The Hon. RACHEL MERTON (16:21): I move:

(1)That this House condemns the Minns Labor Government's decision to scrap the Business Connect program, the only free support service for small businesses, leaving thousands without support and vital advice.

(2)That this House recognises the current difficult economic environment for small business, with 4,235 insolvencies in the first nine months of 2024‑25.

(3)That this House calls on the Government to immediately reinstate and enhance the Business Connect program to bolster small businesses, restore confidence and drive economic growth for families and communities across New South Wales.

The Minns Labor Government's decision to terminate the Business Connect program on 30 September was nothing short of an assault on the heart of the New South Wales economy. Small businesses comprise 97 per cent of all enterprises in our State and employ 1.8 million hardworking Australians. They are the lifeblood of our communities. They are the family‑owned businesses, the shops in the suburbs, the innovative startups in the cities, the resilient operators in regional heartlands. I come from a proud family of small business owners. My great grandparents were dairy farmers in Toongabbie. My grandfather was a baker in Merrylands, both baking and delivering the bread. My father ran his own legal business in Parramatta for 25 years. My late grandmother was his senior legal secretary, and my grandfather caught the train every day to the land titles office in the city to exchange contracts. My grandparents retired in their early eighties. Their actions and achievements demonstrate the typical traits, challenges and entrepreneurial spirit of a suburban small business.

Historically, small businesses do not ask for much from government. They say, "Just reduce our costs, cut the red tape and let us get on with the job." One tangible step, however, in providing some much‑needed and overdue attention to the sector was the announcement of the Business Connect program by the former Coalition Government. Yet, in a time of unprecedented economic strain, Labor has chosen to sever that vital support, leaving thousands of small businesses to navigate soaring costs in uncertain times. Since its inception in 2017 under the previous Coalition Government, Business Connect has been a beacon for over 60,000 small businesses and startups, delivering up to eight hours of free, personalised, expert advice annually on everything from financial planning to digital transformation, human resources and succession strategies through a trusted network of independent providers via Service NSW. It has empowered entrepreneurs to not just survive but thrive.

The NSW Treasury's independent review of Business Connect confirmed its extraordinary value. For every $10 million invested annually, the program generates up to three times that amount in economic returns and the creation of more than 40,000 jobs. That is not expenditure; it is an investment in stability, innovation and family prosperity—core conservative principles that uphold the rule of law and the dignity of enterprise. Let us be clear about the timing of the cut. New South Wales is reeling from record‑high business insolvencies: 4,634 in 2023‑24 alone, representing 42 per cent of Australia's total, despite our State having just 31 per cent of the population. Sole traders and family businesses are battling energy bills and payroll tax in a cost‑of‑living crisis. Business failures have surged to record highs across the country. The Australian reports that New South Wales has recorded the highest number of insolvencies in the country, with 4,235 businesses entering external administration in the first nine months of 2024‑25.

Premier Minns has conceded the program's effectiveness but dismissed it as "not absolutely essential"—a phrase that rings hollow when small businesses are folding at rates not seen since the 2008‑09 global financial crisis. Business NSW CEO Daniel Hunter has rightly described the termination of Business Connect as leaving business out in the cold, emphasising that there is no equivalent program to replace it after 1 October. The vague pivot to the Service NSW Business Bureau, with its generalised concierge service and online resources, cannot substitute for face‑to‑face localised expertise. For example, multicultural entrepreneurs in the suburbs rely upon tailored advice to overcome language barriers and navigate regulatory burdens.

As a Liberal, I believe in enabling aspiration through minimal but effective government intervention, not abandoning it to bureaucratic scripts and websites. The Government's short-sighted decision to axe the program will fall heaviest on the regions, where access to private consultants is limited. I call on the Premier and the Treasurer to halt the termination of Business Connect immediately, to engage with business owners and to commit to a sustainable model that delivers real outcomes. For the sake of 1.8 million jobs, and for family enterprises, we must preserve the program. I commend the motion to the House.

