Ms McBAIN (Eden-Monaro—Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories and Minister for Emergency Management) (15:30): It's always a pleasure to stand up and talk about small businesses and the farming sector—communities that I represent in the great electorate of Eden-Monaro. Our government is backing small businesses across the country. We're delivering $3.8 billion in new measures that lower taxes for businesses, including making the $20,000 instant asset write-off permanent. It had become a bit of a thing in the Senate that those opposite would stall the passing of the instant asset write-off each and every year so that small businesses would be left hanging, wondering whether it was going to happen for the next financial year. So we've made that permanent in our budget. Around 300,000 small businesses claimed that instant asset write-off in the 2024-25 financial year. They used it to invest in tools, in technology and in equipment that they need to grow. And we're introducing a permanent two-year loss carry back to support cash flow investment and resilience. We're also cutting $10.2 billion a year in regulatory costs across the economy, because small-business owners should be able to spend more time building their businesses and less time dealing with the unnecessary red tape. Our government is backing those 2.7 million small businesses with the certainty and the support that they need to invest, to grow and to create more jobs across our country. That's why reducing that regulatory burden is so important. Modernising outdated requirements and delivering a reduction is something that is incredibly important to us—reducing that regulatory burden. Because when small businesses do invest, we know that they create jobs across the whole economy, and the country benefits. How do I know this? Because I'm a small-business owner. My husband runs a small business. My parents ran a small business. Mr McCormack: He's a good man, your husband. Ms McBAIN: My husband is a terrific man. That's correct, member for Riverina. And there are small-business owners across this side of the House: the member for Bullwinkel, the member for Macquarie, the member for Parramatta, the small-business minister. There is a whole range— A government member: Sarah Witty. Ms McBAIN: Exactly right! The member for— A government member: Hasluck. Ms McBAIN: The member for Hasluck runs a fantastic small business. Honourable members interjecting— Ms McBAIN: Well, I can't name her—runs a fantastic small business. So when those opposite stand up and say just gross mistruths that no-one has run a small business it's absolutely ridiculous. Actually, the member that was just speaking, the member for Page, has never run a small business. I do note though, in his bio that he'd been a bond trader in a big bank. Interesting. But please, lecture us about small businesses because I'm sure bond traders know all about them! But as I said, we are backing small businesses across this country, and the most important thing we can do is consult with small businesses. That's exactly what this side of the House have said we will do. We know these tax changes will have impacts across the economy, and it's one of the reasons we said we would consult widely on them, and we will continue to do that. Each and every member of this House—the Treasurer, the small-business minister—are all consulting with members of our electorates and members of the small-business community. As a member of a regional electorate, I want to touch on our farmers. They face a range of challenges, and they are after practical solutions. Throughout fires, floods and global uncertainty, our government has been providing support through a whole range of different policy settings. We know that the conflict in the Middle East creates a whole range of uncertainty and instability, and that has affected market prices at home. It's put pressure on families, farmers and small businesses. We know that the price of fuel has been escalating and the cost of fertiliser has gone up, and our government has responded to those changing conditions and their impact on regional Australians. We put in this budget a $14.8 billion Australian Fuel Security and Resilience Package for the establishment of a permanent government owned Australian Fuel Security reserve of around one billion litres, with a focus on regional stock outs and supply constraints for essential users in the event of another supply crisis. We've got trade initiatives like the Australia-European Union Free Trade Agreement, access to concessional loans through the Regional Investment Corporation and the Economic Resilience program, which all are insulating our farmers and regional businesses from the impacts of tariffs and other market disruptions. We'll continue to work with importers to secure more fuel and more fertiliser across our community. We're also supporting farmers with initiatives such as the On Farm Connectivity Program, which provides rebates of up to 50 per cent of the purchase price for eligible on farm connectivity and connected agricultural equipment. We know how important it is to make sure our farmers have the best technology available to them so that they can yield more from their properties, and this is a really practical investment to help farmers across the country. As I said, our government has invested in the Regional Investment Corporation. We've got year-round support available, including hardship and concessional loans through an additional $1 billion that we've added to the Regional Investment Corporation. We've committed that additional loan funding because we know how important it is to ensure that farmers and producers can access concessional lending during times of need. We know farmers across the country at this point in time are experiencing challenging drought conditions. Through the RIC, the government has established our Drought Hardship Loan. It opened in March this year, and that provides some short-term financial relief to assist with essential operating costs of our farmers. It is incredibly important also to support our communities when they face uncertainty every day, balancing a range of risks from weather to market fluctuations to disruptions of supply chains and biosecurity. We're supporting our farmers through investments in biosecurity, including safeguarding the country against the impacts of the H5 bird flu. Our government's total investment in bird flu now is more than $270 million, and we'll always support farmers, producers and small businesses during tough times, particularly in a natural disaster. We know this season we are going to face a particularly difficult, high risk weather season. We know the industry is closely monitoring the El Nino event and what that will mean on the ground. Last season we saw 60 severe weather events impacting more than 190 local government areas, with some communities impacted back to back. And I saw first-hand the immense impact on communities, on homes, on livestock, on businesses and the damage to our infrastructure. Following the Queensland floods, which saw more than 50,000 head of livestock lost, the Albanese government joined with the Queensland government to deliver funding targeting recovery for primary producers, small businesses, flood clean up and mental health support. We funded the aerial shooting of feral pigs, which we know cause extensive damage to crops, pasture, fencing and waterways. They pose an ongoing risk to animal health and biosecurity. We made sure that primary producers in Queensland were able to access grants of up to $75,000 during that event, because we know primary producers are integral to our economy and to communities to bounce back quickly from events like this. We also work closely with Victorian government to provide Primary Producer Bushfire Recovery Grants of up to $75,000 as well. We know primary producers are the lifeblood of regional communities, and it's important to support them during their time of need. As Minister for Emergency Management, I'm always committed to delivering that vital but more importantly practical support on the ground to help individuals businesses and communities to recover during a devastating disaster. I want to make it clear that our government is backing farmers. We are backing primary producers. They feed millions, and they generate billions for our economy. Our government has work tirelessly since we came to office to back innovation, to back ingenuity and to back Australian farmers and producers so that they can continue to succeed. Australia's farmgate production exceeded $100 billion last financial year, four years ahead of the National Farmers' Federation's 2030 target. That record result was proudly backed by our government, and I don't want to see anyone talking down our ag sector or running a scare campaign on small businesses. We should be working together to make sure that we are putting small businesses, primary producers and—in my case, regional—economies first. It is really important that we not only back our own but also ask people to be as ingenious and innovative as possible and to take those risks because we will back them and support them. And our government will continue to do that.