STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Mr BIRRELL (Nicholls) (13:44): Do you know what's going on around Australia at the moment? Small businesses and large businesses are being contacted by their financial advisers, and they're saying to them, 'Do you realise what these trust and tax arrangement changes that were announced in the budget are actually going to mean for you?' When they have those meetings, the full horror of what these small businesses are about to experience becomes apparent.

The financial advisers are saying, 'It's going to cost you a heap of money just to make the changes, but the changes themselves are going to make it harder for you to do business.' Increases in taxes—you can't use trust arrangements the way you used to when you set them up, in good faith, because they were the rules. Businesses who normally don't get involved in politics and normally don't visit their MP are now dropping in and saying, 'How can this be the case?' They're saying, 'One of my real options is to downsize the business.' Do you know what downsizing the business means?

It means not growing the business, not buying new assets, not putting more people on and, in fact, putting people off. This government is anti small business, and the changes in the budget prove that. The only way for small business to again be the focus of this parliament and the engine room of Australia is to elect a coalition government that backs small business.