Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bruce Billson interview with Ross Greenwood.
Sky News Business Now
Subject: 14 Steps to energise enterprise, small business and Future Made in Australia
Ross Greenwood
Perhaps the real Future Made in Australia is already here, but it's battling. That's the hundreds of thousands of small business owners who flog their guts out each and every day and employ more people than any other sector, in many cases, for little or no reward.
Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bruce Billson, a former Small Business Minister in the Coalition government, has put out a 14-step plan to try and make life easier and hopefully a bit more profitable for small business operators. The man whose slogan is to energise enterprise, Bruce Billson is with me now in our Canberra studio. Bruce, many thanks for your time as always.
Is that the reality that the Future Made in Australia policy almost smacks small business owners who actually are here for now, and for the future, in the face by subsidising others who might be important, but no more important or less important than small business operators?
Bruce Billson
Well, for a Future Made in Australia you need businesses made in Australia. And the engine room of our economy are those small and family businesses, Ross. And for those subsidy programs and production incentives, they're very much out of reach for smaller firms. And what we're saying is that there is this entrepreneurial ambition amongst Australians. Give them the best chance to succeed, support their enterprise formation and really put wind in the sails of those businesses that will drive innovation, growth and opportunity, because right now, they're feeling more headwinds than they are feeling winds in their sails.
Ross Greenwood
Okay. The reality is they have to cope with higher interest rates. That slackening consumer demand hurts every one of them. The fact that rents have gone through the roof, the fact that now the Tax Office is chasing them for debts that might have been accumulated during COVID. All of these things conspire to make life more difficult, and you can see that in the bankruptcy figures with more insolvency of business than ever before in recent times.
Bruce Billson
And that's right. Let's appreciate and respect that there is enormous pressure on households. Cost-of-living pressure is real, and it's affecting people's purchasing choices. But those pressures are business input pressures for small and family businesses, all further squeezing already wafer-thin margins and impacting on consumer spending. And we know there's no substitute for customers, Ross, when you're running a business. And so, this is a real area of challenge. And we looked at the last stats coming out of the Tax Office, you've got 46 per cent of small businesses not making a profit. For those million and a half Australians for whom self-employment, independent contracting, is their full-time livelihood, three-quarters nearly are taking home less than average total weekly wages.
So, the rivers are gold and not there. There is still that drive to be your own business, make your own opportunities, pursue your own livelihood, but no one would think the financial returns are spectacular.
At the same time, we've got growing complexity and volume of regulation and some real challenges about small and family businesses, wondering, well, who's the next generation? Ross, sadly, the average business owner now is 50 years old. The number that are under 30 are 8 per cent whereas it was 17 per cent in the '70s. We really need to bring forward that next generation. We need to have people with entrepreneurial ambitions to feel optimistic and supported that going into business and creating opportunities for their community and others is something that's really valued, and we're doing what we can to give them the best prospects of success.
Ross Greenwood
So as the Ombudsman, you step in when there are issues that are really discriminating against those small and family businesses. What are the key factors that are in front of you right now?
Bruce Billson
We've got some real pressure on our assistance cases. As many of your audience would know, where there's business disputes going to court to sort them out for a small business is no option at all. So, we get involved in trying to facilitate resolutions and where there are industry codes, where there's obvious and inherent power imbalances we have a role there too.
But still the largest proportion of our cases are around payment disputes. Really pointing to that cash flow challenge of people who need to pay small and family businesses, that because of the delay in payments, then causing cash flow challenges for those businesses. So that's a biggie.
The other fastest growing is digital platforms. Ross, you many enterprising men and women, their whole relationship with their customers is through these platforms. But heck, if your account's hacked on Facebook or something like that, and you're told, hey, log into your account to tell us that your account is locked, you can imagine how infuriating that is, and we're trying to make sure that channel to market is one that's supportive as well.
Ross Greenwood
Bruce Billson always good to have on the program, and many thanks for your time today.
Bruce Billson
Thanks for your interest Ross.
