Small businesses are lamenting the lost opportunity in the 2024 budget to back 2.5 million organisations currently suffering from the cost-of-doing-business crisis and increasing regulatory requirements.
Making up 97 percent of all Australia’s business landscape, small businesses play a crucial role in sustaining more than 5 million jobs. Currently 43 percent of small businesses are not profitable and are facing a perfect storm of rising costs and complexity.
In this context, it is disappointing that further relief and encouragement for small business was not front and centre in the Federal Budget 2024.
The extension of existing measures; the Instant Asset Write-off, NewAccess for Small Business Support, the Small Business Debt Helpline, Productivity, Education and Training Program, as well as Energy Bill Relief are necessary but not sufficient to truly address the issues currently facing small business.
The Small Business Fact Sheet describes a government committed to a long-term better small business environment. With stated priorities to ease the pressure on small business, support them to grow and level the playing field, this budget establishes some programs to achieve these priorities that small business will benefit from in the long term.
The Council of Small Business Organisations Australia (COSBOA) acknowledges the commitment to develop a future cutting edge, AI-embraced, simpler business environment.
Whilst some measures are welcome, small business has been left behind in the government’s strategy of picking winners and providing subsidies to selected industries.
Small businesses face a complex operating environment, and this Budget provides little for a current source of optimism.
COSBOA was hoping to see a Budget that provided a vision for productive and prosperous small business. An operating environment that would see small business protected and incentivised to invest, to employ more people, to adopt modern techniques so that the small business sector continues to grow, compete and contribute to the success of the Australian economy.
With a growth in productivity, we would achieve a funded growth in real wages for all employees and business owners alike. We seek an economy where it is smart to invest in a small business so that entrepreneurship, innovation and healthy lifestyles can be supported.
Unfortunately, this Budget concentrates on big government projects and regulatory impacts on the way a business is allowed to operate. Many elements of this Budget don’t seem to be asking “What problem are we solving?” but are pushing a philosophical agenda that does not directly support small business.
While we welcome the initiatives that assist small business, we look forward to the delivery of productivity enhancing changes to secure the jobs of 5 million employees that work for small business.
For more information about COSBOA, visit: www.cosboa.org.au
-ENDS-
For media enquiries or interviews, please contact COSBOA on ceo@cosboa.org.au or call (+61) 433 644 097
Luke Achterstraat
Chief Executive Officer
Council of Small Business Organisations Australia
Comments