The Hon. ROD ROBERTS (16:26): I support the motion and thank the Hon. Rachel Merton for bringing it to the House and for her very impassioned contribution. Members will recall that I spoke about the Business Connect program in my private member's statement today. I also spoke about it two weeks ago on the Michael McLaren show. While we were live on air, the switchboard lit up with people calling in to tell Michael how much Business Connect had assisted them in their times of need, helping them to navigate the numerous pieces of red tape and green tape that are put in front of small business operators. I speak with lived experience—that buzzword in this Chamber. I have run a number of small businesses: Highlands Stockfeed, Lynrod Horse Transporting and Tuross Property Services Pty Ltd. Fortunately, I did not need Business Connect. I was in a very fortunate position, but not everybody is as lucky as me.

Business Connect is a service that offers just eight hours per year of paid assistance to small businesses to help them navigate, to help them stay open, to help them grow, to help them employ people and to help the economy. It costs the Minns Government $10 million a year at most. I know we need fiscal responsibility, and I am not into giving money to businesses. But businesses do not get any money under the Business Connect program; they get assistance paid for by the Government. But in terms of giving money away, this Government gave $3 million to music festivals, a lot of them run by overseas entities, and $16 million to the Ultimate Fighting Championship [UFC]. Like the Hon. Mark Latham, I am a big supporter of the UFC. I do not have anything against sport or music. But if the Government can find $16 million for the UFC, which is owned by an overseas entity, it can find $10 million to support local businesses to keep the doors open, keep people employed and keep the economy ticking over.

The Hon. EMILY SUVAAL (16:29): I lead for the Government and indicate at the outset that we will not support the motion. There are a number of inaccuracies in the motion. Business Connect is not the Government's only free offering to small businesses in the State. The Service NSW Business Bureau provides free, personalised, ongoing support to New South Wales businesses, with a team of friendly business concierges right across the State. Highly trained Service NSW staff are ready and willing to assist customers to navigate through the life cycle of their business. I note paragraph (2) of the motion and recognise the difficult economic environment in which small businesses are currently operating. The latest Momentum Survey of New South Wales small businesses by the Small Business Commissioner indicated that, while confidence has increased slightly, the biggest concern for small businesses was the cost of business inputs, with 82 per cent citing that as their number one concern. The survey report states:

It's nearly impossible to get ahead. Rent, electricity, wages, insurance, freight and the cost of goods are all increasing faster than the prices we can charge. So, while our business is growing and revenue is increasing, our profit is struggling to keep up.

Government members acknowledge those concerns and are trying to assist small businesses across our State with many of those costs, including through our reforms to workers compensation. When members opposite bring motions recognising the difficult current economic environment for small businesses, I encourage them to think about what more they could do to support small businesses. We on this side of the House are committed to supporting small businesses through the Business Bureau program, but also through the Charter for Small Business. As I have spoken about before in this House, we have also increased the procurement threshold from $150,000 to $250,000, which has seen record amounts of government dollars go to small businesses. I again urge members opposite, when thinking about support for small business, to support the Government's workers compensation reforms.

The Hon. SCOTT FARLOW (16:32): The Hon. Emily Suvaal, with the Government's talking points, says that, amazingly, the Government is doing better things for small business by getting rid of Business Connect, the most effective program that exists for small business. It is a $10 million program. The Treasury Accenture report showed it had a benefit to cost ratio of 1.5 over one year. It goes up to three if extrapolated over three years. Yesterday the Treasurer said that it was a great program and that it worked. But vote for workers comp or otherwise Business Connect gets it—that was effectively what the Treasurer told us yesterday. The Government talks about how workers compensation premiums are a concern for small business. No doubt they are a concern for businesses across New South Wales, but we are talking about 500,000 sole-trader businesses that are not paying workers compensation. Yet the Government seems to think that is the big bogeyman that they are dealing with. It is absolute rubbish.

