JULIE COLLINS:
In the six months since I've been sworn in as the Minister for Small Business, we've been delivering for small businesses right across Australia. We’ve increased protections for small businesses with our unfair contract terms legislation. We've made it easier for small and medium sized businesses to access Commonwealth procurement - up to 20 per cent of the 70 billion is our target each and every year for that. We've committed to funding energy savings grants for small and medium sized businesses, over $60 million for small to medium sized enterprises to help with energy efficiency. We've, of course, extended essential programs to support small businesses who have been doing it tough coming out of the pandemic and with natural disasters, with our mental health and wellbeing programs and also our financial support programs. Those programs were due to end at the end of December, and we've found room in the Budget to keep them going.
And, of course, overnight I have announced that Dr Craig Emerson will be doing a review into the payment times scheme. What we know is that big businesses are still paying small businesses on an average of 36 days. We want to get that to under 30 days. We don't think that small businesses should be carrying this burden, and we want to see small businesses, more small businesses paid on time. So this is a statutory review. It is required, and Dr Emerson will be doing that review. He'll be reporting to me by the middle of next year, and we will take a look at those recommendations and see what else we can be doing to ensure that small businesses are not carrying an unfair burden from big businesses not paying on time.
I also – while I've got the opportunity, if I can - just encourage, as I know the other Small Business Ministers will, that I am meeting today. This is the first Small Business Ministers meeting in almost 8 years. We will be talking about how we work together to support small businesses. There are a lot of issues that small businesses are dealing with at the moment, from recovery from natural disasters to dealing with cyber threats. But I would encourage all Australians to do what they can this Christmas, as they go about their Christmas shopping in the coming weeks, to support small local businesses in their local communities. And I know the other Small Business Ministers are supporting me in this call today.
JOURNALIST:
I guess here, just going off that back end ‘shopping small’, I guess particularly coming off a couple of years of COVID. This is sort of our first COVID free Christmas in a while. Does that sort of add to the importance of sort of supporting small and local business?
COLLINS:
What we know is that small businesses add more than $430 billion to the Australian economy each and every year. They employ millions of Australians. So we can all do our bit this Christmas by supporting small businesses in our local communities. They've got a lot of great local products and services, and so I'd encourage Australians to support their small businesses as they go about their Christmas shopping.
JOURNALIST:
You obviously have this meeting after or very soon. What are you really hoping to get out of it? You mentioned that's the first time in 8 years. So how important is it for you to liaise with your other small business ministers, and what do you really hope to achieve? Obviously, at a very difficult time with cost of living, which also small businesses are feeling the brunt of.
COLLINS:
I guess what we want to do is we want to talk to the states and territories, and work cooperatively with them. It's also an opportunity for states and territories to share the different work that they're doing in their states and territories to support small businesses - to share ideas, to share innovations, to share the types of interventions that various state governments are doing to support small businesses. I think it is critical that we do have a meeting, that ministers from each state and territory and the Commonwealth do work together and look at how else we can work together to support small businesses, given they have been doing it tough. They've been doing it tough coming out of the pandemic. They've been doing it tough in terms of natural disasters in parts of Australia. And obviously, you know, the global headwinds in the economy are also having an impact.
JOURNALIST:
We saw obviously last week the IR laws go on, go through, which obviously was a lot of fanfare. I guess the one element that the opposition was attacking the government over was small business, and that some of them said they weren't being supported. Do you think that'll be discussed today, obviously at this crucial time?
COLLINS:
Well, it certainly hasn't been raised with me by other ministers. I'm happy to have a discussion about any issues impacting small businesses. What I would say about the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill is that small businesses now - for the first time – will have access to enterprise bargaining that will work for them. We expect most small businesses to enter enterprise bargaining through the cooperative stream. And in terms of the single interest bargaining stream, I would remind people that 97.5 per cent of all Australian businesses are exempt from that, given that we have lifted the number of employees to 20 or below – 20 or above, I should say.
JOURNALIST:
That's fine, thank you. So, today – as I guess this time every month - another rate hike is expected. Can you just give us a statement on that, and obviously from the, from a business perspective, you know, they're the ones that are feeling the brunt of these rate hikes as well.
COLLINS:
We know that Australians are doing it tough in terms of any interest rate rises. The independent Reserve Bank will make a decision today. What we do know is that we need to put downward pressure on inflation. That's what we did with our budget. We've delivered cost of living relief, without adding to inflation - putting downward pressure on inflation through our cheaper medicines, which starts in just a few weeks on the first of January, our cheaper childcare from the middle of next year, our extended paid parental leave, more affordable housing with my other hat on, and of course we're doing everything we can to get wages moving to support Australians. But we do know that there are difficult decisions being made in small businesses and at family dinner tables right across the country when decisions are made around interest rates, but the decision today will be independent, from the Reserve Bank. Governor.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think - obviously when we talk about these rate hikes, a lot of it is talking about from the human perspective – you know, Australian families at home. But I guess we haven't spoken about it in as much depth in regards to small business. And, you know, the people as you said that don't have the same amount of cash flow that say larger businesses have, have you received any feedback with that with how the rate hikes are affecting small business?
COLLINS:
I, of course, am speaking to small businesses and to small business peak organisations all of the time. You know, obviously having the Small Business Ministers here today is another chance for feedback and discussion about the critical issues that are facing small businesses. Some of them have been doing particularly tough over the last few years. So I look forward to the conversations today, and to continuing my discussions with small businesses across the country.
JOURNALIST:
Julie-
[inaudible]
-what kind of feedback are you getting from the states, and how long do you think, how long do you think after you've done this review of the Act will it take to get these enforceable payment times through?
COLLINS:
We'll obviously wait until we get the recommendations on the payment times, and in terms of what options are available to government, we'll have a look at those recommendations at that time. But what we do want to do is to make sure that small businesses are not carrying an unfair burden when it comes to payment times. We would expect that big entities in Australia are able to pay small businesses within 30 days. That is our expectation, and they should be able to do that.
JOURNALIST:
The options that are available to government - you must to some extent know what you're working with already. Is this something that has to be enforced by the states, or can it be enforced at the federal level?
COLLINS:
Well, we'll wait until we get the recommendations from Dr Emerson next year. What I would say is that we do want to support small businesses, and we definitely want to make sure that small businesses are not carrying an unfair burden. I mean, when you're talking about subcontractors and tradies, you're talking about local suppliers supplying, you know, some of the bigger organisations in Australia, I do think that it's fair and reasonable for them to be paid on time.
Sorry, I missed your last question online?
JOURNALIST:
So sorry, Julie. I was just asking, obviously, late yesterday the news about the Prime Minister getting COVID again for a second time. Have you had a chance to speak with him since that news came out?
COLLINS:
Obviously, I wish the Prime Minister well in his recovery. He's doing the responsible thing. Like I would encourage all Australians, if you get a positive COVID test and you're unwell, you should stay at home and you should let people you've been in close contact with know, so that they can monitor for symptoms and get themselves tested if need be. We do know that some Australians are being impacted by this at the present time, and I wish the Prime Minister well.