❓ Mrs. Hayden raises concerns about shoplifting's impact on small businesses. The Minister deflects, highlighting government support for small businesses and criticising the opposition's past record.
AnsweredQoN 602Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
SMALL BUSINESS —
SHOPLIFTING
602. Mrs A.K. HAYDEN to the Minister for Small Business:
Given the impact of shoplifting, as
outlined in The West Australian today by Vince Garreffa, owner of Mondo's
butcher, and a string of small retail businesses that have been plagued by
out-of-control shoplifting, what protective action is the minister taking to stop
these attacks on our struggling small retail businesses?
SHOPLIFTING
602. Mrs A.K. HAYDEN to the Minister for Small Business:
Given the impact of shoplifting, as
outlined in The West Australian today by Vince Garreffa, owner of Mondo's
butcher, and a string of small retail businesses that have been plagued by
out-of-control shoplifting, what protective action is the minister taking to stop
these attacks on our struggling small retail businesses?
AnswerView source ↗
That is an interesting angle. I would
normally expect that type of question to be properly addressed to the Minister
for Police or perhaps the Attorney General—I do not know. There is a remote
link to small business. I know that small businesses are part of the community
and are subject to crime in much the same way as is every other sector of the
community. What I am doing is promoting small business in Western Australia. I am
taking action to protect small businesses from the challenges that they
confronted under the previous government. Members opposite would be very
familiar with—they might have read about it at the time, but they did
not do anything about it—the damage inflicted on subcontractors across Western
Australia when they were in government. Construction contractors with
government funding caused small businesses to go bankrupt and people lost their
houses and their marriages broke down, and, sadly, some people ultimately took
their own lives through despair because the ministers of the day said that
there was nothing they could do to assist them.
We have introduced legislation to
Parliament—I look forward to the opposition supporting and engaging on
that bit of legislation—to give the Small Business Development
Corporation and the Small Business Commissioner far more expansive powers to
assist small businesses than was the case under the previous government. They
already assist small businesses in all manner of endeavours. They provide
mentoring and advice and free legal services. That is something that could
assist the businesses mentioned in the bizarre question the member asked me.
That aside, I am very proud of the fact that we have assisted small businesses
through the continuation of the liberalisation of liquor licensing. We heard
about Le Rebelle earlier. That has resulted from the removal of a lot of red tape that existed under the previous
government that prevented small businesses from growing and operating.
We are massively growing the number
of visitors to Western Australia. They are coming into the city, which I am very proud of and defend and promote around the
world. I am appalled at the negative attacks on the beautiful City of
Perth by those opposite, intending to drive down visitor numbers to the centre
of the city and intending to hurt small businesses. I think that is shameful
behaviour. I am appalled by it, and I will defend small businesses right across
the state but particularly in the centre of the beautiful City of Perth. In the
12 months to 2019, our state has attracted more visitors than ever before. We
are getting into our restaurants, bars, cafes and hotels and getting out to the
regions and tourism businesses and feeding the opportunity for small businesses
to grow their profits and employ more people and grow jobs.
normally expect that type of question to be properly addressed to the Minister
for Police or perhaps the Attorney General—I do not know. There is a remote
link to small business. I know that small businesses are part of the community
and are subject to crime in much the same way as is every other sector of the
community. What I am doing is promoting small business in Western Australia. I am
taking action to protect small businesses from the challenges that they
confronted under the previous government. Members opposite would be very
familiar with—they might have read about it at the time, but they did
not do anything about it—the damage inflicted on subcontractors across Western
Australia when they were in government. Construction contractors with
government funding caused small businesses to go bankrupt and people lost their
houses and their marriages broke down, and, sadly, some people ultimately took
their own lives through despair because the ministers of the day said that
there was nothing they could do to assist them.
We have introduced legislation to
Parliament—I look forward to the opposition supporting and engaging on
that bit of legislation—to give the Small Business Development
Corporation and the Small Business Commissioner far more expansive powers to
assist small businesses than was the case under the previous government. They
already assist small businesses in all manner of endeavours. They provide
mentoring and advice and free legal services. That is something that could
assist the businesses mentioned in the bizarre question the member asked me.
That aside, I am very proud of the fact that we have assisted small businesses
through the continuation of the liberalisation of liquor licensing. We heard
about Le Rebelle earlier. That has resulted from the removal of a lot of red tape that existed under the previous
government that prevented small businesses from growing and operating.
We are massively growing the number
of visitors to Western Australia. They are coming into the city, which I am very proud of and defend and promote around the
world. I am appalled at the negative attacks on the beautiful City of
Perth by those opposite, intending to drive down visitor numbers to the centre
of the city and intending to hurt small businesses. I think that is shameful
behaviour. I am appalled by it, and I will defend small businesses right across
the state but particularly in the centre of the beautiful City of Perth. In the
12 months to 2019, our state has attracted more visitors than ever before. We
are getting into our restaurants, bars, cafes and hotels and getting out to the
regions and tourism businesses and feeding the opportunity for small businesses
to grow their profits and employ more people and grow jobs.
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