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

I move:

That the Senate take note of answers given to questions without notice asked by Senator Cash and Senator Hume today.

During question time today, we saw again reasons why the Australian people cannot trust or believe a thing that this government says. They're unwilling to admit the mistakes that they made with respect to the changes to credit card fees and the complete shambles of a process in relation to the Australian Taxation Office and its attitude towards the prohibition of using credit cards in this country.

It was more than an organised, structured or consulting based process, all of which were thrown up as smokescreens by the government. It was more like an episode of Laurel and Hardywhat another fine mess you've gotten us into. First we'll consult; next it's an independent decision by the ATO, and we can't direct. And then, of course, we tell the ATO to delay the decision by 12 months or until 1 July next year and put another $200 million on the Australian taxpayer's credit card. That's what's happened over recent times with respect to this ridiculous decision of the government to see the payment options for Australian business to the tax office limited. Small businesses around this country understandably continue to lose confidence in the government. You've got an increase in the number of small businesses losing their position in the market because of increased costs, and the small business that I talk to say this is the last straw. 'What else can the government do to us? You've attacked us with relation to our business structures through the attack on trusts. You've increased our taxes through trusts as well. And now you're reducing our payment options—our capacity to manage our cashflow—to the tax office.' What else could you dream up? What else could this government dream up?

The problem is that, with the way this government is running both the parliament and the nation, we will continue to see these unintended consequences crop up from all of these measures that aren't properly tested by the parliament. We saw it with the widow's tax. We've seen it with a number of other measures where the parliament has to come back and clean up the mess that's been created by this government. As I said, it's out of the Laurel and Hardy playbook. What a fine mess you've gotten us into again. The government needs to take decisive action with respect to the tax office accepting credit cards. They've talked about a delay. They've put another couple of hundreds of millions of dollars on the national credit card. But what they really need to do is sort this out. Scrap it. Scrap the prohibition on businesses using credit cards to pay the tax office. Why should Australian business lose one of its payment options to manage its cashflow, just because the government can't go through the appropriate process to put legislation through this parliament? Why should small business pay the cost? Why should industry pay the cost of the government's complete failures with respect to structuring some of the measures that they're putting through this parliament?

Well, what a combination. We've got them talking about cost of living—and these are the people that start talking about the effects on small business. And yet on so many occasions in this place have we seen these people vote against the interests of small business and working people in this country. We saw it, certainly, in everything from Closing Loopholes to Same Job, Same Pay but also in an area of small business they like to forget about—a very important area that dealt with the road transport haulage industry, where they said that gig workers were able to turn around and get minimum standards. They wanted to stop microbusinesses from even getting paid minimum-standard payments by big tech companies from overseas. These are the people that try to pretend that they're agents for small business. Well, the reality is that, when it comes to voting records within this place, they consistently vote against small business. On the issue of small business, of course, it comes to the present challenges that we have in the economy. We're seeing that with the Middle East fuel crisis and the pressure that's putting on the Australian economy. The legislation that was put forward in Closing Loopholes gave the opportunity for the trucking industry, small businesses, transport companies and mid-sized businesses to be able to recoup costs. Otherwise, those companies would have collapsed. That would have been both an economic challenge for this economy but also a structural challenge in logistics for the entire country. It's a Labor government that made those changes as a result of what we had done through closing loopholes—small business and working people are getting decent outcomes because of the thoughtful, strategic approach by this government.

And, of course, when you look at the list of things that we've done in the small business area and arena, there's a large number. You have to remember the Reserve Bank reforms mean that Australians are no longer paying $1.6 billion a year in surcharges, and businesses will save $910 million. It means when you go to the check-out and—rightly, the delay has taken place so that people get a chance to absorb the concepts of what's going on and what the challenges are. But it's quite clearly the surplus surcharges at the check-out when choosing to tap your credit card now will not be just something—the debit card arrangements have ended. When you choose to tap that card, you won't be surprised. Everybody must have tapped their credit card and found out they've been hit with an extra cost. It's now about transparency and about capacity. There is capacity because there are real reserves. There's no longer $1.6 billion in surcharges, and businesses will save $910 million that they no longer have to pay.

