Thank you very much David for that very kind introduction, my ministerial and parliamentary colleague Joe Hockey the Minister for Small Business, David Koch, ladies and gentlemen.
It's a real buzz for me to address this conference and to take the opportunity of not only saying a few things about the small business climate but also in conjunction with the release of our document today entitled 'Committed to Small Business' to highlight one or two significant announcements that have been contained in that document. It's a buzz because there's probably no group in the community with which the philosophy of my political party is more instantaneously identified than the small business community.
I came from a small business family. I've always thought about the best thing that you could do in this country was to open a small business and make a success of it and leave more behind to your family than you started with and I guess that is the driving force, the motivation, the raison d'etre of so many people in this room and we have tried very very hard in the eight and a half years that we have been in office to do everything we can to create that kind of climate. I am sure that most people in this room think that the fundamental job of a government is to give them a decent economic climate and then get out of the way and we've tried to do that. We haven't always been successful. There are probably some in this room who think that we're still much in the way in certain areas and I hope one of the announcements I'll make in a moment will get us a little further out of the way to the satisfaction to a lot of people in this room.
I would take the opportunity of reminding you that the profit share for Australian corporations at the present time is the highest since records began to be kept and that is not just a bare statistic; it is a measure of some of the things at which David Murray spoke; it's a measure of the very strong productivity of the Australian economy; it's measure of one of the ingredients that stamp Australians out from people around the world and that is our extraordinary adaptability. I remember once having a conversation with the head of one of the largest financial institutions in the world, he was an American and he said that the two groups of people he liked employing most were Australians and South Africans because he regarded them as incredibly adaptable people and he said the capacity of Australians to adapt to changed circumstances are quite remarkable. And that is one of the keys to the success of the Australian economy over the last few years and particularly the small business sector of the Australian economy which has provided 62 per cent of the new jobs that have been generated over the last eight and a half years. In other words, small, business has provided more than its fair share of additional jobs that have become available over that period of time. One of the great reasons for that is that people, men and women in small business have demonstrated a remarkable capacity, a remarkable capacity to adapt to changed circumstances. And, of course, when you drill down a little further into small business you get fascinating insights, you find the extraordinary internet usage in small business, you find the remarkable growth of home-based businesses within the Australian community. And something like 30 to 40 per cent of those home-based businesses are now being commenced by women within the Australian community and the contribution that those businesses are making to the changing face of small business in the Australian community is, of course, quite remarkable.
We do have a strong economy and we have for the first time since 1968; we have inflation below 3 per cent; we have unemployment below 6 per cent; we have a national debt which is 3.9 per cent of GDP, against an OECD average of about 47 to 50 per cent. And we've paid off about $70 billion of debt. We're collecting more company tax off a lower company tax base or rate rather because the economy's performing better and it's a demonstration that if you have strong economic growth you take care of so many of the budget problems that countries face. We had not so long ago a 36 per cent corporate tax rate, we've now got a 30 per cent. We've halved capital gains tax for individuals and we've maintained through dividend imputation and also a number of other important taxation changes we've maintained a very strong climate for the operation of small business. I know that a few years ago, and it may seem a distant recollection to many of you now, we introduced a new taxation system and there were a lot of challenges involved in that new taxation system for small business and it wasn't as easy for a lot of people in small business to adapt to the GST as it was for some of the larger corporations and even now some years from that event, I record my gratitude and admiration on behalf of the government for the way in which small business so manfully coped with the introduction of that new system, which I believe has put many small businesses in Australia on a far more transparent, sound basis and has greatly aided the efficient operation of those businesses.
Now there's always a debate within the community about the balance between prudent regulation and the freedom of the market to operate. Regrettably, some regulation is necessary if a market based economy is to function smoothly. The responsibility of a government is not to go too far, is not to overreact when some corporate excesses produce a public demand for change, but equally to recognise that unless that balance is kept a certain amount of public faith in the operation of the business sector will be lost.
