With the Federal election looming, the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia (COSBOA) has launched a campaign called Fair to Small Business, Good for Everyone, which is calling for Governments to employ sensible policies to help small-business people to get back to business.
In Australia, more than 2 million small businesses employ over 4.7 million people. Small businesses create jobs, support local sports groups, donate to charities, give to the diggers, bolster regional economies and take pride of place in our community and in our society.
But, COSBOA says that overly complex policies and regulation compliance is still restricting small business, and a one-policy-fits-all model will not work. Peter Strong, CEO, COSBOA, passionately stresses the importance of small businesses to not only the economy, but to the community.
“Small businesses are actually individuals who are highly active in running their everyday operations and often employ other people. Too often small businesses are treated as though they are a small version of a big business or are treated as though they are all inadequate, dishonest or unworthy. We must challenge these beliefs and change these attitudes,” Strong said.
“Having a one-size-fits-all approach to policies doesn’t work. Our aim is to have government officials create small-business policies that are sensible and easy to navigate. By reducing the complexity, it will ease the burden on small businesses and be good for everyone.”
The Fair to Small Business, Good for Everyone campaign aims to discover what small-business owners need to continue, including:
- Responsible and transparent governance – federal, state and local.
- A healthy, competitive, sustainable economy.
- Access to business finance.
- Ethical businesses, fair workplaces and good productivity.
- Affordable energy and effective environmental management.
- Efficient, affordable utilities for water, power and waste management.
- A fair, secure and safe community.
- World class regulators who engage with stakeholders.
- Modern infrastructure for ease of transport and travel as well as ease of trade.
- Accessible world-class education and vocational training system.
- Government policies driven by reality not just ideology
Strong said, “The more compliance activity small business people are required to do for governments and for regulators, the less secure the small businesses are. Unnecessary and complicated compliance remains a drain on productivity.”
COSBOA plans to invite all politicians dealing with small businesses to the upcoming COSBOA National Small Business Summit that will be held in Melbourne on 29-30 August 2019.
