is battling taxes increasing, interest rates increasing, power bills increasing, insurance bills going up, transport costs and—talking about truckies—freight costs going up too. Labor has backflipped on so many of its pieces of legislation in its so-called tax reform it's hard to know how to keep up. We've said before they should just take an axe to it.

Let's get some insight into this. For decades, the Prime Minister himself has never had to think about where the money is coming from in his pay packet, nor has he had to think, 'How much am I going to get because my business has performed well?' He has not had to forgo any of that to pay workers. He has not had to rethink how much money he'll take home to buy that new piece of essential equipment. None of that, in decades, has had to be something that he's had to think about. Not even a change in trading conditions has affected the salary that he knows will come into his bank account. Australians know that the Prime Minister and this government have failed them. That legislation should go back for proper consultation—not just 'we're talking to' but actually, 'We're listening to, we're engaging with and we're responding to what business is telling us.'

The coalition believes in a tax system that is tough on tax cheats, sure, but fair and honest to Australians. We believe family businesses deserve certainty, stability and clear rules, and that's not what Labor is delivering to them right now. The coalition will restore certainty to trust arrangements and stand up for family businesses, farmers and small businesses right across Australia. Small businesses have been forced to spend money on lawyers, accountants and advisers just to understand what Labor's changes could mean for them. Some businesses have been told restructuring costs alone could reach $50,000. We've even had questioning in here from experts who work with small business about those costs. That's real, because these people, who have said this is how much it costs, live in the real world. Again, this prime minister has not had to find the money to pay those taxes that Australians never voted for, that they never asked for and that are not welcome, at a time when they are struggling. They are on their knees. That's not how you run a country. Labor, what you've produced for small business should not even be a thing.