We announced, as you know, in the most recent budget that eligible small businesses would be able to report and pay their GST annually and this affected something like 740,000 very small businesses with small annual turnovers of up to $50,000 as well as non profit organisations with a turnover of up to $100,000. And, as a result of this initiative, as I say, some three quarters of a million predominately home-based small businesses would only have to lodge their Business Activity Statement once a year and they'll be able to lodge it at the same time as their income tax returns. There were a number of additional taxation measures announced in that same time, including the extension of several fringe benefits tax exemptions and new annual private use apportionment rules in relation to the GST and also there's recently been announced an Australian Taxation Office small business debt assistance initiative announced last week by the tax commissioner which allows for extended repayment periods and special treatment around the General Interest Charge. But we do recognise that further steps need to be taken to reduce the compliance burden. And I know that many in small business have been concerned for a long time at the administrative burden associated with the operation of Australia's superannuation system. And this burden, particularly the reporting requirements, is a major irritant to small businesses employing casual and itinerant workers, most notably in the restaurant and catering and horticultural industries. And the Government has therefore decided that with effect from the 1st of January next year we will remove the requirement for employers to report superannuation guarantee contributions to their employees and employers are currently required to provide quarterly reports to each employee about superannuation contributions made on their behalf. Employees will continue to receive information on their superannuation contributions, at least annually from their superannuation funds, and for many employees contributions will also continued to be reported on pay slips. Employers will still be required of course to make the superannuation guarantee payments on behalf of their employees, at least quarterly, but the reporting requirements which are often very irksome and burdensome to people with itinerant workforces and in the hospitality and entertainment industries those reporting requirements with effect from the 1st of January next year will be completely abolished.
You'll probably be aware that a couple of weeks ago the Treasurer made a number of announcements of the Government's response to the Dawson report on the Trade Practices Act. He spoke of the proposal to introduce amendments to section 46 - a much debated section, and a section that seems to encapsulate some of the legal tension, if I can put it like that, between small and large corporations. And the purpose of our amendments is to provide additional guidance to the courts in the consideration of predatory pricing cases. And I know that this area has been of particular concern to small business and the government is very strongly committed to this important improvement. And we're also going to pursue amendments to section 46 to ensure that it applies to the anti-competitive leverage of market power by firms from one market to another. Having introduced them, the Government remains committed to the unconscionable conduct provisions and will increase the transaction threshold for small businesses seeking protection under section 51 a-c from $3 million to $10 million. And small businesses I think will be aware of also raised concerns over the approval process for those wanting to undertake collective bargaining negotiations in their dealings with larger businesses. And the Government recently introduced important legislation to provide a speedier and simpler notification process to allow small businesses to get together and to negotiate collectively. And this new notification, to be administrated by the ACCC whose chairman Graeme Samuel is with us tonight, will be a simple low cost and fast process compared with the existing authorisation procedures and will help further reduce the regulatory burden on small business.
As a further indication of our commitment to the small business sector having appropriate protection through the Trade Practices Act, the Government has decided to great a new position within the ACCC and that is a new position of deputy chairman with particular responsibility in relation to small business. And while there's going to be consultation with the states and territories, as required by the legislation, it is intended that Mr John Martin, the longest serving ACCC commissioner and the commissioner with small business responsibilities, will be promoted to it.
There's one other issue of great significance that I want to dwell on in my remarks tonight and that is the issue of industrial relations. Of all of the public policy issues with which I have been associated in public life, I've probably poured more passion into reforming Australia's industrial relations system than any other single issue. I've done that for a combination of reasons, I've done it because I believe very strongly a long time ago that this country needed to bring about an historic change in our labour relations if it were to fully realise its economic potential. I believed for a long time as many others did that we had inherited an industrial relations system that produced lowest common denominator results, that we inherited an industrial relations system that may have been appropriate for the Australia of World War I, depression or even World War II days, but it was not an industrial relations system that was going to enable Australia to fully exploit the opportunities of a globalised economy.
