Originally published in the Canberra Times

By Bruce Billson

We need to do more to support small and family businesses. These enterprises, and the driven and courageous women and men that lead them, are the engine-room of our economy contributing much to our communities, employment opportunities and the Australian economy.

And we need to celebrate the contribution of small business to our nation. Combined, these smaller firms generate 33 per cent of our nation's gross domestic product and provide jobs for 5.36 million people - 42 per cent of the private workforce.

But less than 20 years ago they contributed 40 per cent of GDP and employed 53 per cent of those with a private sector job.

This is a worrying trajectory and I fear we are sleepwalking into a "big corporate" economy.

This is a trend playing out not just here but in other places, and we should be concerned.

The Washington Post recently posed the question: "Is American pride in being built of the back of small businesses now a myth due to the influence of 'corporate America'?" Currently in the US, businesses with fewer than 100 employees are struggling while those with more than 10,000 employees are seeing growth.

Back home around Australia right now, businesses are hesitating to employ their first employee. Only 3 per cent of self-employed businesses became an employing business in 2023-24, which is a record low rate from the start of this Australian Bureau of Statistics time series in July 2007. The latest ABS stats also point to a decrease of 8.1 per cent in payroll jobs in small business over the year, with increases in both medium and large business - 7.1 per cent and 6.3 per cent, respectively.

Rising input costs and frugal customers continue to challenge margins, profitability and viability. The "business of running the business" is getting ever more demanding. Small and family business owners battle through increasing red tape, greater and more complex compliance obligations, cashflow concerns, digital impacts, cyber threats, poor payment times and an ever-changing business landscape.

Business owners should be reassured that at times of challenge, dispute or distress, there is help available. ASBFEO is a key part of an extensive network of support that includes state small business commissioners, Small Business Debt Helpline, New Access for Small Business Owners for emotional wellbeing, Australian Financial Complaints Authority, Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, Digital Solutions, Small Business Cyber Resilience Service, the Cyber Wardens program, and numerous federal regulators ready to help. And of course, the network of trusted advisers and industry associations that also provide so much support and guidance.

My message to small and family business owners is that when times are tough, you are not on your own and help is within reach.

And while the small business landscape is tough right now, we also need to continue to incentivise and encourage entrepreneurship and new entrepreneurs, in particular young people, to start a small business.

A recent Westpac study found that 20 per cent of those who participated had been inspired by seeing other successful entrepreneurs, and for Gen Z it was almost 48 per cent. This is really exciting and something worth encouraging.

Being inspired by others is natural, and with it being a key motivation for many to create and lead their own business; we need to do more to showcase this success. We can and should do something about this.

Last year our "14 Steps to Energise Enterprise" to put wind in the sails of the more than 2.5 million small businesses and to encourage aspiring business owners, included a call to establish the Prime Minister's Small Business Awards to recognise and celebrate excellence and inspire the next generation.

We are calling on the parliament, policymakers and regulators to embrace these steps. They "see" and support existing small businesses and incentivise other Australians to consider harnessing their passion and ambitions to start a business and create livelihoods for themselves and others.

I urge political leaders, lawmakers, policy-shapers and regulators to:

• Explore the potential benefits of a tax discount/offset scheme for new small business owners to allow them to keep more of their income to re-invest in their business during the critical first three years.
• Focus on right-sized regulation, including how regulators and government formulate and administer laws, to help, support and enable small business owners, who do not have the resources of big business, meet their obligations.
• Require every cabinet submission, preliminary and formal regulatory impact statement and new policy proposal to include a small business impact statement.
• Give small businesses an affordable, effective and timely alternative to defend their own economic interest where fair trading protections and reasonable commercial conduct safeguards are infringed upon by creating a Federal Small Business and Codes List in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia.
• Give small business a greater chance to compete for government contracts by decoding the rules and practices that favour the "in-crowd" of familiar, established and larger suppliers.
• Make it mandatory for banks and other providers to charge the lowest fee for tap-and-go, dual-network debit card transactions as the default, saving small business around $1 billion a year.
• Undertake urgent and decisive action to ensure that essential insurances for small businesses are understandable, accessible and affordable.
• Ban unfair trading/business practices that distort competition and harm small business.
• Create a dedicated Small Business Commissioner and division within the Fair Work Commission.
• Require digital platform providers to implement clear, appropriate and standardised procedures for timely small business dispute resolution.
• Honour businesses who fulfil their workplace obligations to employees, meet tax reporting and payment obligations in a timely way and pay small business suppliers in under 21 days, with a "Good Business Pays" recognition and accreditation.
• Expand digital learning and practical support through business system and reg-tech solutions, information management and practical artificial intelligence uses.
• Develop a readily accessible and easily navigable central resource hub of actionable information, "how to" guidance, programs and assistance developed by government and private sector specifically prepared for small business use.

There's more detail on our website asbfeo.gov.au

These are practical, doable and constructive steps that can help reduce the overbearing regulatory burden and are something governments need to do as part of their contribution to reduce the headwinds small businesses are contending with.

But reducing headwinds alone is not enough. Decisive action is needed to put wind in the sails of small business, and to improve business conditions, incentives and the operating environment.

With an election just around the corner, I am urging political leaders and election candidates to commit to these 14 positive action steps and to ensure enterprising women and men have the best possible opportunity to succeed.

Now is a crucial time to engage - to make sure support for small business is front of mind, that specific commitments are made to improve the trading environment, and to ensure that small business interests and considerations are so much more than an after-thought.