Motions

COVID-19 Economic Recovery

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee) (11:31): I move:

That this house–

(a) recognises the need to support local businesses in order to recover from the COVID-19 recession;

(b) notes that small businesses in South Australia are the backbone of our economy and were hit particularly hard during 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions; and

(c) acknowledges the need for a government in South Australia that consults with businesses and unions to ensure people in South Australia prosper.

There is no doubt that the South Australian business community was hit extremely hard by the events of last year. Not only was there significant uncertainty throughout the community and at varying times a significant reduction in some areas of spending across sectors of the economy but, of course, more particularly, many businesses were required to close or be subjected to very significant restrictions on their capacity to operate.

This was most acutely felt by small businesses in South Australia. The experience was not even across the economy. Some businesses have absolutely flourished over the last 12 months, even with the imposition of restrictions. You only need to be a major grocery retailer such as a Coles or a Woolworths, for example, or perhaps a JB Hi-Fi or even a Harvey Norman, to know what that means. As spending has been redirected away from other purposes—for example, interstate or overseas travel—or away from the capacity to patronise people's local small businesses, spending has been redirected into a small handful of large businesses.

This has massively impacted small businesses. Even for those small businesses that were able to make the case to access some of the federal government stimulus programs like the JobKeeper program, the impact on them has been extremely significant. A great concern for small businesses has been not just how the restrictions impact their capacity to operate their bottom lines and their capacity to generate a profit but, of course, their capacity to employ their staff.

There were tens of thousands of South Australians who lost work in the early weeks of the pandemic hitting South Australia. At one point, more than 50,000 South Australians found themselves unemployed who were not previously. Along with the rest of the nation, our unemployment rate spiked. Very quickly, attention turned to the state government here in South Australia as to what support was going to be provided to small businesses and, in turn, their employees.

No doubt, the federal government was doing its share. Implementing a wage subsidy scheme like the JobKeeper arrangement was unprecedented in Australia and I think it was certainly not anticipated that a federal coalition government would go down that path. Just as Wayne Swan had to do in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, it was clear that Josh Frydenberg and Scott Morrison listened to the advice of the Australian Treasury and its secretary and put in place those measures required to try to insulate the national economy from the worst impacts of the recession that was to come.

Notwithstanding the JobKeeper scheme, local efforts have often fallen short of what has been required to support businesses in South Australia. The government here was very quick to announce in March that it was the first jurisdiction in the country to provide a stimulus package. They said they would be spending over $300 million on stimulus to help the economy weather the storm of the coronavirus pandemic.

To put it into context, $300 million is less than 0.3 per cent of one year's gross state product. Of course, that would be a stimulus if it was new money. Unfortunately, this $300-odd million dollars was not new money; it was repackaged, rebranded existing spending already factored into the state budget across the forward estimates. It was not possible to get some of that money out the door even within the first six months of its announcement; it was no stimulus at all.

It quickly became apparent to the parliament, to the media and to the community that we had seen announcements made, particularly through the morning paper, of huge expenditures to come that never actually materialised. I am thinking of course of the $1.4 billion and $1.5 billion for South Road promised by the federal government over two years, which never turned up. Here, we had an announcement from the government which looked good on paper but fell well short in practice.

The government responded by upping their stimulus with some genuinely new money, announcing that $1 billion would now be spent—an extra $650 million on top of the $350 million announced previously. But, of course, it fell well short. You only had to read The Advertiser and The Australian to see that the stimulus package proposed by the Marshall Liberal government was the smallest per capita in the nation.

Frustratingly, not only was it the smallest—the lowest amount of support from a state or territory government for their community from anywhere in the nation—it turned out it was also the slowest stimulus in the nation. We had reports of business after business after business applying for the much-vaunted $10,000 small business grants and they could not access them. There was no clarity on the state government's websites around how to apply, the documentation required, the process after application, or when the application would be considered and paid out.

When we raised this issue in the parliament, the Premier was unable to answer any questions about how quickly the stimulus was being rolled out. In fact, it emerged that there was no process anywhere in government—not at the cabinet level, not at the budget cabinet committee level, nor at the Treasury or Treasurer level—to monitor how quickly the announced stimulus money was getting out into the community to help prop up the businesses and parts of the economy that needed it the most.

It is becoming a familiar refrain with this government: a minister is basically hands-off and does not take any action to check that their department is doing what is required of them. It seems to be the theme of this week and it was certainly the theme of last year when it came to stimulus spending. Perhaps some of this could be excused if the South Australian economy had been in a strong position going into the coronavirus pandemic; of course, the opposite was true. In the 2019-20 financial year, South Australia recorded the lowest economic growth of any state or territory in the Commonwealth of Australia—the worst economic performance of any state or territory.

Our employment growth rate was lagging behind the other states and territories, and of course our unemployment rate, before the coronavirus pandemic hit our shores, was higher than what it was at the last state election. So even before we had to deal with the pandemic, even before we had to deal with the economic impacts of the pandemic and the recession it was going to cause, our economy was already starting behind the eight ball. In response, we had measly economic stimulus commitments from the government, which were then slowly rolled out to the community with the complete absence of ministerial oversight.

I asked question after question, both in question time and also via questions on notice placed on the Notice Paper, about how much of this money was getting out to the community—sitting week after sitting week. I was unable to receive any answers from the government simply because they were not paying close enough attention to it. You do not have to take my word for it; it was also the evidence that the Under Treasurer gave the other place's Budget and Finance Committee, that this was not being monitored.

More recently, only at the beginning of this month, we had the Under Treasurer appear before the Budget and Finance Committee. He was asked a question by the Chair of the committee: 'So from March 2020 up to the end of the current financial year, which will be mid-2021, less than half of the funds,' that is, the stimulus funds, 'will be spent. Have I got that right?' Mr Reynolds, the Under Treasurer, said, 'Yes, that would be correct.' He even went on to say, 'That doesn't mean the funds haven't been allocated to be spent on particular programs.'

