We meet on the traditional lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, and I pay my respects to elders past, present emerging.

I also want to acknowledge two valued parliamentary colleagues who are here with us today.

Julie Owens is a Shadow Assistant Minister in my Treasury portfolio who particularly focusses on small business issues. She has been at your conference since it began and will be here until ends, as she does every year. She is extremely diligent and has a keen understanding of small business issues.

Thanks for the dedication and passion you bring to being a strong voice for small business in the Labor Party, Julie.

And Madeleine King has travelled over from Perth to attend your conference. She is our most recent addition to the Shadow Ministry as the Shadow Minister assisting me on Small Business. She is experienced and dedicated and youll be hearing from later today. Id encourage you to get to know Madeleine, shell have an important role to play in the Shorten Labor Government.

Well, thanks for the invitation to be with you today. I was keen to accept.

Of course, I accepted before the tumultuous and disappointing events of last week.

These events underline the importance of a focus on policy, a commitment to unity and stability.

And that is what Labor is determined to restore.

We have learned the lessons of the past.

We have spent the last five years under Bills leadership
working in a unified fashion on a coherent and ambitious policy agenda.

In office, well

• Restore good, traditional and stable cabinet processes to policy making
• Restore the independence and non-partisan nature of vital central economic policy making institutions, the Treasury and the Productivity Commission

Of course, there is a real price to pay for the country from the dysfunction and chaos of recent weeks.

This is at is starkest when it comes to energy policy.
I spend a lot of time talking to business, big and small about their concerns and priorities.

And regardless of the size, location or nature of the business, one issue comes up time and time again: energy policy.

Now, whatever your thoughts on energy policy - we believe in more renewable energy because itll reduce prices and carbon emissions - there is one thing we can all agree on: we need policy stability and certainty to get the investment necessary to get prices down.

Over the past few years, the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Government has brought us the Energy Intensity Scheme, the Clean Energy Target and the National Energy Guarantee. Labor has been willing to engage constructively with each of these policies because weve recognised that vital investment will only flow with a bipartisan commitment which will mean give and take and good faith. But none of the proposed Government policies has survived contact with the enemy, by which I mean Liberal and National backbenchers who dont believe in climate change and are determined to kill sensible policy. So as we stand, Australia doesnt have an energy policy.

We cant have bipartisanship if there is no government policy to agree with or negotiate on.

This policy paralysis means energy prices will continue to rise.
And Australians and Australian businesses deserve better.
But I dont actually dont want to spend most of my remarks today on the chaos that has engulfed the Government.

Id rather spend the rest of my time sharing some of our positive agenda for government and how it interacts with the important small business sector.

There are any number of policies I could talk about:

• Our plan to revitalise and refresh the vocational educational and training sector to make sure we are skilling young Australians and providing business with the skilled workforce it needs.
• Our Access to Justice policy which will make it easier for small businesses to get access to a fair hearing in competition disputes with big business
• Our phoenixing policy, which cracks down on dodgy fly by night businesses which give the sector a bad name and operate a competitive advantage over businesses doing the right thing
• Our policy on sham contracting and wage theft, which advantages businesses doing the right thing over those who think it is OK to get the jump over their competitors by the avoidance of the payment of wages.

But I dont have time to talk about all those policies in any detail. Perhaps we could find other opportunities to discuss them.

So today, I am going to focus on two policy areas.
Firstly briefly, the NBN.

And then, more comprehensively tax, including an announcement about how a Shorten Labor Government will introduce more fairness into the taxation system for small business.

NBN
Of course, the most fundamental change facing small businesses around the world is that the rise of e-commerce has meant that you can compete with other businesses around the world, not just the neighbourhood and they can also compete with you.

This opens up huge opportunities for businesses small and large,across Australias cities and regions.

One of the most important tools for small businesses in particular is a well-functioning and cost effective NBN.

In an increasingly digitised world and consumers purchasing their goods and services online, connectivity is crucial.

The NBN is a critical productivity enhancer for all businesses.
95% of allbusinesses have internet access, with internet income estimated to be worth $394 billionannually.

Unfortunately weve been going backwards.

Australia now ranks below countries likeKazakhstanwhen it comes to broadbandspeed.

Just 55th internationally, at the same time as many countries in Asia with full fibre are forging ahead.

Thismeanssmallbusinesses in Australia are already at a competitive disadvantage.

When it comes to our national broadband network, consumers and small businesses are complaining more and paying more.
This is whyBill Shorten and our Shadow Minister for Communications, Michelle Rowland haveannouncedthat Laborwillestablishan NBN Service Guarantee.

Labor will deliver a better experience for NBN consumers with a plan to establish an NBN Service Guarantee that will set transparent timeframes and wholesale service standards for:

• Fault rectification timeframes
• Installations
• Missed appointments

The NBN Service Guarantee will be enforced through financial remedies that will apply if service standards are not met.
Stronger remedies will apply to problems impacting on small businesses.

IfNBNCodoesnt meet these standards theyll be liable and the impacted consumer will be fairly compensated.
The goal here is not to punish telecommunications providers, but rather to incentivise better performance and safeguard againstexcessive NBN downtime.

Less downtime and greater accountability- thats what we want to achieve.

