Good evening.
It’s wonderful to be with you this evening. I’m going to start by, if I may, acknowledging the traditional custodians of the lands on which we meet, the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people of the Kulin nation, their elders, past and present, and their continuing connection to land, water and community. And I also acknowledge any First Nations people here with us this evening. I want to say a huge thank you to COSBOA for inviting me to be part of your wonderful summit. I’ve heard great things about today, and I’m sure that each and every one of you has found value in the summit thus far.
Can I also acknowledge any state parliamentarians joining us here today and special guests, and of course, the various commissioners and Bruce Billson, the wonderful Ombudsman in the room with us this evening. It’s incredibly exciting to be here as the Minister for Small Business alongside my 2 other portfolios, which is Multicultural Affairs and International Development. When I was first given those 3 portfolios, a lot of people said to me that that seemed quite odd, that those 3 portfolios seemed to be quite disparate, as if they don’t belong together.
But I actually think they do belong together because after all, 34 per cent of Australian small businesses are owned by migrants. And in Victoria here, it’s slightly more than that. It’s about 35.1 per cent. And around 33 per cent of all small businesses are started by women. So, there is a story there. There’s a story about belonging, there’s a story about identity, and there’s a story about resilience, a common thread between all of those 3 portfolios that I have the honour to hold as well. And when we think about small businesses, they are incredibly diverse, as diverse as they come.
They’re your Indian grocer, your physio, the place you take your dogs to be groomed, the person you call to fix the washing machine, the cafe where you go for lunch, and, importantly here in Melbourne, I am told, the place you go to get the best coffee in Australia. Don’t know if that’s true, but that’s what people tell me. They’re sole traders, hobbies turned into earners, family‑operated businesses, partnerships, trusts, incorporated and unincorporated entities. And so, when we talk about small business, it’s important to also acknowledge the diversity of small businesses, not just across the breadth of different sectors that they operate in, but also across the different forms of small business and the different forms that they come in.
And that’s a challenge, but it’s also an opportunity, right? It’s a challenge that the policies that we make, the legislation that we enact, ensuring that we understand and we consider the differential impact that they have on the different kinds of small businesses, the ways in which what we do in government impact on the different small businesses in differential ways. But it’s a challenge that we have to face, and it’s a challenge that we have to tackle head‑on. A challenge that we have to tackle head‑on.
One small business recently put it to me this way, and he said, the owner of this small business said that consideration of small business needs to be built in, not bolted on. Built in, not bolted on. And I want our thinking about the impacts of small business to be built into decision‑making as we shape policy and as we shape regulations. Not as an afterthought. Not as an afterthought, but at the very inception of policy, programming and legislation.
Now, at last year’s summit, you heard from the Prime Minister himself about what the Albanese government is already doing to support small businesses. And at that point, the Prime Minister spoke about making energy more affordable, training and upskilling more workers, how we’re helping small business to strengthen their cybersecurity and digital capabilities and delivering tax cuts that have benefited around 1.5 million sole traders. Following the re‑election of the Albanese government, we’re continuing our work across 3 priority areas. Helping small business by easing pressure, levelling the playing field and supporting small business not just to grow but also to thrive. And we’re focused on providing support without adding that further complexity. Support without further complexity.
Now, during your summit over these 2 days, I know that productivity has been a key theme of your summit. As it is, I believe there’s another important meeting going on somewhere that – where productivity is also being discussed, and you know, a forward‑looking productivity agenda is and should be front and centre of our second term in government. It includes all the classic levers, things like investing in education and skills, encouraging innovation, upgrading infrastructure, supporting research and development. We should also be looking at how to speed up approvals for infrastructure, simplify grant applications and reduce paperwork.
On the topic of the Economic Reform Roundtable, which is looking at how we can build consensus on ways to improve productivity, enhance economic resilience and strengthen budget sustainability. If we want to get those kinds of things right, then we need to make sure that small business is included in the discussion. We need to make sure that they’re there. So, I’m really pleased that Matthew Addison is there. I hear that, Bruce, you had a conversation, telephone conversation, with him earlier in the day, is that right? I want to hear all about it.
He’s there representing COSBOA and the Voice of Small Businesses, along with Andrew McKellar from ACC. The discussions affecting small business and franchisees at the Economic Reform Roundtable are also being guided by the ideas that I’ve heard across a number of meetings and small business roundtables that I’ve heard – that I’ve held across Australia as well. And I’ve heard from a wide range of small businesses that reflect the diversity of experiences and views. And that’s included representatives from different industries, from diverse backgrounds, including cultural, linguistically diverse small businesses, and women‑led small businesses as well.
And at every small business roundtable meeting that I had, and every meeting that I’ve had. I’ve asked people to come to me with tangible ideas, to move beyond the kind of the headline of red tape. If I said red tape, everyone will nod their heads. We all know red tape. But what I really want to know is, at a granular level, what does that mean? At a granular level, what does it mean to your small business? How does it affect your small business?