So the government are allocating money for expenditure to stimulate the economy; they are just not actually spending it. You can imagine the frustration of small businesses being crippled by the restrictions that have been placed on them. As I have said to this place previously, the opposition has steadfastly provided support to the state government with its handling of the pandemic. We have provided support to the government on the restrictions that have been imposed on the community, even though we understand the impact they are having on small businesses, their employees and the broader community.

However, we have regularly urged the government to do more to help those people impacted by the restrictions to better navigate their lives, to better maintain their livelihoods, to sustain their small businesses and to keep South Australians employed. Most of that has fallen on deaf ears. You only need to speak to operators in the hospitality industry, for example, to hear dozens if not hundreds of stories of small business owners and venue operators who feel like they have been left out in the cold.

Some of these people were fortunate enough to have the direct ear of the Premier. They were, at the beginning of the pandemic, thoughtful and considered enough to make representations to the government, even directly to the Premier himself, asking for better support for their industries. When it became clear that the government was not doing enough for these operators, that direct line dried up very quickly—very quickly. In fact, some operators will tell you that they were getting what can euphemistically be described as short shrift from the Premier. They felt like they had nobody to turn to or nobody to talk to in government.

Indeed, it is much to the frustration of many of these operators, and I will give you an example. If you are a large function venue operator, you might have a function room that is 750 or 1,000 square metres, specifically designed for holding large functions, weddings, celebrations and that sort of thing. Regardless of the one person per two square metre limit imposed on the rest of the hospitality industry, their functions are capped at 200 people, so there are still dozens and dozens of brides and grooms, for example, who have delayed their wedding, delayed their wedding, delayed their wedding in some cases up to seven or eight times because they cannot hold the function they want to.

Meanwhile, they are told by SA Health, 'We don't have the time, the resources or the interest to review your COVID management plans.' So, if they want to have a function with more than 200 people, if they want to have an event with more than 200 people, they will require a COVID management plan. But SA Health is telling them, 'No, sorry, you can't.' The result of all this is not just a loss to the function owner and to the staff they employ to actually hold the function; it's a loss to the suppliers of that function, that whole chain of businesses and employees that would help those venues operate. This is costing, still to this day, thousands of jobs across South Australia.

SA Health will not consider a COVID management plan for them but, I tell you, if you are lucky enough to be Andrew Daniels down at the Stadium Management Authority you can bet your bottom dollar that you can get your COVID management plan sorted out. If you are Tennis SA and the operator of Memorial Drive, you can get your COVID management plan sorted out regardless of all those unpleasant occurrences of secret COVID cases not being released by the government when it comes to tennis events.

Small businesses are the backbone of our economy. They always have been and they always will be. They need more support from this state government. They do not need mean-spirited, small and tardy stimulus packages in response to this pandemic. They need a government that will engage with them, that will support them and that help them maintain their livelihoods through this pandemic.

Ms LUETHEN (King) (11:46): I thank the member for his motion. I move to amend the motion as follows:

Delete:

That this house—

(a) recognises the need to support local businesses in order to recover from the COVID-19 recession;

(b) notes that small businesses in South Australia are the backbone of our economy and were hit particularly hard during 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions; and

(c) acknowledges the need for a government in South Australia that consults with businesses and unions to ensure people in South Australia prosper.

And insert in lieu thereof:

That this house—

(a) recognises the need to support South Australian businesses adversely impacted as a result of COVID-19;

(b) notes that small businesses in South Australia are the backbone of our economy and that many were hit particularly hard during 2020 as a result of COVID-19;

(c) acknowledges the need for the government of South Australia to continue to consult with businesses and unions as the government implements policies to assist economic recovery; and

(d) acknowledges the importance of the $4 billion stimulus package outlined in last year's budget designed to provide support to small business and assist economic recovery over the next two years.

In the grip of a global pandemic and the greatest economic challenge of our time, the Marshall Liberal government has continued to do whatever is necessary to save lives and livelihoods. As noted by Deloitte Access Economics in its latest Business Outlook report, the South Australian economy has weathered the COVID storm remarkably well to date, with low cases, businesses open and positive news on the jobs front. The report states that South Australia's recovery theme has been jobs, jobs and more jobs, with the state's unemployment rate now lower than it was when COVID-19 hit, as well as being the lowest unemployment rate of any of the states.

There are more people employed full-time in South Australia now than at the same time last year, making South Australia the only state so far to have achieved this enviable position, which is something all South Australians can be proud of. Deloitte also notes that South Australia has pushed money into jobs, including a $4 billion economic stimulus to generate thousands of jobs as well as $16.7 billion in infrastructure investment and $288 million invested in skills training.

While Labor is desperate to talk down our state, the Marshall Liberal government remains focused on delivering for South Australians in these unprecedented times. To save as many jobs and businesses as possible, the Marshall Liberal government has invested a record $4 billion in economic stimulus, including an extension of $10,000 cash grants for small businesses and not-for-profits as well as significant payroll tax and land tax relief.

More than $253 million in cash grants has been paid to thousands of small businesses and not-for-profits across South Australia to help them survive and trade through COVID-19, in a sweeping economic stimulus program that Treasury analysis shows has supported more than 104,000 jobs. Of the 20,885 businesses and not-for-profits to benefit from cafes, restaurants and hotels to sporting clubs, clothing retailers, manufacturers and gyms, 20,097 received the $10,000 cash grant across rounds 1 and 2 of the scheme. A further 788 received a $3,000 grant. They are small businesses who do not employ staff, including sole traders and partnerships who operate from a commercial premises and are continuing to suffer COVID-19 hardship.

