QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Dr ALY (Cowan—Minister for Small Business, Minister for International Development and Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (14:06): I thank the member opposite for her question. As I mentioned in the last response, we are seeing record numbers of small businesses opening in Australia, largely due to the settings that this government has had, including $3.8 billion of assistance to small business.

I meet with small businesses regularly, and regularly they tell me that the two measures that this government has introduced—the $20,000 instant asset write-off being made permanent and the two-year loss carryback being made permanent—have made a huge difference to them. These are both measures that were introduced by a Labor government and are both measures that were wound back by coalition governments.