These are things that make a real difference for businesses. When you start looking at the questions that they raise when it goes to the question of what's happening in the economy more generally, and particularly in regard to cost of living, you see the medicine arrangements that we've brought in here. You see the cuts that we've made in the cost of medicines. You see the opportunity for people to go and get bulk-billed. You see the opportunity for small businesses to get an instant $1,000 tax deduction. We've cut taxes five times in five different ways, putting nearly $3,000 a year more in the pockets of workers on average incomes by 2028. These are changes which make a change for every Australian—changes for small businesses and for every Australian in the cost-of-living pressures. (Time expired)

It's always heartbreaking to sit on this side of the chamber and listen to Labor tell small-business owners and the Australian people that they have never had it so good under their, quite frankly, mismanagement of the Australian economy. I don't know how many people on that side of the chamber in their lives have ever owned their own business or who have ever employed people, but I can tell you, as a former small-business owner, that it is tough out there. When government is constantly coming at you, getting in your way, adding costs and charges and making it very difficult to do what you do in your core business, it is almost impossible to keep the doors open and, frankly, that is where we are at now in Australia. Small businesses across the country are shutting up shop after decades of running a small family business. They can no longer take what this government is dealing out to them. The credit card surcharge was just the final straw that broke their backs for a lot of businesses.

It is ironic that we've got Labor over there saying it's fantastic these small businesses can't charge a surcharge anymore so consumers will be better off. You won't be paying $5.08 for a coffee at your local cafe anymore. No, the cafe is going to have to put up that cost. So now consumers are paying $5.50 for a cup of coffee. And these poor businesses have had to look at how they are going to just make ends meet. Because, let's not forget, it's not just this surcharge for credit cards; it's their power bills which have gone up by over 40 per cent under this Labor government. For these businesses, a lot of them are set up under family trust structures and let's not be sort of blind about this. Labor's also coming after those structures as well. These businesses are trying very, very hard to do what they do, whether it's making a cup of coffee or pouring a beer. They are struggling. It is not good enough that those opposite sit here, sitting week after sitting week, constantly telling the Australian people that they've never had it so good. We have seen the greatest fall in living standards in the developed world, right here in Australia. This Labor government is responsible for that, and the Australian people know it. Every time those opposite go out and try to tell the Australian people, 'We've got all these extra things that we're doing,' they know that they are being fed a pack of rubbish, quite frankly.

The Prime Minister himself has acknowledged that he thinks that small business is the lifeblood of the Australian economy and it's creating jobs. But we've seen all of that stagnate under this government. Let's not forget the latest interest rate rises, because those that own small businesses generally have a home mortgage as well. So these poor people are struggling to try and keep the lifeblood of our economy going—the lifeblood of our economy, as our own Prime Minister accepts as fact—and, instead, we've got those opposite lecturing us, and telling us that Australians have never had it so good and to think about all the changes that they've made.

Well, when I sit back here and I look at the changes that this government has proposed, all they are doing is looking after their union mates. They are not interested in the mum-and-dad small businesses, because—let's be frank—they don't sign up to a union. So this government is not interested in looking after hardworking, everyday, mum-and-dad small businesses and everyday Australians—those that are out there working the land, growing the food that we need. They're not interested in them, because they don't sign up to a union. These guys only want to look after their union mates, and they are coming after everyone for as much tax as they can get. (Time expired)

Thanks, Deputy President, for the opportunity to contribute to this debate. Things are really tough for a lot of small-business owners in Australia right now—indeed, for many Australians. We know there are significant pressures when it comes to the cost of living, and we know there are substantial challenges we face when it comes to inflation and the broader conditions within the Australian economy. We understand that, and we acknowledge that. No-one is shying away from the effort and the work required to address that, to help people.

I have been incredibly proud, over the past five or so years, to watch one of my siblings, my younger brother, establish a small business. I watched as, during COVID, he went through really, really difficult times—and lost his business, in the first instance. I've been there and watched as he's tried to build something back and create something that he can be proud of and that we are all proud of. I've also seen how hard that is for him—the toll it takes on him. He puts every hour—every moment—into his business. I miss a lot of family functions, but my brother misses more because of the hours he needs to do and the work he needs to do in growing his business and making sure it thrives. I have seen those pressures firsthand—as many of us in this chamber have—on the people in our lives that we love and know, and on the businesses we frequent and service, and on the businesses in our communities which keep our economy moving and going. We see how difficult and challenging it is.

It doesn't serve any of the people in our community running these businesses to engage in the kind of hyperbole that we've seen in the chamber today, or to make the kinds of sweeping statements which say: 'The government is coming after you.' Those statements aren't designed to serve or help the people working their butts off to run these small businesses in Australia; they're designed to make them feel fearful and scared and less hopeful for the future. And that's just not the kind of politics I want to engage in.

It is reasonable, as a government, to actually lay down the facts about what we are trying to do to help small businesses in our country. Speaking about the facts—speaking about the policies in place and the things we are doing—is actually a useful thing to do for those businesses, because maybe they don't know every support which is available or how to access them. It's important that they know that the government is backing them in and that we see how hard they work, we understand the critical role that they play in our economy and we understand that they're trying to create and build a legacy and build something which makes a contribution to our communities and to our economies. So I will proudly talk about what our government is doing to support small business, because it is significant.

