A fireside chat on small business issues with the Prime Minister
20 January 2012
Above (L-R): Mr Peter Strong, COSBOA, Ms Julia Gillard and Ms Amanda Lynch, REIA CEO.
It was a humid mid-summer Canberra afternoon when we drove through the Lodge gates, parked our car in the driveway and were met at the front door by the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, on Thursday 19 January. The roses were in bloom, the lawn freshly mown and tea was served in fine bone china cups. Not an everyday occurrence in the life of Real Estate Institute of Australia CEO Amanda Lynch but the opportunity to meet with the Prime Minister was too good to miss. Ms Lynch, as Deputy Chair of the Council of Small Business of Australia (COSBOA), accompanied COSBOA CEO Peter Strong to a cosy fireside discussion on the situation facing small business in Australia.
After settling into the comfortable couch where President Obama had sat just weeks earlier, we had a very constructive half hour talking about the real small business issues facing small business people every day in Australia. Australia’s real estate agencies employ an average of 8-10 employees and REIA, which is a foundation member of small business advocate COSBOA, is in the heartland of small business.
Our membership of COSBOA is important to us in terms of a collaborative approach to issues
affecting small business, such as taxation, regulation changes, changes to the Foreign
Investment Review Board guidelines, the National Consumer Credit Protection Act, access to finance for small business, superannuation, paid parental leave and Fair Work Australia.
The private meeting at the Lodge is a strong indication of the importance the Government places on engagement with Australia’s 2 million small businesses.
Prime Minister Gillard said the 21st century had been coined the Asia-Pacific century and it was important that small businesses have the agility to respond to the opportunities provided by our positioning within the region.
Mr Strong presented a compelling case for an independent Small Business Commissioner to provide us with the firepower to match the small business agencies found in Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Laos, Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia, and the US. Australia and New Zealand do not have a dedicated small business agency; Australia has not had one since the closure of the National Small Business Service in 1976. Mr Strong also spoke about the need to simplify compliance procedures for small business through removal of red tape, citing in particular the collection of superannuation by small business which was time-consuming and was a role that could be taken over by the Tax Office.
Ms Lynch raised with the Prime Minister the pressures on small business in the areas of workplace relations and taxation. Prime Minister Gillard spoke about the process that was in place as a result of the 2011 Tax Forum for the Treasurers of Qld and NSW to examine the harmonisation of state taxes and report back to COAG. Ms Lynch said that REIA would like this process extended to stamp duty reform and wanted the removal of small business ‘nuisance taxes’ like the fire services levy and insurance taxes.
Discussions then focused on the surplus of retail space and the problems faced by retailers with carparking and zoning issues. Mr Strong will raise these issues at the Retail Council of Australia on which he is represented and he is working with the REIA to convene a roundtable on retail issues at Parliament House in May.
The allotted time went quickly but much ground was covered. COSBOA and REIA were pleased that there was a receptiveness to our issues by the Prime Minister and a commitment to hold further discussions with small business and develop a forward-looking set of initiatives to assist this important sector – which represents the largest group of employers in Australia – to adapt to and increase our share of the economic opportunities presented by the stellar growth of our region. REIA and COSBOA will continue to push these and other issues in our 2012-13 Federal Budget submissions and in our collaborative advocacy platforms. |