As part of the government's commitment to South Australian businesses and workers, it has committed the following stimulus measures: $795 million in total for the Business and Jobs Support Fund and the Community and Jobs Support Fund; $657 million in support for our educational institutions; $747 million for the community and community infrastructure; $592 million in relief from payroll tax, land tax, gambling tax, and other fees and levies.

This is additional to tax measures of $138.7 million and other fee relief measures funded from the business and community jobs funds; $354 million for economic and business growth; $317 million in road infrastructure; $297 million investing in our assets; $120 million for the Digital Restart Fund; and a $118 million investment in health infrastructure.

The government also took the step earlier on in the pandemic to allow for waivers of annual liquor licensing fees for 2020-21 for on-premises, residential, restaurant and catering, clubs, liquor productions and sales, as well as for small venues. These measures are all in place to assist South Australian businesses to keep their doors open, in turn allowing their staff to stay in a job.

The Marshall Liberal government is well aware of the need to support local businesses as we start moving out of the COVID-19 pandemic. Local businesses, which are fundamental to South Australia's economy, have been significantly affected by COVID-19 restrictions, hence the government is more committed than ever to back our local businesses, including those in my electorate of King, to spearhead a roaring rebound from this pandemic.

As the Marshall Liberal government continues to back our local businesses, South Australia's economy is in an enviable position. Additionally, the recent state budget is delivering $10 million in support packages for tourism and taxi and bus services, $7.5 million in rent relief for non-residential tenants of government properties and tourism properties leased on Crown land, and $5 million for a business advisory services scheme supporting small to medium enterprises to develop sustainable business strategies.

This comes on top of the landmark $20 million committed to the tourism industry. Further, the government is helping local businesses recover by lowering their operational costs. Commercial owner-occupiers who own the land where they operate their small businesses were also offered 25 per cent relief from their 2019-20 land tax liabilities if they were eligible for JobKeeper from 31 October 2020 and had an annual turnover of up to $50 million.

Under the Marshall Liberal government, local businesses will be in the very best position to reinvest back into our economy, placing them at the front and centre of our state's economic recovery. The situation is certainly not doom and gloom, as the member for Lee would like to imagine. Our local businesses have achieved a remarkable post-COVID comeback. Our state's COVID-19 recovery is already producing inspiring stories in my electorate.

In Golden Grove, Zitto has faced the pandemic's challenges head-on. Owned by an aspiring, young businessman, Rob Terry, Zitto is a boutique cafe that continues to enjoy my constituents' confidence and continues to provide employment to the wonderful people from our local community. While COVID-19 restrictions presented unprecedented challenges to Zitto in 2020, the business worked tirelessly to adapt creatively to these restrictions. It has emerged from the pandemic's peak stronger than ever before and has now opened its third cafe in Elizabeth.

Similarly, keeping up with COVID-19's rapidly evolving nature, understandably, was difficult for the Golden Grove Tavern, although they found the most creative solutions—for example, serving meals through their drive-through service. Further, Greenwith's Caffe Aroma, with local leader Aliy from Hillbank, adapted to the COVID-19 restrictions by delivering meals to King constituents who have continued supporting this fantastic local business since 2020.

I cannot make a contribution about our local businesses without mentioning Pizza Bite and Aroma pizza bar who both generously offered to support frontline workers and community members doing it tough throughout the pandemic. They pivoted, they adapted and, make no mistake, local businesses are at the front and centre of our economic recovery. I commend this amended motion to the house.

Ms MICHAELS (Enfield) (11:55): I rise in support of the member for Lee's motion and to note my opposition to the amendments proposed by the member for King. I wholeheartedly second the member for Lee's sentiments that he expressed and reiterate the importance of supporting local businesses as our state recovers from the COVID-19 recession.

As our leader, the member for Croydon, often says, Labor is first and foremost an economic party, a party dedicated to supporting and growing our economy to encourage growth in jobs and wages. Governments must be focused on the economy and that is why I was privileged to be appointed to the shadow cabinet late last year with the small business and family business portfolio in order to enable us to consider all our policies and their implications with a small business lens.

As the member for Lee said, small businesses are the backbone of our economy in South Australia. We must work towards creating a competitive and productive environment for small business, if the South Australian economy is to recover post COVID. Small business owners, particularly with family businesses, often deal with the pressures of their businesses providing the primary source of income for their families and their employees' families. Through no fault of their own, so many of these businesses have become threatened by the uncertainty and limitations of the new COVID reality.

Unfortunately, many industries were already under pressure. Many of them have been forced to restrict or cease trading, reflecting what was already a challenging economic situation in South Australia. Australians are some of the most leveraged people in the world, with substantial financial liability placed on those interested in building their own ventures. We continue to witness the financial fragility of our businesses struggling to make ends meet in certain sectors, with our national economy flailing in so many metrics.

It is time our governments, both state and federal, seek to incentivise these ventures and maintain that support throughout. The cost of this recession on South Australians has been exponential. With business owners uncertain of their long-term and short-term prospects, there are few incentives to invest in their potential expansion, to take on that extra worker or to build on their innovative ideas.

As we watch Victoria now emerging from another lockdown (3.0) and a new variant being introduced in New Zealand, anxieties over personal and financial security are at fever pitch. As the focus on the COVID-19 vaccine rollout intensifies, our government must be poised to deliver a suite of policy initiatives, stimulating business activity and creating opportunities for growth throughout our supply chain. We must consult with these businesses to identify where targeted support can be offered.

We know that the federal government is unlikely to come to the party. In fact, we know that when JobKeeper ends in a few weeks, about $35 million per month will be stripped out of the South Australian economy. It is our state government that needs to think big and to invest in business owners and their workers to create a culture of confidence in our future in this state.

