Statements By Members – Small Business – Speech in the House of Representatives 09/09/2026

Mr LLEW O’BRIEN (Wide Bay) (13:42): In 2025, almost 15,000 small businesses collapsed—the worst year on record for business insolvencies. Labor’s toxic taxes are continuing to punish small and family businesses, destroying investment and attacking aspiration.

The Albanese government’s capital gains tax hits on businesses and investments will only make things worse. They expect you to take 100 per cent of the risk, and they’ll be there with their tax hikes to claim a stake in your success. Increases in red tape are stifling business productivity, industrial relations changes are imposing workplace interventions, and rising energy prices, driven by the government’s blind pursuit of net zero, are destroying our competitiveness.

This is the highest-taxing government in our history. Government spending is at a 40-year high, our national debt has hit a trillion dollars and confidence has crashed. Australians are experiencing the worst collapse in living standards in the developed world because the Albanese Labor government can’t manage money. Labor’s toxic taxes need to go. Labor needs to go. The coalition will cut red tape, get government spending under control and deliver cheaper power to restore confidence and build a stronger economy.