Dutton pledges tax breaks for business startups and meets alpaca who sneezed on King Charles | Australia news

The Coalition says it will introduce tax offsets to help an extra 350,000 small businesses get going if it is elected.

On Saturday morning, the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, announced an “entrepreneurship accelerator” which would see new businesses receive tapered tax offsets and tax deductions for tech upgrades.

Dutton also reasserted his commitment to tax breaks for business lunches, a policy Labor described as amounting to using taxpayers funds to “shout your boss steak tartare”.

During a visit to the Sydney Royal Easter Show on Saturday morning, Dutton also announced $20m for infrastructure and new attractions at regional agricultural shows. During a walk through the show he met Hephner the alpaca, who famously sneezed on King Charles during his visit last year, and the opposition leader reportedly admired the animal’s fluffy hair.

Asked why he had visited more than 10 petrol stations but had not visited any of the sites proposed for nuclear reactors under his controversial energy policy, Dutton said he would be “getting out there talking to Australians about our policy”.

He said he had gone to the petrol stations to highlight the party’s proposed 25c a litre cut to the fuel excise.

“We’ve got time between now and the election,” he said, when pressed on if he would visit proposed nuclear sites between now and election day. But he did not commit to visiting any of the seven regions where the Coalition plans to build reactors.

Despite growing community backlash to the plan in some of the targeted areas, Dutton accused Labor of running a “scare campaign” on the issue.

Dutton was also quizzed by reporters on his policy to cut overseas migration levels by 100,000 places and which particular visas would see cuts. He said he would wait until winning government before determining this detail.

“We’ve been very clear … that we’re going to reduce the permanent migration program by 25% and we’re going to make sure that young Australians can get into housing,” he said, claiming Labor had “prioritised yoga teachers” and that his party would prioritise tradies.

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Under the Coalition’s small business policy, new businesses would get a tax offset on 75% of their first $100,000 of taxable income and 50% on the second $100,000 in their first year. That would taper off to 60% and 40% in the second year and 50% and 30% in the third year.

A $2,000 tax deduction would apply to tech upgrades of $4,000 and more. The plan would cost $214m, the opposition leader said.

He said there had been a “record number of insolvencies” under Labor but claimed Coalition policies would boost the number of small businesses by at least 350,000 over four years.

According to the most recent ABS figures, in the year to 30 June 2024 there was a 1.4% fall in the number of businesses with one to four employees, but a 0.4% increase in the number of businesses with five to 19 employees and a 6% rise in the number of businesses with 20 or more employees.

“Our policies offer immediate relief, as well as measures to support small and family business to grow and create jobs in the future,” Dutton said.

Anthony Albanese is expected to announce legal protections for penalty rates in Sydney on Saturday – a policy Dutton said he would not support.

Dutton dismissed concerns about the Coalition lagging in the polls, saying there was a “disparity” in the published polls. He again declared that he believes in climate change after declining to say whether its impacts were worsening at Wednesday’s leaders’ debate.

He also said he had been denied a briefing from the government on reports Russia had asked Indonesia to host its military aircraft. “What is [Albanese] hiding? Why not be transparent with the Australian people?” he asked.