This period of recovery is an opportunity to be proactive, to give our businesses reasons to expand their workforces and to give those workers an incentive to spend their wages. Indeed, this recovery could adopt a mantra of investment for growing industries such as the innovations targeting clean energy production, for example. Our startup companies of today could be tomorrow's specialists in agricultural technology, recycling or green transport.

I am optimistic that, if done right, South Australia can emerge stronger than ever, with the innovation and flexibility of local small businesses and their workers to thank for it. There is some scope for bipartisan action here. Whilst this place often witnesses disagreements between the parties, we can surely reach consensus that investment is required and a must for our constituents to reinvest in their local communities.

Sadly, those opposite have turned their backs on South Australian small businesses. Just this week the Treasurer was on radio spruiking his government's policy of deregulating shop trading hours. Unfortunately, in that interview he did not once discuss the benefits to South Australian small businesses but instead focused on how deregulation would assist national and multinational companies.

As I have already said, small business is the backbone of our state's economy. There is not one sector in South Australia that was not built up by small business people in this state, from hospitality, tourism, agriculture, food and wine, to even defence, mining and biotech as well as retail, just to name a few. Yet what is this government doing to support the small business end of town in these sectors?

The government has turned its back on most small businesses, particularly in hospitality and tourism with its Great State Voucher program. With the vouchers being redeemable to cover only accommodation costs, tourism operators have been left out in the cold. I have personally spoken to a number of travel agents who are desperately struggling at the moment. Once-thriving businesses that would be booked out months in advance are now lucky to get a few inquiries a week.

With each and every outbreak of COVID and subsequent border closures, these businesses lose more and more of their potential clients. That is money being taken away from paying their overheads, money that cannot be used to pay their mortgages, their children's school fees or any other necessities. These businesses have been kept alive with the assistance of the federal government's JobKeeper payments, but we have not seen much decent support from this state government.

This government's Small Business Grants even excluded thousands of small businesses, especially home-based businesses, which disproportionally impacted female business owners. With JobKeeper coming to an end in weeks, we do not know what will be in store for these once self-reliant businesspeople, their families and the employees who rely on them. This pandemic is far from over, and it is looking like support from federal and state governments will dry up long before it is.

I have spent many hours speaking with small business owners to get to know their businesses, their challenges and, importantly, their opportunities. Now it is time to work with my colleagues, in particular the member for Lee, as we continue to build relationships with the great South Australian business community and, on our side of the chamber, work constructively on South Australia's business recovery. I commend the motion to the house.

The Hon. D.G. PISONI (Unley—Minister for Innovation and Skills) (12:01): I stand to support the amendments made to this motion by the member for King and acknowledge her engagement with small business in her electorate in particular. I have visited the electorate of King with the member for King a number of times and learnt about the businesses, the quiet achievers, those who go about their day generating wealth for the state and employing South Australians without expecting anything in return other than a fair system—and that is what we have delivered here in South Australia.

We have continued to work in partnership with small business here in South Australia. We did not wait for a pandemic to trigger an interest in small business. The conversion on the road to Damascus from those opposite is interesting. Where was their interest in small business when they were in government, when they could actually implement policies—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Lee!

The Hon. D.G. PISONI: —when they could actually do something about it? When we came to office the payroll tax threshold was amongst the lowest in Australia—$600,000 on your payroll. It is now $1.5 million, knocking thousands of businesses out of the need to collect and pay payroll tax every month. Again, that did not require a pandemic to take action; we did it because that is what we believe in.

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The Hon. D.G. PISONI: It does not matter. The small business community—

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee is called to order.

The Hon. D.G. PISONI: —judges people and political parties on their actions. Those opposite had plenty of time to act when they were in office, but instead they failed. They failed in supporting small businesses with their payroll tax regime and, of course, they failed to support small businesses to get the skills they need to prosper and for South Australians to have the skills businesses require to be employed and be valuable contributors to the economy.

A very big part—50 per cent—of training done in South Australia was by private, non-government and independent training providers up until March 2015, when the Labor government overnight pulled all the funding for the Subsidised Training List from non-government training providers. Of course, that had a detrimental effect on access to training for young people and those who were reskilling.

At the very time when those opposite had their faux war with Canberra about defence sectors coming to South Australia, they were reducing South Australia's skill base with their cuts to funding and their trashing of the vocational education system. So not only did they stop funding to non-government providers but they then contracted the size of the Subsidised Training List, sacked 600 TAFE staff and closed 14 TAFE campuses. In the Tea Tree Gully TAFE, there are even email exchanges with TAFE and businesses that were making inquiries about hiring space in the TAFE building in Tea Tree Gully.

Here we have the Labor Party in opposition. They are so desperate that they are trying to be everybody's friend, but they are missing the mark on absolutely everything. Their lack of experience in business is an impediment to the growth of the South Australian economy.

Yesterday, ABS figures were released, and they showed that South Australia outperforms every other state and territory, except Western Australia, for the total value of employee wages since the COVID low point, which was 18 March 2020, rising 5.6 per cent, compared with just 3.1 per cent nationally—a very resilient return here in South Australia. Total employee jobs in South Australia increased, with a nation-leading 10.1 per cent in the 10 months since 18 April, which is well above the national average of just 7.2 per cent.

So you can see that this government is in partnership with the private sector. We trust the private sector to deliver on building the economy here in South Australia. We know they are—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan: That's why you are privatising everything, like the Remand Centre. How did that work out?

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Lee!

The Hon. D.G. PISONI: —the employers, they are the wealth generators and we work with them in order for their businesses to grow because there is a statewide benefit for people to have jobs, for people to have careers and for people to have job satisfaction. The higher your skill levels are, the more job satisfaction you have. We know that over the next five years 50 of the top occupations in demand will require vocational education or skills-based apprenticeships or traineeship-based training in order to deliver those skills.