And so both in opposition and in government we have set about major changes to Australia's industrial relations system and of course one of the objectives I've had is the benefit that that change would bring to the small business sector, with a focus, a very strong focus on workplace agreements being the product of workplace negotiations, and producing outcomes which were to the mutual benefit of individual workplaces. Our industrial relations system, especially over the last eight and a half years, has been transformed. The introduction of Australian Workplace Agreements, the restoration of the secondary boycott provisions of the Trade Practices Act, the simplification of the awards system, the greater encouragement in whatever form it might take to the development of workplace agreements and understandings, all of these has made a major contribution to the growth of productivity in the Australian economy.
There are always some statistics of which any Prime Minister who has held the office as long as I have, or even for a shorter period of time, is immensely proud. But there is no statistic of which I am prouder than the one that says that in the eight and a half years we have been in Government, real wages in the Australian community have risen by 14 per cent. But in the previous thirteen and a half years, real wages rose by only 2.3 per cent. And that turns the story of the government of the political parties allegedly of business actually producing better outcomes for the employees of Australia than the government of the party allegedly for the employees. And one of the reasons that we were able to do that is of course that we have produced much higher level of productivity, and the reason we have higher levels of productivity in Australia now is that we have a much better industrial relations system.
And if I could be forgiven for a moment for being vaguely partisan, the thing I would grieve about most, if there were to be a change of government in this country whenever the federal election is held, would be that we would turn back the clock so far as industrial relations would be concerned. I think that would be the biggest loss of all because we can't turn back that clock without doing great damage to our economy. We have moved on from the old days. We only have 17 or 18 per cent of our private sector workforce who now belong to a trade union, and it would be the height of economic stupidity to return our industrial relations system to the control of a movement that is now representing a dwindling number of people within the private sector, and that would not make any sense at all.
Yet that is the choice that the country faces, it's the choice the small business sector faces, because the policy of our opponents and so strongly identified with a report presented by Access Economics last weekend, lists change after change - the abolition of workplace agreements, the taking out of the Trade Practices Act of the secondary boycott provisions, the increased opportunities for unwelcome union entry into workforces, the stipulation that corporations doing business with the Federal Government must disclose the identity of subcontractors. Proviso after proviso that would return our industrial relations system to what it was a number of years ago. The restoration of a lot of the power of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, the restoration of the greater role of the awards system, and inevitably a decline in the primacy of workplace understandings and workplace agreements. And however it is dressed up, it would represent a return to days that I had thought and I had hoped we had put behind us.
So I do make a very strong pitch to this gathering tonight to keep in mind in your consideration of these things as Australians, as you do and will over the time ahead, not only to take into account what this Government has been able to achieve - and I don't pretend that some good things weren't done by our predecessor government in a number of economic areas, and when that government made good decisions in government such as the floating of the exchange rate and changes in tariff levels, we then in the Opposition were very pleased to support those changes - but what I do ask you to bear in mind is not only the things that we have achieved together over the last eight and a half years, but also the risk of a change, especially but not only in the area of industrial relations.
Can I finish my remarks by saying again how much as Prime Minister I have appreciated and respected and admired the contribution that the small business community of Australia has made to the vitality and the growth and the strength of the Australian economy. This country has a presence in the world now that it hasn't had in my lifetime. This country is respected not only for its extraordinary economic strength and economic achievement, it's also respected for the willingness it has displayed on a number of occasions to take difficult but necessary positions and to stand for what it believes in. I've learnt a number of things I hope in public life, and one of those things I have learnt is that it should never be assumed that people who support you necessarily agree with everything that you have done, but in the long run what is required is for a government and a country to give a climate which is conducive to hard work and risk taking and business enterprise, and also to produce an economic environment that encourages all of those things, but also a country that is willing to take a stand on issues that it regards as very important.
I thank all of you for the contribution that you have made to the evident strength and prosperity of the Australian economy. I wish you well. I hope your conference is an enormous success. And I say again how much I enjoy, as somebody who has always believed very much in the small business ethic of Australia, how much I enjoy being with all of you tonight.
Thank you.
[ends]