[Acknowledgments omitted]
Congratulations to the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia (COSBOA) and Square Australia on the launch of the latest State of Small Business Data Report.
Australia’s 2.5 million small businesses contribute close to $600 billion to Australia’s economy and employ almost 5.4 million people – 42 per cent of private‑sector employment.
Australia’s small businesses come in many different shapes and sizes, and exist across all sectors, this report stresses the need to acknowledge the nuances and variations across small businesses.
It is by looking at data and reports like this one that governments can provide practical and targeted support to ease pressure, level the playing field and support growth. And that requires me, as Small Business Minister, to meet face‑to‑face with small business owners to listen and learn about their individual experiences.
Which is what I’ve had the privilege of doing for the past 2 years and am pleased to be able to continue alongside my new responsibilities as Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.
While we are working hard to deliver for small businesses in this place, breaks from Parliament are a fantastic opportunity to meet with small businesses across the country.
And over the past few weeks I’ve had the pleasure of meeting small business owners up and down the country from the Margate Train in the southernmost electorate in the country – my own – to VT Espresso in Cairns, Far North Queensland.
These meetings were a reminder that while some small businesses are facing challenges right now, others have opportunities they’d like to explore.
What never ceases to impress me is how hard Australia’s small business owners work. How passionate they are about their product and service offerings, and their local community, and how innovative and agile they are.
This latest report does a fantastic job putting those shared challenges and opportunities into context. The data and analysis is invaluable for all tiers of government and it is terrific to be here to launch the report.
What stood out in the COSBOA report was the resilience of small business owners and operators.
This is evident when they tell me how they’re adapting and innovating to navigate current economic conditions.
To help small businesses pivot and grow, we are:
- providing grants for adopting energy efficiency measures
- funding the adoption of eInvoicing
- simplifying the procurement process to make it easier to join Australian Government supply chains and
- implementing the Future Made in Australia initiative to bolster economic activity.
This builds on existing investments to support small businesses to innovate, including $392.4 million through the Industry Growth Program, and $18.6 million for Round 2 of the Digital Solutions program.
The National Skills Agreement will continue to expand access to the vocational education and training sector, support quality training, and implement reforms to address critical skills needs.
In this year’s federal Budget we put small business front‑and‑centre with more than $640 million in practical and targeted support.
We published the first Australian Government Small Business Statement and we’re now delivering measures to level the playing field, help businesses grow, and ease cost‑of‑living pressures.
Understandably, the cost of doing business and cost of living were a strong theme in the report.
Pressure comes from a variety of sources, which is why we’re delivering practical improvements to improve cash flow, and save time and money.
They include:
- providing energy bill relief to all households and eligible small businesses
- progressing regulatory reforms to the retail energy market
- abolishing nuisance tariffs
- extending the $20,000 instant asset write‑off and
- improving payment times by reforming the Payment Times Reporting Act.
Other practical improvements to provide support include:
- extending mental health and wellbeing programs
- extending the funding of the Small Business Debt Helpline and NewAccess for Small Business Owners program and
- providing the Cyber Resilience Service, Cyber Health Check and Cyber Wardens programs.
The new data and analysis in this report is a valuable addition to ongoing policy discussions.
I congratulate COSBOA on the launch of this report, and on its recent selection as an ACCC ‘designated complainant’.
I look forward to continuing our dialogue on practical measures that will ease pressure, support growth and level the playing field for Australian small businesses.