The Government talks about the Business Bureau. The Minister said, "I can google these things." That is the Government's advice to small business: Get out there and google it. We are not talking about small businesses that are going gangbusters; we are talking about small businesses that are doing it tough. They are the ones that are starting out and looking for the best approach they can possibly find to be able to deliver, get off the mat and get started. They need that help from Business Connect. They do not need Dr Google; they do not need ChatGPT. But that is what the Government is giving them. The Government talks about specialised Business Bureau workers. With all credit to the people who work within the Business Bureau of Service NSW, they are not small business people. They do not have small business backgrounds. To be a Business Connect adviser, a person needs 100 points across a range of qualifications. That includes things like having a diploma or training in small business, or operating a small business. They are able to work with businesses and direct them to the best strategy for them.

The Hon. Emily Suvaal talked about procurement and the Charter for Small Business. The progress report actually highlights an example of how Business Connect was able to work with a business on the North Coast to help them to gear their business towards government procurement. That is not something that the Business Bureau can do. It can only say, "Here's a template. Here's the website. Go have a look." As the Minister said, "Just google it." Small businesses across New South Wales need more than just googling. This government can find $7.9 million for a conservation hunting authority that has not even passed this Parliament, but it cannot find $10 million for small business. The Government does not have the right priorities.

The Hon. CAMERON MURPHY (16:35): I speak in opposition to the motion. I listened intently to the contribution of the Hon. Scott Farlow. I was in the estimates hearings, listening to the small business Minister, but it sounds like we must have been in two different estimates hearings from the way it was described. By all accounts, Business Connect was a very effective, worthwhile and useful program. The problem is that government is about deciding what the priorities are. In a perfect world, I am sure we would love to keep programs like this. But when we inherit record State debt from members opposite, who spent on everything, there is not the money to pay for luxuries like business welfare and Business Connect. That is effectively what it is: business welfare.

Better than that, as the Minister described in estimates, government alternatives provide much of the service that that program was providing. Some of the elements are available from Service NSW. The business concierge program is available across the State and in all local government areas. In total, there are 75 business concierges across New South Wales and, importantly, 42 of those are located in the regions. People can obtain exactly the same sorts of services that they got in their eight hours with Business Connect from other people. The things they cannot get are things they should not be asking them for because they can google them themselves and get that information.

In estimates the Minister made it perfectly plain that, by all accounts, it was a well-liked program. People thought it was very useful and, in an ideal world, we would continue it. But a government has to make serious decisions about its priorities, and we are putting money towards making sure that we have nurses, teachers, police officers and other frontline workers providing services. Because of the debt that we were left with from the now Opposition, difficult decisions have to be made. Unfortunately, there is just not enough money to continue to offer a program like Business Connect, particularly in circumstances where there are alternatives available to support businesses that are in trouble. Many of those alternatives are better than the Business Connect program. They are more widely available, they provide equivalent support and they do it in a way that will best serve those businesses. I oppose the motion for those reasons.

Ms ABIGAIL BOYD (16:38): On behalf of The Greens, I support the motion. The Labor Government says it is making cuts to workers compensation entitlements—a plan that it hatched with big business—to ease the cost burden on small business. It argues that premium savings are necessary so small businesses can survive. But at the same time, the same Government is scrapping Business Connect, which was the only tailored, statewide advice service small businesses could access free of charge. Business Connect was not about entitlements or costs; it was about skills, planning, growth and resilience. On the one hand, the Labor Government is cutting back support for injured workers and dressing it up as small business relief; on the other, it is pulling away actual practical support for small businesses. If Labor's concern for small business was genuine, it would not take away the very program that gave owners the tools to manage their business better. Workers compensation cuts might reduce premiums by a fraction, but they shift the burden onto injured employees and their families.

Meanwhile, the closure of Business Connect strips small businesses of help with navigating cashflow, digital tools, tendering and compliance, which are the areas that really drive sustainability. Those programs were delivered through trusted independent advisers embedded in communities across New South Wales. Business Connect supported multicultural businesses, creative industries and regional startups with specialist advice. Small businesses in regional New South Wales—where access to accountants, consultants and networks is limited—will be particularly impacted as they are left stranded. Culturally and linguistically diverse business owners who relied on in‑language support will lose it overnight. Small businesses are being asked to accept a trade‑off: less protection for workers in exchange for token savings, while losing access to trusted business advice.

