QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator WONG (South Australia—Minister for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (15:09): Firstly, the senator reminds us about energy costs, and I would remind her that she voted against energy bill relief. Let's remember that. Senator Ruston and others voted against energy bill relief.

Secondly, I remind the senator that 90 per cent of small businesses are not affected by these changes. I would also remind the senator that the government has provided more than $3.8 billion in new practical measures to ensure that businesses do have support in these challenging times, and they include a permanent $20,000 instant asset write-off tax, a permanent two-year loss carry-back and introducing loss refundability for start-ups.

I would also note that sole traders—the 1.5 million sole traders—would be amongst those many Australians eligible for the working Australians tax offset. But I tell you what Senator Ruston is not being up front about with small businesses with farmers and certainly not with her colleagues, and that is the extent to which she is racking up the bill that they are going to have to pay before the next election with either higher deficits, higher taxes or more spending cuts.

I wonder: where are the fiscal conservatives when Senator Ruston, as we've heard, says: 'We should do what the Greens do. We should make sure that there's another $3 billion savings which is not able to be reinvested in aged care'? And I wonder: where are the fiscal conservatives inside the Liberal Party, as the moderates put you into an unsustainable fiscal position?

You have seen this movie before. You have seen this movie before with Senator Hume. You've seen this movie before with Senator— (Time expired)