The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bruce Billson has welcomed the Australian Government’s extension of the SME Recovery Loan Scheme, providing small and family businesses with critical access to finance as they work to…

Banking services essential to rural and regional small businesses

Banking services are essential to small businesses in rural and regional areas and more should be done to support those impacted by branch closures, the…

Ombudsman welcomes review of Banking Code Compliance Committee

The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bruce Billson has welcomed the final report of the independent review of the Banking Code Compliance…

Mature age workers may help ease staff shortages this festive season

The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bruce Billson is encouraging small and family businesses to welcome applications from all-ages…

Ombudsman welcomes funding for critical small business mental health program

The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bruce Billson has welcomed the Australian Government’s commitment to renew funding for a…

Everyone’s a critic, but small businesses need kindly customers

The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bruce Billson is urging people to refrain from posting negative online reviews, as short-staffed…

MEDIA STATEMENT

Ombudsman launches small business natural disaster preparedness inquiry

The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bruce Billson has launched an…

MEDIA STATEMENT

Ombudsman welcomes red tape buster for tradies, licensed workers

The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bruce Billson says small business…

MEDIA STATEMENT

Ombudsman to host feedback sessions in natural disaster-hit areas

The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO) Bruce Billson is set to visit…

Do you have a natural disaster preparedness or resilience story you want to share, or an idea that will assist the small business community?

ASBFEO is inviting small businesses across Australia who have been impacted by natural disaster to…

In a move that has been welcomed by the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, Bruce Billson, South Australia and Victoria will be the first states to implement the Automatic Mutual Recognition Scheme. The scheme removes the…

The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bruce Billson has thanked the 2,000 small and family businesses which have completed an online survey as part of the Small Business Natural Disaster Preparedness and Resilience Inquiry.…

Access to capital is still a significant barrier to growth for women-led small businesses, according to new research conducted by the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman’s (ASBFEO) office.

An ASBFEO survey of more than 600…

Bruce Billson, the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman sat down with Nick Fox, Deloitte’s Payment Times Reporting Lead to discuss the recent release of the first Payment Times Reporting Register.

Below is a summary of the…

The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bruce Billson has marked Harmony Day (21 March, 2022) by thanking migrant-led small and family businesses for their valuable contribution to the vibrancy of the community and vitality of the…

The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bruce Billson has welcomed today’s Federal Government pre-Budget announcement providing a cash flow support to small and family businesses through changes to PAYG tax and commitment to…

The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bruce Billson says the Australian Government’s 2022/23 Budget offers welcomed targeted support to Australian small and family businesses.

The Budget includes several new, extended…

The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bruce Billson has urged consumers to consciously spend with small and family businesses this weekend, amid predictions of a bumper Easter.

“Small and family businesses stand ready…

It takes quite the chocolatier to create all the magic of Easter – without the bunny.

But that’s what Stuart and his team at Enigma Fine Chocolates have achieved, as customers – eager to indulge in handmade artisan truffles – stream through the…

We’ve reached a significant milestone – receiving our 40,000th request for assistance.

The review of the Payment Times Reporting Act by Dr Craig Emerson found there has been no significant improvement by big business to pay their small business customers in a timely way, sadly echoing the woeful performance that we have been calling…

Small and family business owners are increasingly shouldering more risk for less reward as compounding regulations and economic challenges hit businesses.

Across our economy, small business merchants are paying higher fees and charges on electronic transactions than they otherwise should, worth a staggering $1 billion a year!

It has been a tough year for small and family businesses coping with cost-of-living pressures not just on themselves, but their customers. 

Despite a seemingly never-ending series of challenges over recent years, Australia’s small and family businesses continue to make a massive contribution to our nation and our communities. These are great people in plain sight, and we see them…

The franchise sector is worth $135 billion and employs more than half a million people. There are some 70,700 franchisees in Australia and almost all of them are small businesses, as are many franchisors.

The latest report card on the economy will be no surprise to small business owners. Economic growth is barely limping along.

Every business should be assured of the opportunity to compete on merit not just economic muscle and be able to defend their economic interest when the ‘rules of the road’ are infringed upon and their business is harmed.

The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bruce Billson says tonight’s federal Budget offers targeted measures to help small and family business deal with current pain points and headwinds.

This month we will celebrate World Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day (MSME Day) on 27 June.