I met with the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia [COSBOA] less than a week ago, where we discussed the cruel irony of this decision and the acute mental health pressures that are being faced by small business owners directly. Data from COSBOA shows that small business owners experience significantly higher levels of stress, depression and anxiety compared with the general population. COSBOA CEO Luke Achterstraat has been quoted as saying:

Small businesses employ almost half the private sector workforce, yet they operate in a unique and often challenging context, facing financial pressures, isolation, and long working hours. These factors, combined with limited access to resources and mental health support, create a perfect storm for mental ill‑health. Many Small Business Owners find mental health support difficult to find and afford and are generally unaware of the programs and services available, so more work is needed to ensure these programs are visible, accessible, and useful to small business – including through their trusted and familiar channels. We need to meet them where they are.

That was what Business Connect was doing. A government that truly backed small business would not cut programs that helped them succeed and build networks of support, and programs that helped small business owners nurture their passions into viable businesses and careers. The Government cannot claim to be helping small business while simultaneously weakening protections for their staff and dismantling the only advisory program that offered them free, hands‑on support.

The Hon. AILEEN MacDONALD (16:41): I strongly support the motion moved by my colleague the Hon. Rachel Merton condemning the Minns Labor Government's decision to scrap the Business Connect program. Business Connect has been the only free, independent advisory service for small businesses in this State. For nearly a decade it has been there to help, whether it was helping a cafe in a regional town struggling to reopen after the bushfires or a family‑owned shop in Western Sydney that suddenly had to move online during COVID. Those business owners are real people, not statistics, and this Government has turned its back on them.

Take, for example, a small operator in the Hunter Valley. After losing everything in the fires, she used Business Connect to get tailored advice on rebuilding her bookkeeping and digital marketing business. That support helped her reopen the doors, re‑employ locals and restore hope in her community. There are thousands of stories like hers. Without that safety net, many of those businesses simply would not exist today. The Government's decision comes at the worst possible time. Instead of helping, Labor has cut the very program that has been proven to keep businesses afloat. And let us be clear: The Treasurer's justification does not stack up. He has claimed that small businesses wanted cuts to workers compensation costs, but the facts show otherwise.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, New South Wales has approximately 850,000 small businesses, yet 509,000 of those are sole traders. They do not pay workers compensation premiums. To say they demanded these cuts is misleading. What they have demanded, time and again, is cost‑of‑living relief and a government that gets out of the way. Business Connect offered practical, hands‑on advice. Instead of that, the Government is offering the Business Bureau, which relies on concierges handing out website links and scripted information. In budget estimates, Mr Greg Wells stated that the Business Bureau was meant to complement Business Connect. But it is no replacement for experienced, independent advisers who understand the pressures of running a business and can provide one‑on‑one support.

Scrapping Business Connect just weeks before Small Business Month in October adds insult to injury. Labor will celebrate small businesses with slogans and photo opportunities while dismantling the only program designed to walk side by side with those businesses when times are tough. I join the Hon. Rachel Merton in calling on the Government to immediately reinstate Business Connect. Our small businesses are not statistics on a spreadsheet; they are the cafe owners, tradies and shopkeepers who make up the backbone of every community in New South Wales. They deserve better than abandonment.

The Hon. ANTHONY D'ADAM (16:44): I oppose the motion. I am reminded of a quote from Niccolò Machiavelli, who said:

It ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new. This coolness arises partly from fear of the opponents, who have the laws on their side, and partly from the incredulity of men, who do not readily believe in new things until they have had a long experience of them.

The Hon. Wes Fang: Did you write this?

