Ms LEY (3:24 PM) —My question is to the Minister for Small Business and Tourism. Can the minister inform the House of any information that indicates growth in home based small businesses in Australia? Minister, what is the reason for this growth and what are the threats to this growth?

Mr HOCKEY (Minister for Small Business and Tourism) —I thank the member for Farrer for her question and note that she is a very strong advocate for the small businesses in her electorate, including Peards nursery, which we visited in Albury and which is a great story about a small business that has become a very successful larger business. Around two-thirds of Australia's 1.2 million small businesses operate from home, and home based businesses have increased by around 16 per cent per year in the last two years, so it is now the fastest-growing type of business in Australia. There are several factors contributing to this. The most obvious factor is the growth of new technology. Most home based businesses now own a computer, and almost half of those home based businesses are using the Internet for commerce. It means that small businesses are accessing new markets from home rather than setting up shopfronts or industrial premises.

What is surprising is that, of the 780,000 home based small businesses across Australia, almost a third employ staff from home. For these businesses, employing a person from home is a certain risk; it is different to employing someone in an office or in a factory. There are certain risks associated with employing people within your own home. That is why it is so important to change the unfair dismissal laws to give Australia's home based small businesses a better than even chance of addressing a problem in employment within the four walls of their own home. The government is determined to help those small businesses. They represent the fastest area of growth in small businesses in Australia.

We want to remove the risks of employing people at home, and the best way to do that is to remove the application of the Labor Party's unfair dismissal laws from small businesses. The Labor Party are determined to oppose us in this regard. They do not care about home based small businesses. They do not care about creating jobs. The Labor Party are only interested in helping their mates in the unions. If they really want to support small business and if they really want to support job creation, they should support our position on abolishing unfair dismissal laws as they apply to home based businesses.

Mr Howard —Mr Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper. During the course of question time, no fewer than 12 minutes were consumed by points of order from the opposition.