And it’s through those kinds of tangible examples and tangible suggestions and bold ideas that we’re going to get reform, that we’re actually going to be able to make change happen. Because one of the things that has struck me from all the conversations that I’ve had is that it appears to me that the layers and layers and layers and layers and layers of regulation, and red tape have been a response to fixing a particular problem, but in doing so, have created another problem. And so, we’ve ended up with a layer cake. A layer cake of things added on top of each other to fix something without ever taking a step back and having a holistic view of what there is.
And so, what I’m wanting to understand from small businesses is what are the practicality, what are the practicalities of red tape? Not just it’s red tape that’s our issue, but what are the practicalities of that? What does it mean? What does it look like in practice? And then how do we rectify that? But always with an eye to, if we make a change here, how does it affect here? And if we do something here, how does it impact here? Some of the things that I’ve heard from businesses is that we need to ensure that regulations are right size and right fit.
There’s also a significant need for systems to be streamlined across governments. I know I don’t have to tell you this. You all know the different systems across different jurisdictions are a pain in the neck. And small businesses are also eager to utilise productivity tools like AI. I’ve also heard that, unfortunately, sometimes small businesses are just too scared to grow. And I’ve had small business say to me, I’m just afraid to get any bigger. My son owns a business, he’s in that situation right now. He’s too scared to get bigger, to hire more people and to scale up.
So, those kind of those increased challenges that come with growth, with red tape, HR issues, these are just a couple of examples, but they really hold some pretty promising small businesses back and prevent them from flourishing and growing. And so that’s something that I’m really keen to turn my mind to and really do something about. The resolutions that come out of the roundtables that I’ve held and the roundtable process that I’ve undertaken, as well as the roundtable that is currently in Canberra, will help shape our government’s second term agenda and really lay down the kind of the path for those policy settings for both immediate, medium and long‑term reform.
So, events like this summit are fantastic, great ways to share your ideas from across the small business sector. Boosting productivity to boost productivity and resilience, and improve budget sustainability as well.
Now, as the Minister for Small Business, one of the things that I’m also really working on is working in partnership with state and territory counterparts. And this is informed by and hangs under our National Small Business Strategy, the first strategy of its kind in Australia. That strategy highlights how the various tiers of government need to work together to better support small businesses. And increasingly I’m hearing from small businesses about the barriers that are at the local government level and state government level, not just at federal government level. Which means that it is an absolute imperative that we work across all levels of government when we’re thinking about small business.
I hosted my first small business ministers meeting earlier this month, just a couple of weeks ago actually, and we reached a consensus on some key productivity reforms, including reduction of the regulatory burden at all levels of government, supporting business resilience, including in relation to natural disasters, putting small business at the centre of decision making and supporting digital adoption. I’ve also shared the outcomes of my business meetings and roundtables with the Treasurer so he can feed them into the broader economic reform roundtable discussion. And all of this feedback fits in really well with the second theme of today’s summit, the theme about simplifying policy.
Now we know that in order to give small business a fighting chance, we need to level the playing field. And as some of you know, you probably might not know this, but I’ve owned and operated several small businesses over the years before I entered parliament. And just much like the theme of my life, they were all very diverse. I’m going to go through some of them real quick. I had – my ex‑husband and I had a hot dog cart, 2 hot dog carts, mate, that was a nice little money earner, let me tell you. He got it in the divorce, and I was happy for him, just saying. I also ran a not‑for‑profit organisation that was focused on countering violent extremism. I had a policy advisory business, and many, many years ago, I also ran an RTO accreditation advisory specialists. So, I used to do RTO accreditation for different organisations. There were also a number, many, many more, actually, a whole lot of scathingly brilliant ideas that just never got off the ground. Some of them deserved to die a natural death. But I will say that I had the idea of juice long before Boost Juice had it. I just never got around to doing it. Just never got around to doing Boost Juice, but the idea was there.
So, you know, as somebody who’s run various businesses, as you can see throughout my life, I do know how much work goes into it, and I know just how much it becomes part of you and a real passion and a real part of your identity as well. Because you invest so much into this opportunity idea and getting it off the ground, and you put so much into it, and it’s something that most people won’t ever get to see. All the work that goes into it in the background, most people won’t ever get to see. It’s also – I also get how hard it is to keep on top of things. You just want to run a hot dog cart and serve hot dogs to people in the city of Perth, right? But you’ve got to deal with all the other stuff as well.
And just navigating all of those layers of complexity of owning and operating a business when your passion is just to do that thing that you know you’re bloody good at, right, it just feels like everything else is a burden on you. So, you know, some of the things that we’re doing with that, with that understanding of the complexity that owning a business brings, extending the 20,000 instant asset write off for another year, that’s going to provide cash flow support for small businesses and help reduce some of those compliance costs as well.
