5. Question No. 5—Small Business and ManufacturingSUZE REDMAYNE (National—Rangitīkei) to the Minister for Small Business and ManufacturingQuestion No. 5—Small Business and Manufacturing5. SUZE REDMAYNE (National—Rangitīkei) to the Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing: What recent announcements has he made relating to small businesses?Hon ANDREW BAYLY (Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing): Last week I announced that the Government will repeal the Business Payment Practices Act 2023. This piece of legislation was an ineffective costly solution to the problem of large market players paying invoices late and evidence from abroad supports the repeal of the Act. To address the issues of paying small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) quicker this Government has announced a range of measures to focus on ensuring Government agencies and large firms pay on time and encourage a much wider uptake of e-invoicing. These alternatives will effectively support small businesses and unlock productivity benefits for the New Zealand economy.Suze Redmayne: What reports or evidence has he seen that supports the repeal of the Act?Hon ANDREW BAYLY: Back in 2020 Australia implemented a very similar scheme named the Payment Times Reporting Act. A recent independent review of the scheme's effectiveness found that despite imposing significant IT compliance costs on businesses overall payment times had not reduced.Suze Redmayne: How will he ensure that Government departments and Crown entities pay small businesses in a timely manner?Hon ANDREW BAYLY: I'm working with the Minister of Finance to ensure Government departments—and in time some Crown entities—meet the 10-day payment time target. Furthermore we will incentivise SMEs to adopt e-invoicing by reducing Government entity payment times to an expected target of five working days thereby significantly improving their cash flow. We will also proactively publish payment times on the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment website.Helen White: What does the Minister say to my constituent who worked as a sole trader for one of our biggest companies and had his payments consistently and mindfully delayed by three months; is that fair and reasonable practice?Hon ANDREW BAYLY: Thank you for the question. No it's not fair. But we will be working with an industry code which I'm just about to talk about with Business New Zealand to make sure that large businesses do meet their requirements. That's the biggest focus. And also we think it's important that the Government takes a lead in terms of showing good payment-time practices and that's why our reforms are focused on that in the first instance.Suze Redmayne: What measures will he take to ensure large firms are promptly paying small businesses?Hon ANDREW BAYLY: As I've just noted I'm working with Business New Zealand to establish an industry-wide voluntary code similar to the Business Council of Australia's supplier payment code. I intend for this to be part of a broader commitment by large firms to adopt payment practices that benefit smaller firms and particularly to encourage e-invoicing because we want to see greater digitisation of small businesses.