STATEMENTS BY SENATORS

Senator BROCKMAN (Western Australia—Deputy President and Chair of Committees) (13:28): Labor has no clue about managing the economy and absolutely no clue about small business. When I look around the chamber here, I see three senators around me who have direct experience of working with or working in small business: Senator Liddle, Senator Kovacic and Senator Sharma.

And I myself have a background in small business, both on a family farm and working in and for other small businesses. Small business is the engine room of the Australian economy. It is an engine room that is currently being devastated by this government and its union-centric policies that are driving the economy under water, hurting every small-business person, sending inflation skyrocketing—which punishes everyone—lowering every single Australian's standard of living and making it just so much harder for small business in Australia to get ahead.

That's why the coalition has a plan, which includes increasing the instant asset write-off to $50,000 per annum. Labor's meagre effort of $20,000 doesn't even buy you a basic ute these days. It certainly doesn't upgrade any significant piece of equipment in Australian small businesses.

The Liberal Party, the coalition, back in government, will increase that to 50,000 and, hopefully, that's just the start. We want to see that threshold even higher, because we know that small business is the engine room of the Australian economy.