We are seeing a growth in that sector, a growth in higher apprenticeships of 133 per cent in just a 12-month period. Higher apprenticeships did not exist under a Labor government. These are apprenticeships specifically designed for modern manufacturing, Industry 4.0, and exactly where we need to be for making sure that the people of South Australia, those in the workforce, have the skills they need to participate in the tremendous opportunity that South Australia has with its $90 billion—billion dollar, that is with a 'b'—submarine and frigate program here in South Australia.

Of course, we want many of those jobs to go to South Australians and that is why we are making the investment. We are working with small businesses and small businesses are working with us: 1,500 businesses over the last two and a bit years have registered and taken on apprentices for the very first time. These are not just new businesses; these are businesses that have been operating for quite some time that have been convinced by the need to upskill their staff and to be involved in the training of South Australians so they have the skill base they require to participate in the modern economy.

When they were in government, it was an economy that was transitioning. It never made it to a transition, but it is in transition now. We are there in the new economy, and we are delivering those jobs and making sure South Australians have the skills to participate in that process. We are supporting businesses during this very difficult time. I think there is no doubt that, compared with other jurisdictions and certainly compared with what is happening overseas, we have the balance right here in South Australia. We are ensuring that we are supporting the business community to employ South Australians and to grow their businesses.

The small business support grant was there to enable businesses to go out and get support for services to change their business model. If you look at those business models that were the most sought after—the advice on business planning, on marketing, transformation of business and operating models, business futureproofing, ITC, e-commerce—this is not the sort of thing you need to learn when you are thinking of closing your business or downsizing. This is all about expanding businesses.

To back up those statistics, 8,800 South Australians got full-time jobs in December last year. Unless you have confidence as an employer—and I can speak with experience on this—you do not take on people full-time, because it is a much more difficult process if you are forced through changes in the economy or uncertainty to downsize your business. It is much more difficult and expensive to do that.

The fact that employers—and many of those are small businesses—are converting from casual/part-time to full-time employment is a very good sign that the economy in South Australia is heading in the right direction, and it is doing that because we have worked in partnership with small business, we have listened to small business, and we are doing that in government. We are not shouting from the sidelines, niggling at every tiny little issue—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The Hon. D.G. PISONI: —that can be found, but of course we are working and delivering. We have always had a commitment to small business; now in government we are delivering on that commitment.

The SPEAKER: Before I call on the member for Mount Gambier, I warn the member for Lee.

Mr BELL (Mount Gambier) (12:12): I will not take too long, but I rise to support the motion and acknowledge the businesses in my electorate that have been doing it pretty tough over the last 12 months—not only the hospitality sector, which has come to see me regularly, but those businesses that are doing business across the border. The border closure and the limitation on travel have severely impacted a number of businesses, particularly in the forest industry. We have harvesters who were not able to go over to Victoria to harvest the plantation that was due on their rotation to be harvested.

A number of harvest operators are facing significant financial challenges, particularly in the hardwood sector where they have the added issue of China closing its imports, not taking hardwood. This has led to millions of dollars worth of machinery sitting idle, and, for those who are indebted to the bank or have mortgages over machinery that sits idle, it is not a business model that has a bright future.

We also have the crayfish industry, again impacted by China. Normally, the beach price is about $120 a kilo for crayfish. Last week, I was talking to a couple processors and they said that the beach price is about $38. Even they acknowledge that sometimes there is little sympathy for crayfishermen. However, there are different circumstances within that industry: some are leasing pots at $55 a kilo and have to pay that regardless. Quite literally they are remortgaging their houses, or selling anything they can, because they have to pay that shortfall as well.

We have the wine industry, again, suffering due to international conditions in part brought on by COVID. There are gymnasiums. There are a lot of people and businesses in our region who have been doing it tough, and it is testimony to their determination and grit to get through. I could talk all day about certain businesses, including some young entrepreneurs who have a tree house play cafe and indoor bowling area. They are just a young partnership, getting up, having a go, and being hit by COVID at the worst possible time.

I also want to talk today about Leah Mullen, who is a co-owner of Tailor Made Travel in Mount Gambier. Before the pandemic, this business was thriving and successful, so much so that my mother-in-law, who lives in Coromandel Valley, would use Tailor Made in Mount Gambier every time she would travel because of the exceptional service and care for their clients. They had experienced 75 per cent growth since opening in 2013, and then COVID hit. International travel made up about 80 per cent of their business.

For the first few months of the pandemic, the five staff were solely focused on processing refunds and credits from the closing of domestic and international borders. From people ringing and cancelling, there were major flow-on effects to hotels and tour operators. Some have now gone into insolvency. Travel agents work on commission. By refunding, they are literally paying their own income, so there is no ability to make money. The agency had five staff at the start of last year: four full-time and a part-time. They had to let three of these staff go.

Leah said that it was very difficult for herself and Carla, the other co-owner of the business, but they were forced to scale back as much as they could. From being open five days a week during business hours, the shopfront is now only open three days a week from 10am until 3pm. Just when there was a recovery in sight, there was a second wave, when South Australia's six-day circuit-breaker was announced and domestic borders were again closed. Both Leah and Carla are on JobKeeper, and the business was one of more than 20,000 across South Australia to receive the state government's $10,000 cash grant. Leah said JobKeeper is hard to live on, and it is simply not viable for the long term.

