Originally published in The Canberra Times

By Bruce Billson

The "dirty boots people" is what one of Australian's leading economic regulators calls us. The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO) has been "in the field" every day since it was established in March 2016, working alongside real-life small and family businesses.

In the December 2024 quarter, we hit the milestone of having helped 50,000 small and family businesses. This highlights the vital and valuable service that we offer - a service not enough business owners know about.

The ASBFEO is an asset and ally to Australian small and family businesses and at these challenging economic times, more need to know how we can help.

At a time when most small businesses are facing many headwinds and precious little wind in their sails, I hope it is reassuring and supportive to know the ASBFEO is actively seeking to advance their interests.

Through our dedicated (and often small business-experienced) staff, my small yet agile team delivers assistance, case support, better practice guidance, data analysis, advocacy submissions, policy and program design input, policy advice and thought-leadership through in-depth research and inquiries, information services, regulatory input and cross-agency collaboration.

Our assistance function is a key customer-facing service delivery role, and in 2023-24, we had 6,254 requests for assistance. This included both calls and actively managed cases.

It remains true, as it did at the time the ASBFEO was created under a decade ago, that in so many cases, the courts are no place for a small business seeking to resolve a dispute with another business or government in a timely and affordable way.

We strive to help small businesses find a satisfactory resolution and to get back to business as fast as possible. Pleasingly nearly two-thirds of the cases that come to us are helped quickly by our call centre or assistance team providing useful information and 'self-help' guidance to resolve disputes. But some cases do take longer or are more complex and need more intensive one-to-one assistance.

Small business owners' identities are interwoven into their business and the stakes are much higher than just a job. Many people have invested a lifetime, and often their life savings - sometimes putting their family home on the line - to build up their business, which amplifies the emotional challenges.

Beyond supporting the resolution of a dispute, our assistance can be referral to other support and resources that can help the business owner be in the best place to tackle the challenges of their business and to tap into other services that can help with the prospects of business success.

A cornerstone to the assistance we provide is that the ASBFEO does not duplicate services or dispute resolution support that is provided by other agencies. But we do have a warm referral process with a number of agencies, which means we are able to put you in contact with the right people to help.

This assistance with dispute resolution and supporting access to helpful resources is one of the ASBFEO's trio of clear functions. The second is to advocate for small and family businesses in policy development, regulatory design and business support systems. The third is to inform small and family business about better practice through guidance, support tools, useful resources and data insights.

The ASBFEO's advocacy function is about turning up everyday in the corridors of power and making the case for small and family businesses, who are usually way too busy and focused on their own immediate business challenges, to fully engage in the policy and regulator deliberations and debates.

Big corporates have their dedicated government relations experts and not all small businesses can be part of the excellent industry associations we collaborate so closely with. Yet these parliamentary, policymaker and regulator actions and decisions will impact the operating environment for every small and family business. We aim to ensure that the impact on, distinctive needs and interests of small and family business are front of mind and central throughout whole-of-government policy and regulatory design and evaluation processes.

While the independence of the Ombudsman's role is protected by legislation, the advocacy process is far from isolated, detached or an island. It is deeply collaborative with relevant industry associations, fully engaging with senior officials and experts, and always informed by the actual experiences for real-life businesses.

The "dirty boots people" description of our work is both a mark of respect and a recognition of, and testament to the value that the ASBFEO provides through our in-depth insights, rich field evidence, problem-solving ability, and deep engagement with Australia's small and family business community.

Beyond lived experiences and the dirty boots field evidence, our leading data analysis, robust and highly regarded data provides a compelling foundation for the ASBFEO advocacy.

Excellent research, data analysis and interpretative capacities combine with subject matter expertise to establish the ASBFEO as a top-tier researcher, data insight source and communicator. This is one of the key roles performed by our agency and we are pleased to see our data and insights repeatedly cited and used by small-business organisations, commentators and across the community.

The data we now produce and share, including through the data portal on our website, provides such rich evidence and insights that inform and explain the circumstances of small and family businesses. We are able to explore policy issues at more granular levels, examine and contest problem-solving possibilities, promote solutions not constrained by current policy of the government of the day and draw on our significant and unique expertise to identify specific issues affecting small and family businesses.

Our independence and deep engagement with more than 50 small and family business-facing industry associations, and real-time practical information from thousands of small businesses, means we are a trusted and authoritative voice about what is really going on in the small business economy.

We have a range of helpful guides, tools, and resources available through our website (asbfeo.gov.au) for small businesses on the issues that affect them. While we don't provide direct financial or legal advice, we are able to provide small business owners with the information to help them make better-informed decisions.

We value what we hear from owners of micro, small or family-owned businesses, professional advisers, industry associations, chambers of commerce, and other organisations that support or advocate for small and family businesses. Importantly we take the time to actively engage with First Nations and culturally and linguistically diverse communities, many of whom are small business owners or aspiring entrepreneurs.

Our mission is to make Australia the best place to start, grow and transform a small business. While we can't guarantee every business will succeed, we strive to make sure none fail from not knowing about something that might have helped.

The ASBFEO has already helped more than 50,000 Australian small and family businesses, and we are ready to help many more.