We’re also looking at how to make it easier for small business to participate in government procurement. Any of you who have ever tried to get a government tender will understand how difficult that can be. And we’re making sure the right policies are in place to improve payment times. We’re also working with states and territories to make sure there are protections from unfair trading practices for small businesses, particularly those who face power imbalances when dealing with larger businesses. And I’ve also tasked the department to start looking into white tape. I think someone else mentioned to me gold tape at one point. So, there are all these different colours of tape, but I think they all pretty much mean the same thing. More work, extra burden, more compliance and more time away from actually running your business.
Additionally, we’re also streamlining commercial planning and zoning regulations. This is a pretty big undertaking to make it quicker and simpler for businesses to start operating while removing unnecessary barriers to expansion as well. And of course, also working with state and territories to agree on a new set of national competition policy reforms by the end of this year.
You know, as a former professor, I often say to people, I eat data for breakfast. And so, for me, high‑quality evidence data really is the basis of where we should be making, of how we should be making decisions. And using high quality evidence and analysis is going to ensure that the reforms that we deliver, deliver tangible benefits to businesses and the wider community.
I might also add, I was a qualitative researcher, so while quantitative data is great, I also love the stories. I also love that really granular data and the lived experiences of small businesses and the richness that that kind of data brings to decision‑making as well. Now, the third and final theme of your summit is strengthening tomorrow. I really like that, actually, strengthening tomorrow. That to me is about utilising data and digital technology. It’s a pretty scary world we live in at the moment, not just because of the uncertainty, but I feel like there’s so much fear around AI, around the fast‑paced changes that are here, around, around how fast technology is advancing. And I feel like sometimes we feel that we just, how do we keep up with this fast‑paced world that we live in? But we’re going to need to.
But there’s a balance that we need to strike, and that balance is between innovation and practical implementation. Businesses are often best placed to lead the uptake of new technologies because you know your own needs, you understand, you get it, you get what your business needs. But a lack of awareness can slow adoption and limit the benefits of innovation. So, that’s why we want to focus on targeted programs that support innovation but remain grounded in the realities, in the realities of business operations. A good example of that is eInvoicing, where a digital solution delivers practical value and means that you can now send and receive invoices through a secure network, reduces the risk of invoice scams and improves cash flow and productivity. When I think about all the hours, I spent doing up invoices back in the day, eInvoices would have been a real time saver.
AI is the next step in technological advancement. We want to continue fostering innovation so that small business can adopt it to their advantage. But I also don’t want small businesses to be afraid of AI. I want them to be able to embrace what AI can do for them without, you know, with a deep understanding of how that, how that, how that benefits and how they can implement that and adopt that within their business structures. That’s why we’re working to ensure that the policy settings are right, including for small businesses, so that the adoption of AI is both safe and sustainable. And that work is running parallel to industry growth programs, helping startups and small businesses in their most challenging developmental phase. Now we’re also ensuring that small businesses and customers have pathways to reparation from bad actors in the digital space as well, because they’re out there.
The National Anti‑Scam Centre has been up and running for 2 years now, collaborating and sharing data with the private sector and law enforcement to disrupt scams and provide information and support to consumers. And we’re working to implement the recently enacted Scams Prevention Framework Act of 2025, that will require certain industries to implement measures to protect consumers from scams on their services. And of course, we fund COSBOA to deliver the wonderful Cyber Security Training, Cyber Wardens Program, Cyber Security training through their Cyber Wardens Program. And I encourage everyone here, if you haven’t already, to make the most of that program on offer and other programs on offer in the Cybersecurity support space and Digital Solutions program for small Business resilience. All of these initiatives are focused on strengthening small businesses for tomorrow.
So, I’m going to leave you with one last thing because I think there’s nothing worse than somebody who’s in the way of dinner, right? As I mentioned, I’ve run small businesses, but my most recent career before entering parliament was as a professor in counterterrorism and international security. In that role, I travelled the world. I attended seminars, summits, policy dialogues, roundtables, conferences, meetings, conventions, you name it, hundreds of them. And the one takeaway that I’ve always got is that the work begins after.
So, I charge you all after your dinner tonight, after you said your last goodbyes tomorrow, and, you know, waved bye‑bye at the airport, and you’re on the plane back. That’s really when the work begins. Don’t lose the momentum of this summit. Take the momentum that’s created here over these 2 days and go forth and do something with it. Really put it into action. Whether that means you send me an email with some great new ideas, please. Whether it means you implement something new in your businesses, whether it means that you come up with a new idea and you follow through with it, the work begins when you say goodbye.
So, enjoy dinner, enjoy the summit, enjoy the connections that you make here, enjoy the vibe and the great mood and the great ideas. But don’t forget, the work starts when you say goodbye.
Thank you.