Dr ALY (Cowan—Minister for Small Business, Minister for International Development and Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (15:18): I actually really do want to thank the shadow minister and member for Goldstein for bringing this— Opposition members interjecting— The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Claydon ): Sorry, Minister. I ask members to please leave the chamber quietly. Mr Pasin interjecting— The DEPUTY SPEAKER: No, I'm giving the call to the—is this a point of order? Mr Pasin interjecting— The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Well, then you do not have the call. The minister has the call. Mr Pasin: I ask the member opposite to withdraw the reflection on members. It was unparliamentary. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Who? Do it correctly, please. I asked you that at the beginning. Mr Pasin: I ask that the member for Wills withdraw his unparliamentary remark. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Did the member for Wills say anything unparliamentary? Mr Khalil: I made no remark. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I'm sorry. I asked because I couldn't hear what was going on in this chamber, despite requesting several times for interjections to stop. I don't know. He's saying there isn't anything to withdraw. I apologise for that interruption, and we will go back to the Minister for Small Business. Dr ALY: As I was saying, I actually welcome this MPI. I really do want to thank the member for Goldstein, the shadow minister, for bringing this because it gives us an opportunity here to speak about a really important issue. So far I've been the Minister for Small Business for nine months, and I've spoken many times in this place about small business. I know that the member for Goldstein started his contribution by talking about the lack of opportunity to ask questions about small business. I can tell you that in the nine months that I have been the Minister for Small Business in this place, I have not received a single question from the Liberal opposition about small business. They don't care about small business. They want to pretend that they care. They want to stand here and confect outrage, and they want to bang on the table and talk about small business. But do they actually care about small business? Look at their actions. Look at how many times they've sought to ask questions. Mr Tim Wilson interjecting— The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Goldstein! Seriously, are we just going to have this slanging match all through the MPI? I hope not, because there'll be people leaving the chamber shortly. Dr ALY: I actually welcome those opposite finally focusing on something important to Australia and to Australian communities and to the Australian economy, and that is small businesses. I can't help but wonder though, given the shadow minister's recent performance, whether it was a job interview or perhaps all of this is just another distraction from the chaos, discord and infighting that we're seeing over the other side. I do welcome them actually asking a question about small business and focusing on something other than themselves for once. So I will take this opportunity to talk about small business. First of all, though, I want to thank the many small businesses I have visited, whether in the member for Wills's electorate, the member for Moore's electorate or the member for Aston's electorate, who have taken the time to sit down with me and to go through some of the issues that they're experiencing. I can't tell you how valuable their feedback and their input is into the work that we are doing here as a government—real work that is built on Australia's very first National Small Business Strategy, a strategy that those opposite didn't have in the whole time that they were in government—and into things that we take to the small business ministers meetings, meetings that those opposite didn't convene once when they were in government. Since we've been in government, we've had seven small business ministers meetings, and I'm really pleased to say that I've convened two of them. The previous minister had convened five before that. How do you work with small businesses and deliver for small businesses if you don't talk to the states and territories, if you don't bring together small business ministers meetings, if you don't go out and talk to small businesses and listen to them? Before I continue, I want to address a piece of misinformation. I hope that it is not purposeful, though I doubt that it isn't purposeful. I think that perhaps the shadow minister was being very purposeful in his selective use of the statistics and the figures around the number of insolvencies. I want to clarify the number of insolvencies and address specifically the point that the shadow minister made, because he is correct that the number of corporate insolvencies has increased compared to the previous 12 months; however—and here's the important bit—the level of corporate insolvencies as a proportion of total companies was 0.41 per cent. That is lower than the long-term historical average for insolvencies. So it is quite disingenuous of the shadow minister to stand here and say it's the highest number of insolvencies ever and to yell and scream like a banshee, banging on the table about the number of insolvencies when he should know how to read statistics. And if he doesn't know how to read statistics, there's a 'Statistics 101' course that he can take. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Minister, I've asked you to direct your comments through me to the chair. Dr ALY: My apologies, Deputy Speaker Claydon. I want to talk a little bit about our National Small Business Strategy. The fact is you cannot deliver and you cannot say that you deliver for small businesses if you don't have a strategy. Our small business strategy, which I again remind the House is the very first national small business strategy, looks at three pillars. It looks at how we help businesses grow, it looks at cutting red tape and it looks at creating an even playing field for small businesses. These are the three things that small businesses always raise with me when I speak to them. They tell me: 'We just want an even playing field. We just want a fair go.' They tell me, 'There's too much red tape,' and often that red tape is over different levels of government, which is why it's important to speak to states and territories. And they tell me that they want to be able to grow and they want to be able to thrive. And if you have those three pillars as the basis, the principles, upon which you base the work that you do in small business, then you are able to deliver for them. Under those three pillars, there are a number of things that we have delivered. I want to talk a little bit about the instant asset write-off, which we extended. It's a $20,000 instant asset write-off. It allows small businesses to purchase the equipment that they need to keep going. I want to talk about the many supports we have for businesses around digital solutions. A lot of small businesses are a bit reticent to uptake AI, to utilise digital solutions. I want to tell small businesses that there is help out there, to help you utilise digital solutions, to grow your business and to keep your business going. I want to talk about the targets that we've set for government procurement. We've increased the target of government procurement for businesses under 20 billion to 40 per cent, and that means that any government contracts under 20 billion, 40 per cent of them must be small or medium enterprises. That really gives small businesses a fair go and an even playing field when it comes to getting government contracts. One of the greatest issues that a lot of small businesses talk to me about is red tape. We've got states and territories committed to reducing red tape, getting rid of the clutter, so that small businesses can continue to get on with their core business and run the businesses they need to run. I've heard some pretty interesting stories about red tape, but we're also going to be looking into white tape—that's something that ASBFEO, the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman recommended. We are looking at white tape, which is that regulatory burden between corporate business and small business. I'll go back to the fact that those opposite like to say they care about small business. They like to talk about small business, but the proof is really in the pudding. The proof is very much evident in the fact that in the nine months I've been the small-business minister, not once have they ever asked a question about small business. Not a single time. Not a single question. Mr Tim Wilson interjecting— Mr Khalil: Not a question! What have you been doing? The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Assistant Minister Khalil, sitting at the table, not helpful. Shadow minister responding, not helpful. Please desist. Dr ALY: I will not sit here and watch the shadow minister, with his confected outrage, when he has never ever brought up the subject of— (Time expired)