JULIE COLLINS:
It’s terrific to be here in Kingston in my home state of Tasmania to talk about payment times passing the federal parliament. This is about improving payment times from big businesses to small businesses. This will improve the cashflow of small businesses here in Tasmania and right around the country. This is important because we know that small businesses are doing it tough, and it’s part of the $640 million that we have for targeted support for small businesses around the country in the Budget, which includes things like energy bill relief, instant asset write‑off and, of course, the extension of important programs such as financial counselling and mental health support for those small business owners who are having a tough time.
For payment times, we’re able to name and shame – and praise – slow payers and fast payers. What we talk about when we talk about payment times is paying small businesses in 30 days or less. Slow payers will be those businesses in the lowest 20 per cent that take more than 30 days, and fast payers – who will be praised – are those that pay in 20 days or less. This will be important for small businesses and their cashflow, as I’ve said. As the Commonwealth, we’re doing our bit – we’re paying in under 20 days or, if you e‑invoice us – and I’ve talked about the benefits of e‑invoicing before – in 5 days or less. So, we want to make sure we do everything we can to support small businesses in targeted ways that doesn’t add to inflation and puts downward pressure on inflation, and that’s what payment times is all about. We had our review last year, from Dr Craig Emerson, into payment times and this is the federal government moving quickly to legislate through both houses of parliament and to get this new regime under way. It will also, importantly, remove the red tape reporting for big businesses, to make it easier for them to report on their payment times and to make it more meaningful for small businesses who want to go into business with big businesses to understand what the payment times of big businesses are like. Obviously, this has been supported by the Business Council of Australia and by ACCI – the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, because they want to see big businesses doing the right thing. People like Kirk here, when they supply their product on time, people should be paying him on time.
JOURNALIST:
Do you expect this to have much of an effect? Or would you be looking to introduce financial penalties for businesses that pay slow?
COLLINS:
Well, we think the naming and shaming and the praising of businesses is the first step in that. Obviously, there are penalties for businesses that don’t report as they should, but this is about encouraging big businesses to do the right thing and support the small businesses that are supporting them.
JOURNALIST:
How exactly will you name and shame and praise?
COLLINS:
This will be through the payment times regulator on the government website, and, obviously, slow payers will need to let businesses know that they’re doing business with that they have been deemed slow payers and fast payers will be able to say they’re a fast payer of small business.
JOURNALIST:
At what point does a wait time become so long that you can attract penalties?
COLLINS:
Well, this is initially about naming, shaming, and praising businesses who are doing the right things and those that are doing the wrong thing. We want to encourage big business to pay small business on time, because we know that that helps small businesses and their cashflows.
JOURNALIST:
Would you be expecting small businesses to turn down business or partnership with a big business because they are a slow payer?
COLLINS:
This is about supplying small businesses with information before they go into big contracts, making sure that they understand the type of businesses that they’re going into business with. But I expect what it will do is improve payment times from all big businesses to small businesses.
JOURNALIST:
Do you know how many small businesses do struggle with this issue, and how much money is being withheld from these small businesses at times?
COLLINS:
This has been raised as a very significant issue. It had across the parliament support when we put it through the parliament. We know that this has been a big issue for small businesses for some time, and this is about our government delivering on our election promise to improve payment times from big business to small business.
JOURNALIST:
But was it significantly impacting the economy?
COLLINS:
It’s certainly impacting small businesses. We know that small businesses are doing it tough, and we know that it’s impacting small businesses’ cashflows. We have millions of small businesses around the country – we have over 40,000 here in Tasmania – and we know that their cashflows are being impacted by people not paying them on time.
KIRK PINNER:
I’m very grateful for the work that the minister and parliament have done, and dealing with the minister’s office through this new legislation which has come into effect. For me as a small business here in Kingborough, that’s going to mean a lot. I’m often having to chase very delinquent, overdue accounts with big business, but hopefully this will actually just improve the payment times of big business to small business. For me, often cashflow is a major issue, and having a better cashflow allows me to inject more of my money back into the local community and dealing with other small businesses as well. And there has been instances in the past where my cashflow has actually prevented me from actually going forward with a certain project. So, I’m hoping that this legislation will enable small businesses, and the other 40,000 small businesses in Tasmania, to be even more productive than what we are.