That's not to say that there's not more work to do or more things to do. We acknowledge it is really tough out there. It is really tough out there—not just for these business owners, but also for the people working for them. It's tough right across our community. To minimise or simplify the challenges that are facing us in our economy is actually doing a complete disservice to those Australians living through this and trying to get by.

In the budget, the Treasurer announced more than $3.8 billion in new practical measures, which are all about trying to ensure that businesses not only survive in this economic climate but thrive—things like the permanent $20,000 instant asset write-off and our investments to make the two-year loss carry-back permanent, even though this was something which was unwound by the coalition during their time in office. We've introduced loss refundability for startups. We've introduced tax cuts, including the new $250 working Australians tax offset, for around 1.5 million sole traders in our economy. We've expanded tax incentives for venture capital. We've expanded CGT concessions to all 2.7 million active small businesses. And, as a result, we're seeing more small businesses operate in Australia and start to flourish too.

These are important investments which make a real difference to those businesses doing an incredible service in our economy and making a really significant contribution. I'm proud of the investments, but I also acknowledge that, for those businesses— (Time expired)

I loved my uncle Stewart—a great man and sporting editor of the Newcastle Herald, which is a great publication up there—but they referred to him as Snake Bite because he could enter Phar Lap in a donkey race and lose. This is the ability this man had. I looked up 'snake bitten' in the dictionary, and it says, 'an idiom meaning to be extraordinarily unlucky, doomed to misfortune or caught in a persistent streak of making mistakes and stuffing things up'. And what about this government? This government should be named 'Snake Bite' because this is everything they do; this is their modus operandi.

We have our treasurer, Dr Jim Chalmers. He's not a medical doctor; he's a doctor of economics. If he were a medical doctor, he would know the Hippocratic oath says do no harm. But that's not this doctor. This doctor walks in like a bull in a China shop and has a go. Let's have a look at the last month. We've had backdowns on ATO fees, on the veterans cap, on the widows tax and on the trust tax. This guy doesn't know what he's doing. The treasurer of this country doesn't know what he's doing. Competency has to matter. We come in here and we hear all the great words: 'Oh, we know things are tough, but wages are up.' But real wages aren't up. It doesn't matter what's in your pay packet; it's what you can buy that matters. And, under this government, your pay packet buys less—every day.

They come in here with these words. We look at all of their policies. They're out there saying, 'Oh, businesses will absorb these costs,' but their own tax department won't absorb these costs. They've stopped taking credit card payments while they're closing down on cash and while they're doing all these things. This is hypocrisy and a stunning inability to govern this country, which is why we are here. Do no harm. Protect the Australians, protect your businesses and protect your economy. Get your policy right. Live in the real world. The wheels are falling off.

Let's go through this. We have housing taxes that they brought in to make housing more affordable. They've actually brought down the value of everything that you already own, so your house is worth less. But—here's the kicker—because interest rates have gone up because of these taxes, people are less able to afford them. You can't afford a house even though it costs less, because serviceability has gone up. They've got a housing future fund that they put $10 billion into, and it isn't actually building anywhere near the amount of homes it's allowed to do. You've got a social media ban for under-16-year-olds that doesn't stop them having social media. You have wage rises that are putting up inflation and giving you less in your packet. You have $12 billion worth of subsidies for industry so they can keep their doors open for the cheapest energy in the world. Everything you do turns to rubbish. You guys couldn't organise hand relief in a monkey brothel with a bag full of bananas. This is a ridiculous state of play. Do no harm!

I know there are good people over there in the government—I know there are. It is time to stand up to the Prime Minister. It is time to say, 'Get out of the seat.' Put the good people in charge, the people who know what they're doing. Stop subjecting the Australian people to this sort of rubbish policy. Stop subjecting the Australian people to words that do nothing. Stop subjecting the Australian people to pain every time they get a pay packet.

We see it doesn't work anywhere. We saw the massive billions that went into offshore wind—gone. We saw the billions that went into hydrogen—gone. And we're seeing the billions that are going everywhere—gone—because this government wants to play student politics and not govern the nation in the interest of the Australians. They want to govern it in the interest of their friends. They want to govern it in the interest of their unions and their industry super funds. I know there are good people. Stand up to the Prime Minister and say, 'Get out of the way.' Stand up to Dr Jim Chalmers, the Treasurer, and say, 'Get out of the way.' Put people who can do the job to run this nation in control. The wheels have fallen off. We can't wait for an election. You people in the Labor Party should stand up and change it today.

Question agreed to.