The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, Bruce Billson, urges all Australians to recognise the hard work and entrepreneurial spirit of the people driving our 2.5 million small businesses on World Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day. 

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced the returning Government’s new Ministry with the Hon Dr Anne Aly appointed to Cabinet as the Minister for Small Business.

The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman has welcomed Dr Anne Aly to the small business portfolio and the important retention of the Minister for Small Business as a Cabinet-level appointment.

The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bruce Billson says tonight’s 2025-26 Federal Budget was ‘the sequel’ to last year’s, offering modest targeted measures to help small and family business deal with specific current pain points and headwinds.

The Ombudsman said that struggling small businesses will have to look to and hope for election commitments that present a decisive positive action plan to ‘put some wind in their sails’, lift their prospects for success and to turn around a post-COVID period of tough trading conditions.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) Supermarket Inquiry report confirms that the supermarket sector is highly concentrated and unduly challenging for small business suppliers, says the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman.

The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO) is encouraged by the Australian Government’s response to the Murray Review of Security of Payment Laws, and welcomes the announcement of further action to help ensure tradies and subcontractors are paid on time.  

Mr Billson said the Government’s commitment to extend protections against unfair business practices to small businesses, will also help address harmful conduct in the construction sector. 

The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO) has enthusiastically welcomed the Australian Government’s commitment to introduce protections for small and family businesses harmed by unfair business trading practices. 

Mr Billson said this commitment will reassure small and family businesses that they can invest, innovate, take risks, compete and create jobs and opportunities without being unfairly ‘done over’ by a more powerful business because there is a ‘gaping hole in the law’.    

The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO) has welcomed the expansion of subsidised legal advice for eligible small and family businesses to support more effective engagement in dispute resolution processes.

The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, Bruce Billson, has released a guide to help small business navigate the challenge of paying or collecting a debt.

“Outstanding debts can be overwhelming for a small business – whether you are owed money by a customer or you owe money to a supplier,” Mr Billson said.

“We have seen a 50 per cent increase in calls from small businesses worried a supplier might be insolvent or their own business might be heading that way.

Small and family businesses have just 12 days to make sure they do not have their vital business systems and equipment fail when the 3G network is switched off on 28 October, says the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, Bruce Billson.

“Many of us do not realise there is an awful lot of technology and equipment we use every day that's enabled by 3G as the wireless comms link and that it will stop working when the system is turned off later this month unless it is upgraded,” Mr Billson said.

The number of small business disputes with Big Tech platform providers is 86 per cent higher than the same time last year, according to the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, Bruce Billson.

Mr Billson said over the past two years, the number of small and family businesses who have suffered some sort of disruption to their business at the hands of a digital platform has more than doubled.