Topics:  Labor’s cost of doing business crisis, Labor’s cost of living crisis, Energy prices soaring under Labor, Coalition’s lower simpler and fairer taxes 

 

E&OE   

 

TOM CONNELL: 

So far, Australia appears to be on track to avoiding a recession despite all those interest rate increases, but there are increased warning signs around the health of small business in the country. Joining me now is Shadow Treasurer, Angus Taylor. Thank you for your time. Just going through some of those warning signs, so 46% only are making a profit. Insolvencies up, and the latest report today, loan application denials are also up significantly. So they're trying to bridge the gap, and struggling. Is specific help for small business needed right now? 

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

Well, they just need a better economy, Tom. 22,000 small business insolvencies since Labor came to power, they're on track for a record for a government. Certainly, there's been a record in the last financial year, the number of insolvencies, and I'll pick up a point you made a moment ago. We're in a household recession. We're in a household recession. GDP per capita has been going backwards now for 18 months, Tom. This is a diabolical situation for small businesses. They're the backbone of my economy, and they're the backbone of much of the Australian economy of course. In my electorate, we see it every day that small businesses are really struggling right now. What we need is back to basics, get the economy right. This government thinks the answer to everything is throw some money at it. No, the answer to this is a stronger, better, low inflation, high growth economy. That's not what we have. We are a long, long way from that. And for all practical purposes, we've been in recession for 18 months, with the household recession, GDP per capita going backwards. 

 

TOM CONNELL: 

So just to clarify, though, as you sort of think about your approach, I'm sure you're already thinking, around what to take to the next election, you don't think specific help for small business is needed? Because it seems it's struggling more than households that have been able to fall back, in many cases, on savings during Covid. 

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:  

Well, it certainly is Tom. But Labor's answer to everything is throw taxpayers' money at it. Our answer is get the economy right. And if you get the economy right, the rest looks after itself without the expense of taxpayers. Now there's lots of ways to do that. Get rid of red tape. You don't impose industrial relations regulation on small businesses at a time when they're really struggling, that is making it harder for them, harder for them, to make ends meet. You don't impose scope three emissions, emissions reporting requirements that are going to impose red tape right across the Australian economy. That is absolutely inappropriate and is not going to help solve any underlying problem that needs to be solved. You don't make it more difficult for businesses to do business, and that's what this Labor Party does every single day Tom. So, these are the basics. These are the basics. They're basics that we learnt a long time ago in this country, that this government has forgotten about, and we're seeing the result. 22,000 insolvencies. It's just extraordinary. 

 

TOM CONNELL: 

Sometimes, short term help might be needed, though, I know you talked about changing the economy generally, one of those other aspects are the energy rebates. So, they will last until July 1. So what about the scenario where you form the government in some way, in May, and you've got power bills, and I know what we're talking about long term - gas, nuclear. But putting that to one side, because that won't change by July 1 next year, would you have to look at whether you might need to extend that for a brief period if the economy is struggling so they don't have a huge surge in their bills on July 1. 

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

Well, we're going to see a huge surge in bills on July 1, because this government has been putting band aids on bullet wounds, Tom. I mean, I know you love throwing some taxpayer money around, that's the nature of the questions you're asking today. But the truth is the answer always is go to the source... 

 

TOM CONNELL: 

[inaudible] I love it, it's merely a question. This is not advocating. I'm asking questions. But I know what you say around that, and I know the longer term energy issue, but you know, if people are really struggling... 

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

It's not a long term... 

 

TOM CONNELL: 

...just hanging on, no I know it's not long term, but as a short term measure, is it something you'll look at, or you're just, you're against extending that rebate full stop? 

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

You know Tom, what I'm for is get to the source of the problem. Stop dealing with symptoms and get to the source of the problem. Now the source of this problem is Labor has seen rapid increases in energy prices. They promised a $275 reduction. We've seen the exact opposite. And as always with Labor, they then go and ask the taxpayer to pay to try and put a band aid on the bullet wound. That's not the way you do it. You've got to get more gas into the system. That's the short term action that can really make a big difference. Labor forgot about that. They were not interested in making sure they worked with the gas industry when they came into government. Indeed, they've just made life hard for the gas industry, and the result is prices have gone up. Australians are paying far more. Small businesses in particular have really been copping it, and the result is we're seeing record levels of insolvencies, and we know energy costs is part of that problem. 

 

TOM CONNELL: 

One of the biggest changes Labor made during this term was to stage three tax cuts. You said in the weeks afterwards, you wanted to look at what the state of the budget would be and then make your call. Does that mean after MYEFO, would you have enough confidence after MYEFO to then outline your plan, give everyone plenty of time to debate the merits of it? 

 

ANGUS TAYLOR:  

Well you know we believe in lower, simpler, fairer taxes, and that's why, for small businesses we were just talking about a moment ago, we've said that we want to see a permanent accelerated depreciation regime in place for small business. We've already announced that as our policy, and we do believe in lower, simpler, fairer income taxes. We've seen a 25% increase in personal income taxes being paid by Australians under Labor. And that's not appropriate. I tell you what we don't believe in, Tom though, is we don't believe in taxing unrealised capital gains, but that's, as we know, central to Labor's policy, and we don't believe in hitting the family home with capital gains tax or changing the negative gearing regime [inaudible]. But this government... 

 

TOM CONNELL: 

Well, we'll see where that goes.  

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

This government has clearly been working on this. We know that. We know they've been working on it. They've got a lot of questions to answer. They refused to answer any of those questions in parliament this week. Instead, they were just hurling insults, but these are the tax policies that really affect Australians and we'll continue to lay out our policies in the coming months.  

 

TOM CONNELL: 

But what does that mean around stage three? Would you maybe need to see, are you waiting to see if Labor hands down a budget and do it then? Or would you have enough information after MYEFO? Because this is, you know, big [inaudible] 

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

Yeah, it's very clear Labor has more to announce, because we know they're working on tax policies. We know they're working on hitting the family home with capital gains tax. We know they're working on negative gearing. And as we see those policies, we'll respond appropriately and we'll announce our policies in the lead up to the next election, Tom.  

 

TOM CONNELL: 

So you'll hold your fire, sounds like?  

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

I mean, I think we got news even in the last 48 hours or so, that there's every chance Labor is going to have another budget. So we'll need to respond appropriately. Look, at the end of the day, we need to know whether Labor's spent all the money. Now, there's every sign that they're spending money at a rapid rate, at a record rate indeed, 16% increases in spending that we already know about. Will there be more of that? And that'll tell us more about how we frame our policies. 

 

TOM CONNELL: 

Sounds like we'll be waiting until PEFO or the budget. That's my guess at hearing that. But you know, we'll keep asking. We'll see how we go. Angus Taylor, appreciate your time. Talk again soon. 

 

ANGUS TAYLOR: 

Thanks Tom. 

 

ENDS.