JOURNALIST:
Do you have a story of a time where you had to stop projects, or where you weren’t being paid on time by a larger business?
PINNER:
For me, no particular instance. I have had quite a few instances, though, where that has been the case, where I have been chasing the invoice – without naming any names – but it has prevented me from, say, purchasing more equipment myself, taking somebody else on to work extra hours. So, that has certainly had an impact.
JOURNALIST:
Would you like to see potentially increased penalties to encourage bigger businesses to pay you on time? Or do you think this name and shame system is enough to stop it?
PINNER:
Well I hope it’s about the praise more than the naming and shaming – so, praising those who do the right thing. I’d love to see an increase in that area. As far as penalties, that’ll be up to the government in due course, but I hope it never comes to that point. Just, you know, big business paying small business on time, and being praised for doing so, is actually what it’s about.
JOURNALIST:
Would you be wary of doing any work with a big business that had a reputation for slow paying?
PINNER:
I think you need to be wary of any business that pays poorly, but actually having a system now which is regulated, where you can see particularly big business – which, obviously, a big business will normally order in bulk, which involves a substantial amount of money, and that means a lot of injections for business like mine.
JOURNALIST:
Australia’s wage growth since COVID is some of the slowest in the developed world. What is your government doing to help people with cost of living?
COLLINS:
We obviously have cost-of-living support for families, for households, right across the country with energy bill relief, of course, tax cuts – as people get their pay packets this week and next week, they’ll see evidence of the tax cut – and, of course, our changes to industrial relation and our support for low paid workers means that low paid workers, of course, are getting a pay rise from 1 July as well. We want to support Australians, but we also need to put downward pressure on inflation.
JOURNALIST:
With predictions that interest rates will rise this year, has the PM discussed an early election?
COLLINS:
The election is due next year. We’re busy getting on with the job. I’m busy here delivering on payment times. We want to support the Australian public and Australians who are doing it tough with the cost of living at the moment.
JOURNALIST:
Given how painful the interest rate rises have been for people, does the prospect of campaigning after potentially there’s been another one or 2 of them worry you at all?
COLLINS:
As I’ve said, we’re doing what we can do as a government to support people with cost of living. We’re doing it through tax cuts, we’re doing it through energy bill relief, we’re doing it through cheaper medicines. We’re doing it through things like payment times from big business to small business to support the economy and put downward pressure on inflation, and that’s our focus.
JOURNALIST:
Are you expecting a cabinet reshuffle soon?
COLLINS:
We’re getting on with the job of delivering on cost of living, as I said. In pay packets in the next week or 2, people will get their first pay packet post July with their tax cut and, for some people, with their pay rise.
JOURNALIST:
If there is one, would you hope to keep your role as housing minister?
COLLINS:
I’m focused on doing my job today and every day. I’m here as Small Business Minister. I’ll be doing some things as Housing Minister tomorrow.
JOURNALIST:
What are you doing to get the target of 1.2 million homes by 2029 back on track?
COLLINS:
Well, obviously what you saw in the last Budget was money – over $6 billion of investments to get more homes on the ground, more quickly. Australia doesn’t have enough homes. We haven’t had enough homes for a long time. We have our $32 billion Homes for Australia plan. We want to get more homes on the ground, more quickly, right across the country, and that $6 billion in the latest Budget is part of the $32 billion Homes for Australia plan and it includes training more tradies, it includes cutting red tape, it includes providing states with more money to get enabling infrastructure on the ground, to get more homes on the ground as quickly as we can.
JOURNALIST:
How are you going with getting more construction workers to the industry? Has that workforce grown?
COLLINS:
We’re doing everything we can do to train more tradies, we’re also, as Minister O’Connor and I announced prior to the Budget, we also have money in the Budget about recognising qualifications of people who are already in Australia who are trained. We’re doing everything we can right across the board to get more Australians into trades and to get more homes on the ground.
JOURNALIST:
Exactly how much funding is the federal government going to be chipping in to build more homes in Tasmania?
COLLINS:
We’ve already provided the Tasmanian state government, since we’ve come to office, over $145 million. Through Housing Australia, from 1 July, we will be supporting over 1,200 homes, social and affordable homes, to be built here in Tasmania. I’m doing everything I can do to get more homes on the ground right across the country and here at home in Tassie.
