Tuesday, 12 May 2026

 Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (18:12): (2511) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Small and Family Business, and the action I seek is simple: explain to Victoria’s 718,000 small businesses why the Allan Labor government could not find a single word for them in an 11-page budget speech – not one word, not for the corner shop, not for the family firm and not for the sole trader who rises at the crack of dawn, makes payroll and fills Labor’s black holes and potholes. The Treasurer found time for a bike track and a toilet block – vital infrastructure, I am sure – but not a syllable for the sector employing nearly half of Victoria’s private workforce. And who does she blame for the cost of doing business? Take a wild guess: President Donald Trump, no less. That is right, Trump is apparently responsible for the CFMEU corruption. Trump set our taxes. Trump tied up small businesses in red tape and left them short of workers. Who knew the man was so busy?

Meanwhile, back in the real world, the $2.5 million for small business support provided last year has vanished. That provided funding for Business Victoria’s digital channels, the small business toolkits program and the Small Business Bus. Those programs have been abolished, cut or otherwise creatively allocated elsewhere. In their place the government offers $1.6 million for apparently different purposes: $400,000 for dispute resolution and $1.2 million for something called the Small Business Activation Fund, both funded for one year only and not a cent in the forward estimates. One must ask: what happened to the Small Business Bus? Has it been sold? Is it parked somewhere gathering dust? And the toolkits program – is that locked up? Across the industry, small business and medical research portfolios, new budget commitments have collapsed from $26.3 million to $8.6 million, a 67 per cent cut. I did notice nearly $12 million allocated to help businesses bid for government contracts. Only in Victoria do we spend public money encouraging the private sector to apply for the privilege of working on public projects that will inevitably run over time and over budget: now, that is what you call a circular economy. What small business really needs is less government, not more. It needs certainty, lower costs and less red tape. The Liberal Party’s answer is straightforward: cut red tape, cut land tax, cut payroll tax and abolish five other taxes.