Along with advocating for the extension of JobKeeper, Leah would like to see the federal government's tourism support package adjusted so payments are fair and equal for all businesses. For example, some payments are based on total income and some on total turnover. These are some hard statistics around the travel industry: 97 per cent of Australian travel agencies are relying on JobKeeper, 88 per cent of these businesses will have to close if JobKeeper ends and 90 per cent of travel agents have mental health issues following the pandemic. Leah said it has been the most incredibly tough year, but she considers herself lucky that there is a tight-knit community of agents in the Limestone Coast area.

Nearly a year after the pandemic was announced, travel agents are still managing refunds and credits from the first wave of lockdowns and border closures. They have successfully repatriated $6 billion in refunds and credits from overseas airlines, hotels and tour operators for Australian customers, but there is still an estimated $4 billion outstanding. Leah asked what will happen to the billions of dollars of refunds, credits and bookings tied up in companies both in Australia and, predominantly, internationally if travel agents go under.

A good day for Leah now is finalising a refund that she may have been working on for up to a year because it means she can finally cross it off her spreadsheet. Their clients have been hugely supportive, but Leah says there is a lot of lost confidence in the domestic market as snap border closures continue. She is asking South Australia's Minister for Tourism, Premier Steven Marshall, to advocate for businesses like hers at a national level for JobKeeper to continue and for the focus on funding and support to be tailored for specific industries, rather than an all-encompassing bracket of tourism. A travel agency has vastly different needs from those of a tour operator or a hotelier, and there needs to be greater consumer and industry protection.

Leah has given an example: South Australia's Great State Voucher scheme was a great idea but it could have included a commission for booking agencies or for people to go through a booking agency. These days, there is just one or two staff at the Ferrers Street business and there are no incoming bookings and no income. If JobKeeper ends in March, Leah said they will be forced to close their doors entirely.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (12:20): I would like to make a contribution to this debate and indicate my opposition to the amendment and my support for the original motion. In opposing the amendment, I will provide some case studies from my electorate that show what has been said this morning by the mover of the amendment is not accurate. I will quote her and then I will use case studies to show how untrue this is.

For example, the member for King asserts that their policy is to keep the doors open and staff employed, that the government are committed to our local businesses and that they aim to provide lower operational costs. The minister then went on to talk about a fair system and also how small businesses are at the front and centre of economic recovery. I would like to provide two examples in my electorate to show that both the minister and the member for King, despite what they have said here, are removed from the reality of a lot of small businesses in this state.

The first example I would like to provide is the Gawler Heritage Cafe. The Gawler Heritage Cafe is a small cafe located in the Gawler railway station and provides a valuable service in terms of selling tickets, coffee, meals, etc., for people who use the train service, which unfortunately at the moment is not operating because we are actually electrifying the rail line. That is understood. But the story is this: as a result of no trains and as a result of a substandard substitute bus service, people are not using the station and the number has gone down probably about 90 per cent. The throughput in that area is about 10 per cent, if not less.

So what did this government do? I will tell you what this government did. This cafe had a ticket machine, which is owned by Adelaide Metro. It is a ticket machine from which they get a commission for selling tickets and recharging, etc. As a result of the rail closure and as a result of COVID-19, fewer people are using trains because they have felt less safe on our trains, etc. The department and the government said, 'We're going to take your ticket machine away from you because you are not meeting targets,' so they ripped out the ticket machine from this small business.

This is the government that cares and supports local businesses to keep the doors open: it removes the ticketing machine from this small business because they were not meeting targets. Obviously, somebody there was ticking boxes, but somebody obviously did not realise there were no trains on the tracks and somebody also did not realise that the substitute services were quite substandard and that people were not using them. So this person's ticket machine—a major source of income for this small business—was actually removed from them as a result of the actions of this government. This puts a lie to all those things the member for King said in support of her motion.

But it gets better, though, as this is not the end of the story. The same cafe, because of the way they operate their BAS system, was not eligible for JobKeeper and, as a result, this government turned around and said, 'Well, we are not going to give you rent relief either. You have to pay full rent,' as if nothing had happened. Despite the fact that we had COVID-19 and the fact they actually closed down the train services and 90 per cent of the customers had gone, they still said, 'You will still pay 100 per cent of your rent, every week, day in, day out.'

We expect the private sector to provide rent relief, and quite rightly, but this government, who we are told have a fair system, who will keep the doors of small business open and who are committed to local business and lower operational costs, decided they will not reduce the rent for the small business. This is the archetypal small business: it is a husband-and-wife team who run a small cafe in addition to some other work they do to raise enough money to support their family. This government will not back off. They said, 'No, you will pay that rent, even when there is not income coming in.' This is actually an indication of what this government does to small business, and these are real examples, not the theoretical hype that we got from the member for King. These are examples about what this government is doing to small business in my electorate.

I mentioned the substitute bus services. They are substandard. We had to go into bat to improve those services. We had to go into bat, first, to get some express services from Gawler and Adelaide to actually encourage people to use the bus services, because if you are coming from the north the road system is quite clogged up now. There is congestion. This government talks about breaking the congestion on our roads, but it is doing nothing when it comes to public transport. It is actually downgrading our public transport system and therefore congesting our roads.

Eventually they did introduce some express services, but where did they send the express services? Down the Main North Road—not the Northern Expressway, not down the new connector road to get the people from Gawler to Adelaide quickly and more comfortably, but down the Main North Road, and why did they send them down the Main North Road? Because, apparently, they pay per kilometre.

So, it is not about the interests of the customer, or the consumer, or the passenger: it is that they are penny-pinching while the trainline is not operating, and the result is that people do not use it. This week they have actually started a trial run. After we lobbied heavily, they started a trial run—and I acknowledge that—down the Northern Expressway and the northern connector, but only one way, only to Adelaide. On the way back they still come down the Main North Road during peak times, and I do not have to tell people who use the Main North Road what it is like during peak times. This government really has no idea about the needs of the people in Gawler and the surrounding areas.

