STATEMENTS BY SENATORS

Senator BLYTH (South Australia) (13:36): Labor's budget is an assault on aspiration, and it's taking a huge slice out of small businesses. Last week I met with Jason and Kelly from Banana Boogie Bakery in my home state of South Australia. They've just been named Australia's best bakery in 2026.

They're famous for their award-winning sausage rolls and their vanilla slice, which I can confirm are exceptional. For more than a decade, Jason and Kelly have worked 15-plus hours a day, six days a week, and they now employ more than 20 people. They are an incredible example of aspirational Australians.

They're fighting rising power costs, freight costs, insurance costs and everything else that is making it hard to run their business. When Jason and Kelly finally see a return on the business that they have spent years building, Labor wants to take a bigger slice from them. Anthony Albanese was not there for the 15-plus-hour days, and he did not take on any risk to help build their business.

Yet, under Labor's capital gains changes, when small-business owners eventually sell what they have built, more of that reward goes to the tax office. That means less reward for years of the hard work, investment, sweat equity and risk that small businesses across Australia take. You don't restore aspiration by taxing it.

You reward effort and give people a reason to take the next risk. The coalition will abolish Labor's trust tax, reverse its capital gains and negative gearing changes and introduce a permanent $50,000 instant asset write-off for small businesses. Hard workers like Jason and Kelly need a break from government, not another tax bill, and the coalition will back them.

We'll reward their effort. We are going to give small businesses across Australia the room they need to grow.