Tax

As you know, we have been clear that we think that there are better and more important priorities for the budget than the big business tax cuts that were, up until recently, Government policy.

But as far as small business goes, we actually have a better offering.

Because we will, firstly,

• Maintain tax cuts that have been legislated and implemented to date, that is, the reduction in the tax rate to 27.5% for businesses with a turnover up to $50 million per annum.

But secondly, also introduce the Australian Investment Guarantee, which is a much superior tax policy than what the Government is offering.

Our Investment Guarantee will deliver an upfront 20% tax deduction, accelerating the depreciation on all investments in new assets, with the remaining deprecation to be undertaken in line with normal schedules.

This will inject serious cash flow into all businesses around Australia.

The Australian Industry Group is on the record as saying The Federal Opposition's plan for an Investment Guarantee announced today would provide a significant cash-flow benefit for many businesses and that the Investment Guarantee would increase the stock of invested capital, boost the quantity of capital per worker, raise productivity and underwrite an acceleration of real wage growth.

Peter Strong added COSBOAs voice to support for the investment guarantee, saying:

Labors announcement is a welcome one as it would make it easier for Australian businesses to invest and grow. The fact that this measure is available to all businesses, big and small, is also very positive as it will help small businesses directly as well as encouraging larger businesses to invest in the products sold by small business.

Our guiding principle has been clear in a world where we still have a budget in deficit, how can we deliver tax relief for businesses in the most targeted way without the giveaway that comes with benefiting investments that have already occurred.
All small and medium sized (as well as large) businesses can access this.

And importantly, unlike previous tax incentives, its permanent. Not reviewed at each budget cycle giving SME businesses the certainty they need to plan.

The modelling undertaken for the highly esteemed Melbourne Economic Forum shows that compared to a company tax cut, an investment subsidy is actually up to three times more effective as a stimulus to investment.

Its also why well regarded economists like Saul Eslake has observed that the most powerful investment catalyst in the US at the moment is the immediate expensing, not the corporate tax cut.

Accelerated depreciation and immediately expensing investments not only helps improves the cash flow of SME businesses but also does not result in large swathers of income repatriating offshore with no net increase in investment and jobs here in Australia.

So this is the approach were taken.

We obviously also support the Instant asset write off for small businesses.

With the Government in crisis, its a shame it hasnt even had the respect to give small businesses confidence this investment allowance will be extended.

Taken together, our tax offering to small and medium sized businesses is superior to the Governments.

Under a Shorten led Labor Government 99 per cent of businesses will receive a tax cut, no business will have their tax rate increased, and all businesses will be able to plan and invest with confidence and certainty.

A fair go
Of course, tax is not just about rates and schedules but also about a fair go.

As a Member of Parliament for the last fourteen years, (and one that represents the largest industrial estate in the Southern Hemisphere), I have spent plenty of time talking to and helping businesses that have told me they have complied with the rules as they have understood them, but have found themselves in dispute with the ATO.

Now, Im a former Assistant Treasurer, as well as a former Treasurer, and I had day to day responsibility for the Tax Office, so I know how dedicated and professional the vast majority of ATO officers are.

But lets not pretend that everything is always perfect or that the power relationship between the ATO and small businesses is anything approaching equal.

The Fairfax/ABC investigation of April this year raised serious concerns about how small business is treated in tax disputes.
While the Government agreed with Labor that an investigation was necessary, we have seen very little by the Government.
But we know, or should know what is necessary, both to improve the fairness and the perception of fairness of the system.

Many stakeholders - including, but not limited to, PwC, Chartered Accountants of Australia and New Zealand, the bipartisan House of Representatives Standing Committee on Tax and Revenue, and the Inspector-General of Taxation - have noted recommendations to, or indeed called on, the Government to legislate for a new Second Commissioner of Taxation position, and separating out appeals from the people who had made the original decisions in the ATO.

This would be in keeping with international best practice, particularly that of the IRS in the US.

Its a pretty fundamental principle: those considering appeals should not be the same people or from the same business unit as those who have made the original decision.

Accordingly, we are announcing today that a Shorten Labor Government will legislate to establish an additional Second Commissioner of Taxation, specifically responsible for appeals, and structurally separate within the ATO from the original decision makers.

While the Second Commissioner will consider appeals from individuals and businesses, we know based on the existing case load that it will overwhelmingly be appeals from small businesses that will keep the new second commissioner busy.
Im not going to suggest to you that this announcement will magically solve all problems any small business ever has with the ATO.

But will improve the lot of genuine small businesses who have acted genuinely and honestly and yet found themselves in intractable disputes with the ATO and who feel that the balance of power between them and the ATO means they are not getting a fair go.

Conclusion
Inevitably, due to time constraints today, I have only been able to substantively touch on a few policy areas.

But there are several other ideas that are at very advanced stages in our policy development process and I look forward to making more policy announcements in the small business space with my colleagues between now and the election, whenever it may be.

Ive enjoyed good and open relations with COSBOA and your constituent members not only as Shadow Treasurer and Shadow Minister for Small Business but in a range of portfolios over the years.

And more importantly, I look forward to a good, open and engaging relationship with you as Treasurer in a Shorten Labor Government, in which my door will always be open to you for discussions in good faith about how we work together in the best interests of small business and Australia.