The second example is the Tikka Talian restaurant in Gawler. It is an Indian restaurant run by Mr and Mrs Singh who are wonderful, wonderful people. Again, it is a small business. From memory they employ three or four people in their business. They have wonderful food, are wonderful hosts and it is a nice location—everything!

They applied for the $10,000 Small Business Grant, which the government put up—good idea, I fully support that. Unfortunately, these people made the mistake of actually putting in an application one week late, and the Hon. Mr Lucas, the Treasurer, said 'Well, they should have got their act together.' In the biggest crisis we have seen in the world people are supposed to act rationally, quickly, respond and do everything in order. There were no grounds for compassion, no ground to move.

We lobbied, and not only did we lobby but the Small Business Commissioner lobbied, too, saying, 'This is just unreasonable.' There was a health issue in the family, a whole range of things, but the Hon. Mr Lucas, the minister in the other place, said, 'No. These are the rules,' etc. Then a few months later, wait for it, he reintroduces the scheme. Are these people eligible? No, no, of course not, so they get nothing. These are the people who are trying to keep their business afloat, keep their doors open and keep people employed. It is the archetypical small business, which in all other ways was eligible for this $10,000 grant, but the government did not bend.

This is how they treat small business in this state. This is how this government treats small business in my electorate. When the members on the government side vote for this amendment and oppose the motion, they are rejecting and repudiating the experience of these two businesses amongst other businesses.

What they are saying is that this experience is not real. We have heard all the gloss and the hype from the government members, and what they are saying to these small businesses is, 'Well, you're just not good enough. Your experience is not good enough, and therefore you are repudiated by this motion.' For this reason, Mr Speaker, I will vote against this amendment and ask members to support the original motion.

Mr DULUK (Waite) (12:28): I also rise to make a contribution to this debate. I agree with a lot of the sentiments from all sides of the house that small business is indeed the backbone of the economy, and they have done it incredibly tough for the last 12 months because of COVID.

I have said in this house now for over 12 months and in all the deliberations in my community that small business and businesses of all sizes need consistency in decision making from government—and in the case of the matters that are before us at the moment—in terms of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Snap closures and lockdowns make it very difficult for businesses to survive. I can only imagine being a florist in Melbourne last weekend, where you are preparing for your second busiest trading day of the year (Valentine's Day) and all of a sudden Dictator Dan changes the rules and your small business struggles. As I said before, there is the need for a consistent approach to really support the hospitality, retail and tourism sectors. These snap circuit-breaker lockdowns just do not work in terms of supporting the economy.

The University of Adelaide's South Australian Centre for Economic Studies recently urged the state government to consider a more consultative approach with industry in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to avoid the disruption and losses by the hospitality sector. The South Australian Centre for Economic Studies estimates that the three days of lockdown we had in November and the forced shutdown of the economy and subsequent restrictions through to 31 December 2020 saw a loss of more than 12,500 jobs.

Turnover reduced by some $100 million in that sector. There was $7 million to $10 million in wasted good and beverages, $11 million to $15 million in lost spending for tradies and contractors and $15.5 million in lost accommodation revenue. These statistics are staggering for the economy and the result of an emergency management regime that is in place today. Back in November (and I said this at the time as well) it was the inconsistences in the decisions made by the Transition Committee.

For example, during the November lockdown if you were a butcher, you could open; if you were a fruit and veg retailer, you could open; but if you were a bakery, you could not open. If you were a fishmonger, you could open; if you were a newsagency, you could not open. That was quite common. In my community, there are five of those exact shops in a row in the strip shopping at Blackwood Shopping Centre: three could open during the lockdown and two could not.

Those inconsistencies are at the heart of what small businesses want to see removed. They want to work with government for the betterment of their businesses and indeed the whole community. I know a number of local businesses in my community were forced to absorb the costs of the COVID lockdown. There was lost revenue, lost stock and a feeling of anxiousness amongst retailers.

You can imagine the anxiety business owners have felt over the past year and continue to feel into 2021, especially those who work in the hospitality, retail, events and tourism sectors and all businesses associated with these industries, such as wedding photographers, venue spaces, caterers and the like. I think one industry that has also been unduly affected over the past 12 months is the small bars, city venues and nightclubs. These businesses are drawcards for much-needed tourism in our state and something we should continue to promote.

Whilst it is fantastic that the government has the accommodation vouchers scheme and I think is doing a pretty good job in supporting the accommodation sector, the night tourism sector is an important part of our economy as well. It has been almost a year since dancing in South Australian venues has been banned. You can even dance in Victoria. A lot of people have contacted my office—including many of my younger constituents—concerned about this. There is also now a discrepancy between whether dancing is allowed at a function in a CBD venue as opposed to a nightclub.

A question put to me by venue managers is: what is the difference in movement in a nightclub compared to a busy gym, a fitness centre, an indoor exercise class or the storm that hits Bunnings every Saturday morning? How different is the experience compared to a busy pub, where people are brushing shoulders as they walk to the toilet or the bar? Some 8,000 people recently signed a petition addressing the need to bring back dancing. It is so important, I think, that there is a clear pathway for this industry. I echo the words of Harrison Raphael, co-owner of Hindley Street venue Loverboy, who said:

There doesn't seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel…

I’m just after some kind of roadmap for us as an industry to see a way for us to get back—and a bit of transparency as well.

As the federal government's JobKeeper regime rolls out and comes to an end next month, it is so important that we do all we can in South Australia to remove roadblocks to South Australian businesses that want to employ and do the right thing and get on with business.

