Peter Dutton’s pitch to SMEs: Labor treats small business owners with “suspicion”

Out of government for the first time in a decade, and with its electoral grip still loosening, the Coalition has a new message for small business voters: despite the odds, the Opposition is working on its own policy playbook.

Tuesday saw the launch of the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia (COSBOA) National Small Business Summit, with the morning’s proceedings headlined by Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.

The speech comes months after the passage of Labor’s landmark industrial relations reform package, which the Coalition branded as a disaster for small business, and days after a stinging by-election defeat saw the Liberal Party concede yet another seat in Federal Parliament.

In the face of Labor’s small business reforms and his own party’s shrinking electoral hold, Dutton accused the Albanese Government of treating small business owners with “suspicion”.

The federal government’s natural posture is that SME owners are “exploiting their workers and taking advantage of their workers,” he continued.

This year’s industry roundtable, which saw the federal government meet with industry representatives like COSBOA to discuss the shape of upcoming reforms, was geared against small businesses from the start, he continued.

“In the end, we saw a predetermined outcome roll out, and it wasn’t to the advantage of small business.”

Countering Labor

As Labor makes headway with its pre-election commitments and charges towards its first ‘full’ federal budget, Dutton said the Coalition’s small business platform is something of a work in progress, with the party room yet to unveil how it will challenge the federal government as it pursues its reform agenda.

“In our time in opposition — we’re ten months in — we’re not going to announce every policy we’re working on at the moment,” he said.

“But it is fair to say we have significant room to play in relation to the small business taxation system, the way there is a disparity in power between the small and big businesses.

“We need to work on reducing costs, reducing those costs and requirements for small businesses,” he continued, adding that “the government needs to be helping not hindering small business, and we need to bring ourselves to the table.”

Some sharper policies did come into focus, with the Opposition leader suggesting the reexamination of the instant asset write-off scheme, a Coalition-initiated policy which is set to end at the end of this financial year.

Dutton outlined firmer policy responses to broader issues with scope beyond small business, including the Coalition’s push for greater nuclear power generation to help drive down energy bills.

“We need to have a realistic discussion in our judgment about the use of small reactor nuclear technology,” he said, pledging that Australia would not become home to “Homer Simpson-style” nuclear waste dumps.

The emergence of the new $368 billion nuclear submarine deal opens new opportunities for onshore power generation, he said.

The COSBOA National Small Business Summit will continue through to Wednesday, with an address from Small Business Minister Julie Collins set to close today’s formal proceedings.