Mr MATT KEAN (Hornsby) [4.20 p.m.]: I am delighted to speak on the Small Business Commissioner Bill 2012. Having worked in business before I was elected to Parliament, I know that small business is the engine room of growth in New South Wales.
Small businesses employ more than 50 per cent of the State's workforce, and New South Wales has about 680,000 small businesses. Ninety-six per cent of all businesses in Australia are small businesses. Small businesses are a critical part of the State's economy, they are critical employers in New South Wales and they play a critical role in ensuring that our communities can continue to prosper and thrive. That is why this legislation is so important to ensure that small businesses have an independent voice looking out for them in their dealings with government, with regulation, with the tax system and with the day-to-day issues they face.
In my community I know that small businesses do it tough every day of the week. They often do not have huge resources or the capacity to access the legal system, for example, to take on the Australian Tax Office, and that is why they need an independent umpire to assist them. As a Government we should be doing what we can to make life easier for small business: to create a level playing field, to give small business the opportunity to thrive, and to continue to generate employment and growth. That is what I will always fight for on this side of the House. I am delighted that the Government has taken this step. The role of the Small Business Commissioner is to be an independent advocate—someone who small businesses can trust and someone who can liaise with government agencies on their behalf in circumstances where they feel they have nowhere else to turn.
It is often very difficult for small businesses to take on big enterprises and the Government, and this bill will help level the playing field. That is why the independence of the commissioner is so vital, given that the commissioner's role will also involve undertaking alternative dispute resolution. We have established a Small Business Commissioner as a statutory officer so that small businesses do not feel that nothing has changed and that the Government has failed to deliver on its promise to provide an important independent voice for small business. The Hornsby Chamber of Commerce is very excited about this reform. I single out the work of the President of the Hornsby Chamber of Commerce, Mr Bill Tyrell, who has been in that role for a number of years. He has worked tirelessly to promote the efforts of small business in the Hornsby area by providing its members with opportunities to develop and learn.
Last year, as the local member, I inaugurated the Hornsby Small Business Forum. The New South Wales Business Chamber came together with the Hornsby Chamber of Commerce and I invited small businesses to meet the Minister for Small Business so that they could ask her questions and put their views to her on ways to fix the system. I am delighted to say that this year we will be inviting Yasmin King, the new Small Business Commissioner, to address the Hornsby Chamber of Commerce. This will provide small businesses with access to government that they might otherwise not have and assure them that we are listening to their concerns and that we understand their challenges. In this way we can ensure that we have a regulatory environment and a tax system that is sympathetic to their needs.
I keep saying this, but we must stand back and allow business to do what it does best—generate jobs, create economic growth and do business. That is what will drive the New South Wales economy now and into the future. We should be getting out of the way of small businesses and we should be making it easier for them to do business, and that is what this bill seeks to do. One of the concerns on this side of the Chamber is unnecessary red tape being placed in the way of small businesses. The role of the Small Business Commissioner is to help cut through that red tape and to help businesses navigate the regulatory maze that was imposed on them by the former Labor Government so that they can get back to doing what they do best: business.
Small businesses do it tough: they have to deal with payroll tax, stamp duty, council regulations, and numerous State and Federal regulations. It is difficult for the little guy, and this legislation is about giving the little guy a win. This is about helping giving small businesses means to succeed, to put food on the table and to put their kids through school—aspirations that all of us have, but those in small business take enormous risks to make those things happen. The bill does not create a new government office, it provides the State with a new vision: a vision that fosters co-operation between businesses and the Government, and that will ultimately benefit the public. When small business is doing well New South Wales is doing well, and that is what this bill seeks to achieve.
There has been a lot of consultation with regard to this legislation. Throughout June and July 2012 the Small Business Commissioner hosted 15 listening tours across the State and engaged with approximately 330 small business operators about the legislative framework for the Small Business Commissioner and general issues impacting on small businesses. Listening tours were conducted throughout the State, including Sydney, Wollongong, Newcastle, the Hunter region, Orange, Bathurst, Bega, Cooma and western Sydney. The consultation was extensive and the commissioner travelled far and wide to understand the impact of this legislation on small businesses. Sixty-four submissions were received, in both written and survey format. Of those submissions, 67 per cent were from small businesses, and they have been critical in forming this policy and in ensuring that the policy was made to fit and help them.
We also spoke to government agencies, and the commissioner received feedback from a number of small business sectors, which indicated they needed assistance in dealing with State and local government bodies when they consider that they have been dealt with unfairly. The focus of this Government should be on ensuring that agencies provide the highest level of service to their stakeholders, including small businesses. As I said, small businesses employ more than 50 per cent of the workforce in New South Wales, and that is why it is so important that we support them in their dealings with government and in their business dealings. The commissioner will not be able to intervene in departmental decisions, such as planning approvals, the granting of licences or any similar determinations. The only role available to the commissioner will be to require an agency to provide information or to answer questions regarding the agency's dealings with a small business where there are allegations of unfair practices or where there is a public interest concern.
In such circumstances the commissioner would speak to the agency concerned and hear its side of the story. The commissioner will be a great advocate for small business and a powerful voice to ensure that small business has a level playing field to compete with big business and government and do what it does best. One reason I joined the Liberal Party is that I believe the role of government is to help establish a level playing field and to create hope, reward and opportunity. Helping small business meets all of those criteria. That is why we need to promote the prosperity and capability of all businesses in this State. It is to the benefit of everyone in this Chamber, everyone in my community of Hornsby and every citizen of New South Wales. When the small business sector does well New South Wales also does well. That goes to the heart of this legislation. It is about making it easier for small business and helping it navigate the regulatory burden it faces on a daily basis. I commend the bill to the House.
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