One industry that has done so well in dealing with the difficulties of COVID-19 and restructuring their businesses has been the hotel industry. It was really fantastic to join the hotel industry last week. Members of this house were there. The Attorney-General was there in her capacity as the responsible minister. I know the member for Lee and my colleagues in the upper house were also there. It was great to see such an important industry, an industry that directly employs tens of thousands of South Australians, with many casual workers and young people in that industry.

Importantly, not only do they directly employ tens of thousands of South Australians in their venues but they also interact with the food industry, the catering industry, the accommodation industry, the wine industry and the manufacturing industry. It is such an important part of our society and community in terms of generating jobs and also what it does in the trade training area. I know the Minister for Innovation and Skills has been doing a lot in that space with the hospitality industry.

I want to offer my congratulations to the many winners of the 2020 AHA Hotel Industry Awards for Excellence in various categories over the last year and to the Marion Hotel for winning the award for Best Overall Hotel in South Australia. In talking to many venue owners, publicans and people who work in the hospitality industry, their desire is to see a road map for continual government support in the sector; it is so crucial and very important. They are grateful that both the member for Lee and the member for King, in her amendments, have presented the opportunity to debate this matter today.

Ms WORTLEY (Torrens) (12:36): I rise to support the motion moved by the member for Lee:

That this house—

(a) recognises the need to support local business in order to recover from the COVID-19 recession;

(b) notes that small businesses in South Australia are the backbone of our economy and were hit particularly hard during 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions; and

(c) acknowledges the need for a government in South Australia that consults with businesses and unions to ensure people in South Australia prosper.

From cafes, hotels, restaurants and the travel industry to businesses deemed non-essential traders, small businesses have been massively impacted over the past year. Local businesses have been hit hard, as their ability to operate has fluctuated between limited trade and complete closure. I have spoken to local cafes and restaurants that have had to dispose of fresh food, including massive serves of seafood, at a considerable loss to them as there is no way they can gain back.

Even during times when there was no lockdown, numbers attending events in hospitality venues were drastically cut. That of course meant the business offering that service was working on greatly reduced turnover and profit, which impacted on the livelihood of staff. In my own electorate of Torrens, many businesses were impacted—Latitude Adelaide and Mega Courts Indoor Sports—and of course all the local sports clubs were impacted. I support the member for Lee's call for the government to work proactively with local businesses and unions to get the best outcomes for all South Australians. We should expect nothing less.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee) (12:38): Unsurprisingly, I do not support the amendments made by the member for King, some sort of Winston-like effort, if we turn our mind to George Orwell's 1984, to rewrite the history that we have just experienced. Basically, from my motion the reference to recession is removed. There is some kind of glossing over the economic experience of tens of thousands of South Australian small businesses, trying to say that there was no recession. Also, of course, removing the word 'restriction' from the second part of the motion pretends that there were no restrictions and that they were responsible for limiting the capacity of small businesses to operate.

Perhaps even more galling is to repeat the absolute lie from this government that there is $4 billion worth of stimulus. Where does the $4 billion figure come from, Mr Speaker? If you add up all the operating and investing initiatives from the last state budget, that is what totals $4 billion. Let's have a look at some of the generous economic stimulus measures that the member for King is saying will rescue small businesses in South Australia: backing out $897 million of health overspends and unachievable savings over the next four years.

That will really get small businesses going in the electorates of King and Lee, won't it? Or the $120 million Digital Restart Fund, finally updating state government websites; that is going to turbocharge small businesses, isn't it, particularly in the hospitality and tourism sectors. What a lifeline that is! Recasting some government websites—absolutely ingenious!

The one that is perhaps the most gobsmacking is how this government claims $70 million of payroll tax relief from the extraordinarily generous measure of not levying payroll tax on JobKeeper payments. Well, congratulations for not taxing a once-in-a-lifetime economic stimulus measure from a federal government. 'Good on you,' I say to the Marshall Liberal government for your obscene generosity in that regard.

Extraordinarily, another measure that is claimed as a stimulus measure is the $52 million in bushfire recovery funds, funds that were announced and committed to before the pandemic. Apparently they are new stimulus funds to help South Australian small businesses. I could go on, because there are literally hundreds of millions of dollars of additional examples of funds that are claimed as being part of the $4 billion of economic stimulus which are, of course, not a stimulus at all.

That $4 billion stretches across four financial years, so we are expected to believe that this government is spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year in three years' time to rescue small businesses from the malaise that they are in at the moment. According to those opposite, the member for King and the member for Unley, there is no malaise. It has never been so good for small businesses in South Australia.

Ms Luethen: Hear, hear!

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: That is the clear message from the member for King and the member for Unley. She even cheered out then, 'Hear, hear!' It has never been so good. Really? Was that the message that the member for King and the member for Unley got from all those businesses that serve food, whether they are cafes, takeaway shops, hotels, for example, when a snap lockdown was imposed on them on a Wednesday in November?

They were told it would be at least five days, so they had to throw out a delivery of five days worth of food. It has never been so good for them! All those casual hours had to be cancelled in those businesses, all those employees missing out on hundreds of dollars worth of income. It has never been so good for them!

It has never been so good for the tourism operators referred to by the member for Waite and the member for Mount Gambier. It has never been so good! Delayed stimulus payments—stimulus which is not real stimulus—does not help South Australian small businesses. Vague promises from the member for Unley about how many people are starting but not finishing apprenticeships are not rescues for small business.

When the government finally takes its head out of the sand, finally starts engaging with small businesses, even walks a couple of hundred metres from here, south, into those small hospitality businesses, which have had to sack staff, close down their businesses, drastically reduce hours, risk their livelihoods, borrow hundreds of thousands of dollars of extra money, they might finally understand what is confronting the economy here in South Australia: 77,500 South Australians still getting JobKeeper as of this month. What do they expect to happen in the coming weeks? This government needs to do more.

Amendment carried; motion as amended carried.