Small Business Funding

Mr ODENWALDER (Little Para) (14:47): My question is to the Minister for Small Business. Can the minister update the house on the small business development funding being made available to small businesses in the northern suburbs?

The Hon. M.L.J. HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite—Minister for Investment and Trade, Minister for Small Business, Minister for Defence Industries, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) (14:47): I thank the member for his question. Small businesses are pivotal in his electorate, and the government is providing extraordinary assistance for small business under new arrangements. In fact, the matter was the attention of an Australian article this morning during which certain claims were made that I assume originated from opposition members of the Budget and Finance Committee.

I should clarify some of those facts because if the $4 million fund referred to was the Micro Finance Fund I am advised that that particular fund has the aim of generating export revenue and growth and that, in the first round of funding, 10 organisations were approved for grants of $50,000 each to develop their business ideas, and nine organisations from the second round of funding also received grants of up to $50,000 each. If it was that fund, my advice is different. If it wasn't that fund, the government would love to help the author of the article to clarify the facts.

Of course, there is the Venture Catalyst fund, there is the South Australian Young Entrepreneurs Scheme and, of course, there is the Unlocking Capital for Jobs program. The article this morning also claimed that one grant from the fund was of $1 million. I am advised that the first guarantee provided under the program, to Australian Fashion Labels, was $3.5 million on new borrowings of $17.53 million, but if the program is fully taken up it will be $50 million, unlocking quarter of a billion dollars of separate finance and investment.

These are extraordinary benefits to small business. Of course, small business naturally prefers grants rather than loans. The government, naturally enough, wants to explore the option of loans and guarantees ahead of grants, so we try different mechanisms. The ones that work are reinforced and the ones that don't work are changed, as we did with the Export Partnership Program.

A further matter I want to address is the $10 million Small Business Development Fund, particularly for the Northern Economic Plan. Of course, when that was announced, it was always said at the time that it would take effect on 1 July this year and not before, so I was surprised to read this morning that the government was somehow doing the wrong thing by not already having allocated grants. It is very hard to allocate grants for a program that's not funded and doesn't commence before 1 July this year. However, that is perhaps a matter that you learn in government that you don't quite grasp in opposition.

I would like to point out to the house that details of that grant were explained earlier this week. Firstly, there will be $10 million made available to small businesses in the north. It will be $4 million for a start-up business grant program, where businesses in the north will be able to access up to $20,000, provided those funds are matched. This will provide people who want to start up their own business with an opportunity to do so with state government support.

There is a second component to the $10 million fund, and that is a business expansion grant program, which allocates $6 million to support the growth plans of small businesses that will result in the creation of multiple new jobs. Grants of between $10,000 and $100,000 will be provided on a competitive basis, and these grants will need to be matched by one-on-one funding.

These eligible grants will help those who access them: small businesses with less than 20 people, carrying on the majority of their trading activity and having their trading premises located in the local government areas the City of Playford, the City of Salisbury and the City of Port Adelaide Enfield. All these are things that the state government is doing to help small business to get on with the job of creating more employment and more enterprise in this state. We get small business, we understand their needs, and we're taking action to help them.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Mitchell is called to order, the member for Finniss is warned, and the member for Hartley is warned a second and final time. The member for Chaffey.