JOURNALIST:
Homes Tasmania has a plan to build 10,000 homes before 2032. Yesterday, in a parliamentary hearing, they revealed in counting towards that target things like affordable land, people they will help into a home via a shared equity scheme, and also crisis accommodation. Do you think that’s fair for the state to be counting those types of homes in its goal when the original promise was to deliver new homes?
COLLINS:
I’ll leave it up to the Tasmanian state government to answer questions about how they’re counting their homes. When we talk about 1.2 million homes across the country, that will be counted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics – the ABS. And when we talk about homes out Homes for Australia and the federal government, they will be being counted as homes that we’re supporting here in Tassie and right across the country, and I expect that in Tasmania we will deliver 1200 homes in the 5 years from 1 July.
JOURNALIST:
There have been more cases of family and domestic violence in recent days, does housing need to be increased or made more accessible for women and children needing to escape violence?
COLLINS:
Sadly, we know one of the issues impacting women and children fleeing family and domestic violence is a lack of housing, which is why we saw in our agreement with the states and territories, the national housing agreement, an additional $1 billion through Housing Australia that will be targeted towards transitional and emergency accommodation and accommodation for young people. We have, of course, had our Minister for Social Services announce over 700 new Safe Places, which is about transitional and emergency accommodation, again, for women and children fleeing family violence. We’ve said out of the 30,000 homes from Housing Australia from 1 July, over 4,000 of those will be for women and children. We have another $100 million of acute housing out of the Housing Australia Future Fund. So, we are supporting the states and territories to deliver more accommodation, particularly for women and children fleeing family violence.
JOURNALIST:
Can you just clarify – and this will sound like a silly question – but what do you define as a home? Because that was a sticking point yesterday, as Josh alluded to, the 10,000 figure including things like crisis accommodation, there was an argument that that doesn’t count as a home necessarily.
COLLINS:
Well, a home is about providing secure shelter for people that need it.
JOURNALIST:
So, would you call crisis accommodation a home?
COLLINS:
I’m not going to get into semantics about what the Tasmanian state government does or doesn’t call a home. When we talk about homes at the federal level, we’re talking about well‑located, well‑designed, affordable, and homes right across the country.
JOURNALIST:
So, do you count crisis accommodation as a home in your measures?
COLLINS:
We will be counting the homes built through Housing Australia – homes that are being built, new homes adding to supply.
JOURNALIST:
So, if that supply was – sorry, I’m just trying to get what that metric includes – does that include, I’m guessing that wouldn’t count land, by what you’ve said there? That wouldn’t count crisis accommodation or transitional accommodation?
COLLINS:
It depends on the style that it is – if it is a new home, it would count as a new home if it’s adding to the supply of homes.
JOURNALIST:
And you would hope that the state government’s 10,000 target, that would be all new homes built, not transitional housing? New homes for people to live in, permanently?
COLLINS:
What I want to see is more homes here in Tasmania and more homes right across Australia. We need more homes of every type. We don’t have enough homes.
JOURNALIST:
Macquarie Point Stadium plans – the housing plan is required at Regatta Point. Are you concerned that there appears to have been no work done on that yet?
COLLINS:
I look forward to seeing the Tasmanian state government’s entire precinct plan. It’s conditional on receiving the Commonwealth funding of $240 million that we get a precinct plan that includes, obviously, plans to upgrade the wharf and some housing.
JOURNALIST:
Shouldn’t those housing plans be side-by-side with those stadium plans?
COLLINS:
I look forward to seeing the precinct plan from the Tasmanian state government that includes housing.
JOURNALIST:
There are people that are literally sleeping on the side of the highway right near Macquarie Point. Should getting those people into a home be priority over the new stadium?
COLLINS:
Of course, getting people who are homeless into homes should always be a priority for any government, including the Tasmanian state government. What I would urge is for people who are having a tough time, who are homeless at the moment, would be to contact Housing Connect – the Tasmanian state government’s Housing Connect – which should be able to provide a shelter for people that need it.
JOURNALIST:
Is it an indictment of the housing system that we have this situation where people are sleeping next to a highway?
COLLINS:
Absolutely. It’s really challenging out there and, as I’ve said, we don’t have enough homes here in Tasmania, we don’t have enough homes in Australia. We haven’t had enough homes for a very long time. We need to build more homes of every type, right across the country.