JULIE COLLINS:
So, it's terrific to be in Hobart today to do the national launch of Essentials for Small Business by the Australian Tax Office. This is the Australian Tax Office and the government working with small businesses to make it easier for small businesses to get the information they need when they need it. These are free online courses, 21 courses to start with, for small businesses to assist them to grow to be sustainable, and importantly, to make sure that they are dealing with their obligations. But this is about supporting small businesses in a way that is easier for small businesses. We know that most small businesses need to interact with the Australian Tax Office. So, this is about the information they need, being in the place they need it. But it's also much broader than that. It's about how to start a business and how to grow a business. So, this is about information for small businesses. It's been designed and worked on here in Hobart and I'm very proud to be here with Emma from the Australian Tax Office, because this product has been, as I said, grown here in Tassie and this is a national launch of Essentials for Small Businesses that will be supporting small businesses right across the country.
We know that small businesses are the engine room of our economy, we know that they employ millions of Australians, we know that they add half a trillion dollars to the national economy, and how important they are. What we want to do is to make things easier for small businesses, their interactions with the Australian Tax Office, but also importantly, making sure that they have the support they need when they need it – and that's what this is all about. I might hand over to Emma to say a few more words.
JOURNALIST:
Can I get you to say your name?
EMMA TOBIAS:
Emma Tobias. Assistant Commissioner Small Business Experience.
JOURNALIST:
Did you have something you wanted to say?
TOBIAS:
The ATO is deeply passionate about small business, and we have built this tool in partnership with small business. This is not the ATO putting out what we think is important, it’s actually what small businesses asked us for, it’s the questions that we get, it's the mistakes that we see. We want small business to be successful and we want them to be able to thrive with the knowledge they need to get it right. This is a work in progress. We have 21 courses that we are deeply proud about, but we have more to do, more to go and we have a whole range of plans to keep building and growing that knowledge.
JOURNALIST:
Can you tell us a little bit about the conception of this particular program? And what indicators of success did you see in the pilot program?
TOBIAS:
It's a really good question. The ATO has always been out and about doing community education and webinars and all of those things but what we realised is, we weren't getting the reach to all the small businesses that needed this most. We have rural, we have remote, we have all different communities and we needed to build a platform that was different. So, this came from our conversations with small business saying we want a product that is available to us at a time that suits us, in a moment that we have time to focus on our business – and so we started growing that product. We know some of the things that small business want to know about, and we have actually been building a whole range of modules on things like GST, record keeping essentials, some of the income tax concessions. But more importantly also about how does a business become successful? What does good cash flow look like for them?
JOURNALIST:
What are some of the questions that you're getting and the mistakes that are being made – do you see a lot of that which indicates there is a need for this type of training program?
TOBIAS:
We know that small businesses want to get it right and the majority of small businesses do that, but we also know that tax and superannuation is not easy and it's not the top of the list of what small business owners focus on. So that is why we built this, we've actually tried to think about what does a small business need through their business cycle? So, when they're starting up, whether they're growing, whether they're employing employee's and try to answer the questions that we know that they would like to know more about.
JOURNALIST:
And how will you spread the word about this program, obviously got the training centre, or the seminar today. But [inaudible].
TOBIAS:
Well, we think it's really important that this tool is not just for small business owners. This is actually for those that support small businesses as well. We want to actually teach the teachers of small business, we want to get out to associations to industry groups, to local communities and help use this tool. We are continuing to talk about it everywhere we can, because we're so excited about it and what we want it to be is something that the community sees as important versus the tax office saying this is great. And that's the feedback we've been getting. We've been getting outstanding feedback about – this is a great tool.
JOURNALIST:
And I don't know maybe Julie is best place to answer this but issues around tax and superannuation management, bringing down a lot of small businesses because it can be so convoluted, and often they get hot water?
TOBIAS:
From an ATO perspective, what we do know is that successful small businesses, understand their obligations, have good tax and financial literacy, keep connected with trusted advisors, and understand the things that matter to them, and they keep on top of their obligations. So that's why this tool is really, really important because it helps businesses understand what matters to them, when things are due, and how they provision for and support those obligations to get it right, not only from the start, but as their business journey progresses.
COLLINS:
Thank you back to me for more questions.
JOURNALIST:
Do you have any more on this for Julie?
JOURNALIST:
Yeah just quickly – how much is being invested in the rollout of this? And what and how much is this going to benefit the economy making sure small businesses are more equipped?
