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Ditching small business minister a “grave error”: Labor

Labor frontbencher Brendan O’Connor believes Malcolm Turnbull has made a grave error by omitting the small business portfolio from Cabinet.

Jul 19, 2016, updated Jul 19, 2016
Shadow Minister for Employment Brendan O'Connor. Photo: AAP

Shadow Minister for Employment Brendan O'Connor. Photo: AAP

The Prime Minister announced his ministry for the new parliament yesterday, stripping Kelly O’Dwyer of the small business portfolio and making it a non-cabinet position in the hands of Nationals MP Michael McCormack.

O’Dwyer, formerly known as the assistant treasurer, has been renamed as Minister for Revenue and Financial Services.

Turnbull and his senior ministers have defended the change, saying everyone in government has a role to defend small business.

But O’Connor, who was the first small business minister in Cabinet under Labor after the Howard Liberal government kept it in the outer ministry for a decade, described it as a “cop out”.

“I think it’s a grave error for the Government to sideline small business,” O’Connor told Sky News today.

He was surprised, having created the largest Cabinet of 23 ministers in living memory, that Turnbull couldn’t find room for someone to represent small business.

“Malcolm Turnbull, who was a creature of big business before coming to parliament, has forgotten the constituency that employs 4.5 million people and in many ways is the engine room of our economy,” he said.

Australian Retailers’ Association head Russell Zimmerman agreed that omitting the role “does not augur well” given its important role within the economy.

“The exclusion of small business, at a point when the economy needs business the most, is a step backwards,” he said.

“We can only hope that Mr McCormack is able to make the voice of small business heard.”

The newest member of cabinet, National Senator Matt Canavan, said many members of the Coalition have small business backgrounds.

“It will remain a priority for all of us,” he told ABC television.

Trade Minister Steve Ciobo said he’d always made helping small business a core focus of his role.

He said there was still a cabinet minister with responsibility for the area – Treasurer Scott Morrison – as part of a larger portfolio.

“No one could question the strength of commitment of this government to Australia’s small businesses,” he told Sky News.

-AAP

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