Small and Family Business

Mr PATTERSON (Morphett) (14:42): My question is to the Minister for Small and Family Business. What does the Minister for Small and Family Business say to the small business owner of Little Juniper Distilling Co about the cost of power in South Australia? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr PATTERSON: It has been reported that this small business's power bill increased more than a quarter in 2024. The owner said, 'Opening during COVID was tough, but it's about as tough now. We are spending more to make less.'

The Hon. A. MICHAELS (Enfield—Minister for Small and Family Business, Minister for Consumer and Business Affairs, Minister for Arts) (14:42): I thank the member for the question. I can tell you on this side of the house we are doing more for small business than was ever done under the Marshall Liberal government.

In fact, we only recently announced the energy grants—$20 million to support small businesses to invest in their businesses, up to $50,000, dollar-for-dollar matching, meaning they can invest up to $100,000 in their businesses to reduce their power costs. Those grants are now open. If any members in this place want to refer their small business constituents to business.sa.gov.au, we very much welcome any applications for those grants. It will certainly not only have a short-term but a very long-term effect on supporting small businesses with their power prices.

Of course, we have done much more than that since we came into government. We set up the Office for Small and Family Business. We engage very extensively with the small business sector here in South Australia. We have the Small Business Strategy for seven years, going to 2030. We have a number of programs that have been taken up by small businesses. Almost 7,000 small businesses have engaged in our programs. We have a highly successful Women in Business program—about 2,500 women have gone through that. We have a fundamentals program that is helping businesses deal with fundamental issues in their businesses: marketing, cyber, financial literacy, managing their businesses. These are all very popular programs. We are doing—

The Hon. K.A. Hildyard interjecting:

The Hon. A. MICHAELS: Yes, we do support women in business on this side of the chamber. So we, on this side of the chamber, are doing an enormous amount. There are cyber programs, there is an environmental sustainability program that is being run by 2XE that feeds hand in hand with our energy grants. We have mental health programs. There are a range of programs supporting small businesses. I am very pleased that the small business community is engaging with the Malinauskas government on these programs and engaging with us on our Small Business Strategy, for which this government has committed $14 million over the next couple of years.