Parliamentary Speeches
Small Business (27/03/2009)
Mr DONALD PAGE (Ballina) [1.54 p.m.]: I bring to the attention of the House and the Government the difficulties being experienced by small businesses in my electorate and across New South Wales, in particular, in regional areas. My office is located in the centre of Ballina. Last week I walked around the town and the number of vacant shops and offices was sobering. If small businesses in my electorate and across New South Wales are to survive this global economic crisis we need to see strong and positive leadership from the New South Wales Labor Government. Small businesses, including those in Ballina, are looking to the State Government for support. Hopefully the Rees Government will do something—anything—to help them. Regrettably, this State Government is not doing much at all.
The results of the latest Sensis business index survey show that the New South Wales Government has the highest dissatisfaction level amongst small and medium-size businesses of any government in Australia. I am sure that the Rees Labor Government will try to dismiss this, using the excuse that the findings are the result of the global crisis. However, this is the twentieth consecutive quarter that the Labor Government in New South Wales has had the lowest level of support of any State or Territory government in Australia. For five long years small and medium businesses have lacked confidence in the New South Wales Labor Government. Whilst the State Government has been bleating about reform, reducing red tape and patting itself on the back, New South Wales is still perceived as the least business-friendly State in Australia.
Businesses say that they have no confidence in the State Government and those based in New South Wales are the least profitable in Australia. People, including small business owners, are leaving this State in droves, taking their money across the border, in particular, into Queensland. The Australian Bureau of Statistics states that more than 22,000 people fled to Queensland in the year to 30 September 2008. New South Wales lost the same number over the same period. In the past six months alone more than 23,000 people have lost their jobs in New South Wales. Unemployment is at 5.8 per cent—the highest in the nation and equal to the rate in South Australia—and the State's economy shrank in the last quarter. Last month 11,400 people in New South Wales lost their jobs. In fact, 200 people a day in New South Wales are losing their jobs.
Some of these people are in my electorate and they worry about how they will meet their future financial obligations. It should come as no surprise to the Government that people want to get out of New South Wales. New South Wales is the most expensive State in Australia to do business, especially when compared with Queensland, which has the second lowest rate of business taxes. Small businesses are crying out for some leadership from the New South Wales Government. The Government could start by cutting payroll tax. Currently, it sits at 5.75 per cent, which makes it one of the highest rates of payroll tax in the country. It is well above the rate in Queensland, at 4.89 per cent, and the threshold of $623,000 in New South Wales is well below the Queensland threshold of $1 million.
What incentives are there to do business in New South Wales when the State Government cannot even pay its own bills? Currently it has on its books more than 75,000 late invoices, averaging $1,749 each. More than $130 million is owed to businesses in this State. Some of these businesses are located in the Ballina electorate. On top of everything else, small businesses are now facing a large increase in their electricity costs. Recently, the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal recommended a 20 per cent increase in electricity costs. The Labor Government must reject this recommendation outright. There is no room in already stressed small business budgets in the Ballina electorate for a large increase in power bills. Small businesses are the backbone of this State's economy.
If small businesses in New South Wales flounder the rest of Australia feels the pain. Communities such as Ballina depend on small business. If small business is not making money people are not being employed. If people are not working their spending capacity is limited and other businesses also feel the impact. Over the years the New South Wales Labor Government has talked a lot about the importance of small business, but the small business community continues to expresses its dissatisfaction at the regulatory burden it experiences because of government policy. The Rees Labor Government claims that it is a friend of small business. Clearly, that sentiment is not reciprocated.
Small businesses in the Ballina electorate and across New South Wales want action. Small businesses want to see fewer and lower taxes to make them competitive with other States, less red tape, and a significant reduction in the regulatory burden. Currently, small business operators in New South Wales spend approximately five hours a week more negotiating red tape than do their counterparts in Queensland. New South Wales wants a government with foresight that is willing to reward creative enterprises showing initiative in areas such as technology, the environment, alternative energy and other niche markets. New jobs can be created even in these difficult economic times. Small businesses in New South Wales deserve a government that will genuinely respond to their concerns and support them with real change. Unfortunately, they are not getting that under this State Labor Government.
