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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 8 Hansard (28 August) . . Page.. 2625 ..

MRS CARNELL: I thank the member for the question. Mr Speaker, the Government, unlike those opposite, regards small business as the backbone of the ACT's economy. It continues to diversify. I have to say, in view of the attitude of those opposite to such things as CanDeliver, Olympic soccer, Bruce Stadium, the Kingston foreshore and business incentive schemes, that I think small business will be certainly hoping we are here for a while, Mr Speaker. There is no doubt that those same businesses that are the backbone of the ACT's economy have been through some very tough times over recent months in the wake of the massive employment cutbacks by the Commonwealth Government - which this side of the house do not support, Mr Speaker, just to clarify it. This Government has been doing all that it can to help small business in Canberra weather this tough economic situation. Our policies and our 1997-98 budget have been all about jobs and business growth.

The release this week of the latest Small Business Index was timely because it helped to paint a picture of how Canberra businesses were faring during recent times. Importantly, the Yellow Pages index not only surveys expectations by Canberra businesses for the next three months, but also looks back at what happened for the past quarter. What did the survey find, Mr Speaker, and what do those results say about the efforts of the Government? Even without looking at the results, they must have been pretty good because we have not heard a word about them from Mr Corbell or Mr Berry. They are very good at reading the Canberra Times - this was actually in the Canberra Times, Mr Speaker - so it is hard to understand why they did not ask a question about it, taking into account that they like to do those things. Or could it be, Mr Speaker, that they only ever ask questions about things that are negative, not things that are good for business? It is very hard to believe that that could be the case.

Mr Speaker, I will start by quoting directly from the statement put out in the Small Business Index. It says:

Confidence, sales and profits among Australian Capital Territory small business proprietors rebounded during the past quarter ...

The Index found that during the past quarter a net 15 per cent of small business operators reported an increase in the value of their sales. This was a net 36 percentage point turnaround from the previous quarter.

The other major small business indicator to show dramatic improvement was profitability. In the February to April quarter, 54 per cent of proprietors reported lower profits while just 22 per cent said their profits rose. However, in the quarter just ended, 33 per cent reported increased profits and 27 per cent said theirs were lower.

Looking to the year ahead, a net 31 per cent of proprietors are confident about their business prospects, compared with a net 6 per cent reported in the previous quarter.

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