COSBOA 

NATIONAL SMALL BUSINESS SUMMIT

Tuesday, 4 August 2026

**Check against delivery**

E&OE……………

Good morning everyone.

Thank you to COSBOA for having me here, and thank you to everyone in this room who represents, supports and works alongside small businesses across Australia.

A summit like this should begin with a practical question.

What does small business need from government to invest, employ and grow?

COSBOA’s latest research gives us a pretty clear picture of where things stand.

87 per cent of regional small businesses say their expenses have increased over the past year.

73 per cent say profits have fallen.

87 per cent of those trying to recruit have struggled to fill roles.

And 77 per cent of owners experienced business-related stress or anxiety.

These are not just numbers on a page.

They tell us small business owners are being pushed too hard.

And when a small business comes under pressure, the consequences are not always dramatic or immediate.

An owner puts off buying the next piece of equipment.

They decide not to replace someone who leaves.

They hold off taking on an apprentice.

They decide this is not the year to expand.

Multiply those decisions across millions of businesses and you have an investment problem, a jobs problem and a productivity problem.

I have been travelling and talking with small businesses around the country.

The message is remarkably consistent.

It is the cost of everything.

Power.
Insurance.
Fuel.
Freight.
Borrowing.

Then there is the uncertainty.

Another tax.

Another rule.

Another compliance burden.

Businesses are being forced to spend more time and money adjusting to government decisions when they should be serving customers, employing people and growing.

There is a very current example of why government needs to apply a genuine small business lens to policy.

COSBOA has been leading the debate over the proposed changes to the taxation of family trusts.

Hundreds of thousands of Australian small businesses operate through discretionary trusts.

These are not exotic corporate structures.

They are tradies.

Retailers.

Hospitality businesses.

Professional firms.

Family businesses.

COSBOA is hearing from owners who face a choice between paying more tax or spending thousands of dollars restructuring businesses they have operated legitimately for years.

That matters.

Because money spent on additional tax, lawyers and restructuring is money that cannot be spent on equipment, staff, apprentices, debt repayment or growth.

I want to acknowledge COSBOA for giving those businesses a voice through its Fair Go campaign.

Government needs to hear those voices before it acts.

The Coalition’s position is straightforward.

Genuine small businesses should not become collateral damage in the pursuit of more revenue.

If government proposes a major tax change, it should understand what that change will do to the people who actually run businesses before it legislates it.

Small businesses should not discover the consequences after the fact.

Confidence matters.

Investment is a vote of confidence.

When business owners believe the rules are stable and the future is worth backing, they invest.

They buy equipment, employ people, take on apprentices and expand.

When confidence disappears, they hold back.

That is why our vision for small business starts with making it easier to invest, employ and grow.

The Coalition has committed to a permanent $50,000 instant asset write-off for eligible small businesses.

If a builder needs a ute, a mechanic needs equipment or a café needs a new kitchen, government should encourage that investment.

Because profit is not a dirty word.

Profit is what allows a business to reinvest, employ people and grow.

The same practical approach should apply to regulation.

Good regulation has a purpose.

But regulation that is duplicated, constantly changing or impossible for an ordinary person to understand becomes a tax on time.

And small businesses do not have compliance departments sitting down the hall.

There is the owner.

Usually after hours.

Usually at the kitchen table.

Before Canberra produces another rule, it should ask a simple question:

Could a small business owner understand this, comply with it and still have time left to run their business?

If not, go back and fix it.

Energy matters for the same reason.

Ask a baker, a butcher, a manufacturer or a farmer.

They do not experience energy policy as an ideological debate.

They experience it as a bill.

And when the cost of energy goes up, the cost of everything goes up.

The Coalition will focus on affordable, reliable and abundant energy, because businesses cannot compete if government policy keeps pushing up the cost of producing things here.

Then there is the workforce.

Australia does not have a shortage of reports about skills.

We have a shortage of skilled workers.

For many young Australians, their first real opportunity comes because a small business owner decides to give them a go.

An employer says:

I will train you.

I will invest in you.

I will give you a start.

And we need a training system judged by whether it delivers real skills for real jobs.

Housing is part of that equation too.

I come from the Northern Territory, so I know how quickly a workforce shortage becomes a housing shortage.

A business can find the right worker and still lose them because there is nowhere for them to live.

That is why the Coalition will link migration levels to the number of homes Australia actually builds.

An employee you cannot house is not a workforce solution.

Regional businesses face other disadvantages too.

Long distances.

Freight costs.

Patchy connectivity.

Limited childcare.

And in many communities, the local mechanic, builder, shop, tourism operator or health provider is not simply part of the local economy.

They are the local economy.

That is why policy designed in Canberra needs to survive contact with regional Australia.

And then there is productivity.

Canberra talks about productivity as though it is mysterious.

Small business owners know exactly what it is.

It is doing another job in the same day.

Spending less time filling out forms.

Buying equipment that lets you do more.

Training someone so they become more skilled.

Using technology or AI to take two hours of administration out of your week.

Government cannot manufacture productivity.

But government can either enable it or get in its way.

That is ultimately the choice.

A small business policy that adds cost, complexity and uncertainty.

Or one that backs investment, rewards hard work and gives Australians room to have a go.

Small business owners invest more than money.

They invest their time.

Their family life.

Their reputation.

And often their entire future.

They deserve a government that understands that.

Our job should be to make it easier to invest.

Easier to employ.

Easier to train.

Easier to innovate.

And easier to grow.

Because when small businesses are confident enough to invest, Australia becomes more productive.

When they employ and train people, wages and opportunity grow.

And when people are prepared to back themselves and build something, the whole country benefits.

Small business is aspiration in action.

Government should get the big things right, get off your back, and let you get on with it.

Thank you.

[Ends]