COLLINS:
Since we've come to office, we have provided the Australian Tax Office with some additional funds for their interactions with small businesses to make it easier for small businesses. In the last Budget, I think that was around $20 million that we've provided for the ATO to improve their interactions with small businesses. What we want to do at every step of the way is make it easier for small businesses to interact with the Tax Office. But importantly, as we've heard, the Tax Office wants to make it easier for small businesses right across the board and that's what this program is all about.
JOURNALIST:
There are some building customers at the moment that have been affected by GJ Gardner Home collapse. What has to happen in the industry to make builders more stable, building businesses more stable? Because this is something that we're seeing [inaudible]
COLLINS:
Yeah, my thoughts are obviously with you know, the prospective homeowners and the people caught up in this, it’s terrible for so many people, including, you know, the tradies and the subcontractors. This is a very difficult time for all of them and I just want to say that this is a difficult time, and the government acknowledges that it is a difficult time for people. Sadly, we have seen some of these types of collapses around the country – particularly when it comes to construction companies. What we know is post COVID we saw increased input costs, supply chain issues, labour issues right across the country and indeed around the world. What I would say is, is that the government, the federal government is working with state and territory governments. The states and territories have most of the levers and in terms of making sure that businesses along the supply chain are protected, and importantly, that consumers are protected. Some states and territories already have very significant schemes of compensation and insurance. Tasmania doesn't yet have one, it probably should.
JOURNALIST:
There's been a couple of situations where it's a state‑based franchisee, such as Hotondo Homes and now GJ Gardner where that business or franchise has fallen over and the company that runs it hasn't been willing to provide any help? Do those businesses that own the branding that a lot of people are attracted to and another reason why someone might go with them. Do they have more of a responsibility to help out the people that are caught out?
COLLINS:
What you're talking about I guess essentially, is franchising. What we have done as a government is we've just had a review into the Franchising Code of Conduct. Dr. Michael Schaper has provided us that review and the government is looking at our response to that review, and we're moving incredibly quickly. We only received that report, I think it was very late December, so we are working very quickly to address that. As I said, we're working with states and territories in terms of what is known as the Murray Review, which was a report that the former government got many years ago and 86 of those recommendations, 85 of them relate to states and territory actions and there's one for the federal government that we've been working on.
JOURNALIST:
What would be your message to anybody who is deterred from pursuing constructing a home, because they do see so many of these situations?
COLLINS:
Yeah, well, obviously, it's hard as a consumer to be able to do your due diligence in terms of building companies and construction companies, but what I would say is the vast majority of people do the right thing, the vast majority of construction and tradies out there – they want to get homes built just like the government does. We need more homes for Australians. We need to find a way to be able to grow the sector in the industry, we're doing that with our fee‑ free TAFE, we're doing that with supporting, you know, programs to support better planning in local government and state government. You know, we want to build more homes for Australians. We understand that, you know, in terms of the construction sector, there have been some issues. We hope that we're working through the worst of them now and certainly that is what the industry is telling me. We're working very closely with industry and trying to rectify some of these issues.
JOURNALIST:
Dean Winter looks like he will be elected as Labor leader, Tasmanian Labor leader today. Is he the right man to lead the party?
COLLINS:
I wish the parliamentary state Labor team all the best today. I understand they're having a meeting some time – I think it's 11 o'clock or midday. I wish them all the best of luck. They've got a talented team. You know, if Dean is the leader as has been reported, you know, I absolutely think Dean is a terrific person and he'll be a great leader, but the Labor Party has a lot of talent, and I wouldn't want to say too much till they get through their proper processes.
JOURNALIST:
They have a lot of work to do to pull back the government [inaudible]
COLLINS:
Look it is a mixed bag in the state parliament, it's going to be very difficult, I think for the state government. I'm sure that my state Labor colleagues will be holding the state government to account for the commitments that it made to the Tasmanian people at the state election. There are a lot of commitments they need to deliver on and it is going to be incredibly difficult, I think for them to work through the state parliament. We'll see how it goes and we'll see how long Jeremy Rockliff remains Premier.
JOURNALIST:
Do you have a view on whether state Labor conceded defeat too early at the state election?
COLLINS:
Look I think it was very apparent from the result that state Labor was in following the election. We saw an increase in our vote but importantly, what we saw was a drop in support for the Liberal state government – a 12 per cent swing against the incumbent government. The incumbent government needs to listen to that message. They need to listen to the parliament that the Tasmanians have elected, and they need to act. They cannot go on business as usual.
JOURNALIST:
When you say they need to listen to the message, what do you think the message is for the Liberals? But also, for all the major parties?
COLLINS:
Well, I think the message has been clearly that they didn't do good enough as the government. People are concerned about cost of living, they're concerned there's not enough housing, they're concerned about our health system in Tasmania and the state government needs to do better.