Thursday, 30 July 2026

Transcript- Doorstop, North Willoughby, New South Wales 

Topics: small businesses, cost of living, NAB home loan data, Luke Gosling

E&OE……………………..

Gisele Kapterian: It's been so great to have champions of small business back in Bradfield again. It's been wonderful to welcome Tim and Maria and of course, our local Liberal MP Tim James, to visit the small businesses, hearing exactly their pain points. It has been four years of some of the greatest declines in living standards. And the first, some of the first in our community to feel that impact the heaviest have been our small business community. So it's been excellent hearing again what our plan is to assist small business, with these very challenging times and come back stronger to support our overall economy, to support jobs and to lift the living standards for the next generation of Australians. So Tim, Maria and Tim, fantastic to have you here back in Bradfield.

Maria Kovacic: Thank you, Gisele, and thank you for taking us around to have a look at some of the impacts in your community. You are a champion of Bradfield and we thank you for that. Australian small businesses are the cornerstone of our economy. We often hear people say that small businesses are the backbone of Australia. That's not just something we say. That's a reality. When you go down to your local pharmacy, if you go to your local GP clinic, if you go to your local cafe, if you go to your fruit shop, your flower shop, the local butcher, your vet, these are all Australian small businesses. These are people who take a risk to build something so that local communities can have services near their homes that know them, that understand them, and that meet their needs. This is something that we need to protect, and Australian small businesses are under attack from the Albanese Labor government. They are under attack by a cost of living crisis, which has impacted their own confidence to invest, but also the confidence of consumers, of everyday Australians to spend and buy things because they're struggling to meet the cost of their everyday needs. This is a very important problem for us to solve, and a Coalition government will fight very hard to fix our economy and to ensure that Australian small businesses can grow, not just survive, but grow. Today, speaking to those small business owners, it became very clear that rising costs as a result of inflation is crippling them. But on top of that, they now have the additional blow of the CGT changes that this government has brought in and literally sucker punched these businesses, with no consideration for the risk and the effort put in to starting and growing a business over time. And now, for many who are partway through that process or at the end of that process, realizing that they now have a tax burden that they never knew about or never planned for from the outset, it's just not good enough. I'm going to hand over to Tim to talk a little bit about what we're looking to do in the New South Wales state team.

Tim James: Well, thanks very much, Maria. Federal and State Labor talk openly about a cost of living crisis, a housing crisis, a rental crisis. What they do not talk about is a cost of doing business crisis. And that is what we've seen and heard this morning, and it is not unique to Willoughby. I think this is right across an Australian, a serious cost of doing business crisis. And it speaks to a number of elements, Taxation, obviously, we've heard about CGT, that is something that is raised with me often on a local basis. People feel like the goalposts have been changed without any notice, without any consultation, without any real conversation. They're now concerned, confused, trying to get advice, trying to get a read on what that means for them. But ultimately, they know they'll be paying more tax under Labor. Obviously, as Maria has touched on cost of living, consumer sentiment, inflation, all of those dynamics making it harder for small business. At a state level, we, the New South Wales Coalition, are focused on how we can take pressure off of small business. One way we can do that is by changing payroll tax arrangements, as we have committed to doing, to make New South Wales the best state to do business, the one in which you will pay the least amount of payroll tax. So, we've lifted the threshold, committed to lifting the threshold, reducing the rate and most importantly, tackling indexation so you will no longer see bracket creep in payroll tax in New South Wales if a Coalition government is elected in March of next year. There's a lot more to do beyond that. Ultimately, though, this is a cost of doing business crisis, and a lot of that is at the feet of federal and state Labor governments. I'll hand over to Tim Wilson. Thank you.

Tim Wilson: Well, thank you so much, Gisele, and, Tim, for us to your lovely part of the world, to Maria as well, for the opportunity to join with you always, because I know how strong a small business advocate you are to improve the performance on our strip shopping centres, to back mums and dads who work from home and a building small businesses. But to the young Australians that are looking to the horizon with hope, wanting to build a small business and create economic opportunity. This morning we've spoken to cafe owners, to florists and heard directly about the cost of small business crisis. That is not just a problem in New South Wales, it's a problem nationally. Tim correctly outlined that there is a cost of business crisis, and so much of it is at the feet of state and federal Labor governments. Tim, I'm a Victorian, I can tell you, I understand that unfortunately better than most. And the announcement you've made to cut payroll tax is so important to give people confidence, not just to operate a small business, but to then go on and employ the next generation of Australians and often give a kid the first start on the ladder of economic opportunity. But what we've heard also today, when we've been talking to small businesses, is the crisis of confidence for so many Australians. This Labor government has delivered a trifecta of fewer homes, higher rents and, of course, a crash in confidence for small businesses and consumers. Today, we've got data out from the National Australia Bank that there's been a 15% drop in loan applications over the June quarter. What we're seeing is Australia go economically backwards, particularly since the federal budget and the federal Labor government owns every part of that because they have betrayed Australians in trust, they've thrown away the economic opportunity that Australians want while living standards continue to go backwards. We've seen the biggest decline in living standards of advanced economies around the world. Now is a time where Australians need a sense of hope, and particularly a government that is going to back them to be commercial, to get ahead, to work hard, to have hard work pay off, where there's a sense of respect for that hard work so Australians can be in control of their lives. Instead, we've got a government that is utterly distracted. Unfortunately, we need to end Labor's corruption. We need to stop Labor's inflation. We need to cut Labor's taxes and we need to back small business. We also need to make sure there's integrity at the heart of the government. Unfortunately, this morning we've heard reports that there has been a special envoy, the Prime Minister's handpicked special envoy has been charged with offenses in the Northern Territory. Once someone has been charged like that, I think it's responsible of the government and the Prime Minister to stand down the special envoy while this matter is investigated and goes through its proceedings. We don't say this lightly or enthusiasm, but it's very important Australians have trust and confidence in their government and unfortunately, the decision and the charging of the special envoy is a time where the Prime Minister needs to step up and show the leadership and stand down the special envoy while this matter is resolved.

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