Yesterday, the Federal Government released its National Small Business Strategy, a 62-page document providing a framework for the Government’s approach to small business going forward.
“The Strategy is a collective vision for the small business sector and our shared commitment across tiers of government to work together,” said Minister for Small Business Julie Collins.
But what does that mean, exactly, and what does the Strategy do?
What it doesn’t do
Labor’s new Strategy doesn’t announce any new small-business legislation or make election promises.
It’s a far cry from the recent small-business strategies released by the Coalition, which has made headlines for two very practical promises: “free lunches” and sweetening the instant asset write-off scheme.
What it does
While the document doesn’t outline any concrete policy, it does put down a framework for future decisions, stating the Government’s vision for small-business policy going forward.
In particular, the Strategy highlights the roles of small-business decision-making bodies, like Departments, Commissioners, and councils. One of the report’s main takeaways is that the different levels of government need to work more closely together to avoid duplication of resources and confusion for SMEs.
An indication of who does what
The report acknowledges the complex ecosystem that is Australia’s small business organisations and outlines the role of each body.
While intention is to set out how jurisdictions will work together, the acknowledgement of the system’s complexity is a good sign. Small-business owners have access to a vast Government support system; the issue is that much of it is difficult to access, or even to discover in the first place.
ISB has recently spoken to multiple small-business owners who weren’t aware of organisations available to them. For instance, one business owner who had long struggled with overdue payments hadn’t heard of the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, whose sole purpose is to assist small businesses with issues like this.
“Right now there are so many separate places for information,” said Krish Waje, who is co-founder of Lunaire. “I would like an all-inclusive platform where I can access free resources, workshops, how to apply for grants, networking events, etc.”
In terms of concrete legislative changes, Treasurer Jim Chalmers today mentioned energy bill relief, instant asset write-off, and competition policy as Labor’s areas of focus. He also stated that “Labor is for tax cuts for workers”; an issue close to small-business owners’ hearts as they tackle skyrocketing business and tax expenses right now.