The Hon. ANTHONY D'ADAM: Niccolò Machiavelli wrote it, you nincompoop. This proposition should be rejected because the reality is that we had an election. A new government was elected, and that government has the right to choose which programs it will continue with and which programs it will dispense with. It is about priorities. The Government is setting new priorities.

The PRESIDENT: Order! Members will cease interjecting.

The Hon. ANTHONY D'ADAM: Government members believe that the old order should be dispensed with and a new order should be put into place. In that new order, we believe that there is adequate provision made for the needs of small business. The Government has other free offerings to small business in the State. The Service NSW Business Bureau provides free, personalised, ongoing support to New South Wales businesses, with a team of friendly business concierges right across the State. Like other Service NSW staff, business concierges are highly trained in customer service, and they can help customers through the life cycle of their business.

Business concierges help customers with everything from setting up a business to checking things like licensing and compliance, bookkeeping support, market research and marketing, digital readiness and network connections. It is quite clear that the Government is not leaving small business in the lurch. The State Government provides adequate services to meet the needs of small business. Business Connect is not the only way we can achieve those ends. There are adequate measures in place. The Government should be allowed to choose its priorities, and those who doubt should wait for the test of time and see that those new arrangements are actually better.

The Hon. TANIA MIHAILUK (16:47): I support the very credible motion of the Hon. Rachel Merton. Obviously it has quite a bit of support, because we are hearing from members of the crossbench both right and left, and from the Coalition as well, that many small businesses rely on the Business Connect program and that the program has value. Therefore, I intend to move an amendment.

The PRESIDENT: I again remind members that if they wish to move an amendment, it is important that they provide it to the Clerk first so that it can be typed up and distributed. There is a challenge now because no‑one has a copy of the amendment. I ask the Hon. Tania Mihailuk to provide her amendment to the Clerk. It can then be distributed to members. The Clerk will stop the clock. Does the member have a copy of the amendment?

The Hon. TANIA MIHAILUK: I have it in my handwriting. I can read it out slowly.

The PRESIDENT: I ask that in future all members ensure that they have provided a copy of their amendment to the Clerks before moving it. I ask the member to read her amendment.

The Hon. TANIA MIHAILUK: I move:

That the question be amended by inserting after paragraph (3):

(4)That this House calls on the NSW Small Business Commissioner to prepare a special report under section 26 of the Small Business Commissioner Act 2013 No 22 investigating the impact of the State's decision to dismantle the Business Connect program and the impact on small businesses in New South Wales.

I am asking for this particular report, firstly, to give the Small Business Commissioner some work to do. Let me be very clear: It is important to point out that this was a free program that was viable, providing all sorts of services for about seven years. From 2017 to 2024 it was a significant provider of services. It helped businesses navigate the challenges of dealing with a lot of bureaucratic red tape and governance issues—all sorts of issues that are often very difficult for small businesses to decipher when dealing with government agencies and so forth. This Government has not provided an alternative. If we are going to shut down a program for budgetary reasons, which is what many members have argued for during this debate, then we need to actually demonstrate or provide some sort of report to ensure that we are not impacting small businesses across New South Wales. That is why I am moving the amendment. It is a fitting amendment. I understand that the mover of the motion is supportive of it.

The Hon. SUSAN CARTER (16:51): We have learned a lot about Labor's priorities in this debate. In the great Labor new order, inspired by Machiavelli, we want money for Ultimate Fighting Championship fights, we want money for a conservation hunting authority, but there will be no more money for the community justice centres—$2½ million that actually helped people, with a free mediation service—and there will be no more money for Business Connect, a $10 million investment in growth. The priority, we were told, is to pay State employees. There is no priority at all to invest in wealth generation, to invest in businesses, which actually create tax— [Time expired.]

The PRESIDENT: Before we continue, I believe that there is a motion under Standing Order 94 foreshadowed, which provides for an extension of debate:

On a debate being interrupted to allow the mover to speak in reply, the mover, or any member who has not already spoken in debate, may move a motion, without notice, to extend the time for the debate and to set time limits for each subsequent speaker.

[Business interrupted.]