As often happens during election campaigns, we are fed headlines and little policy detail. Click on the links below for the small business policy pages of each of the major parties and see for yourself which small business policy you prefer. There is a difference in detail and detail matters for it reflects understanding. The greater the policy detail the more serious the party is on an issue in my view.
I have not posted the links here to suggest one is better than the other. Mo key interest is to ensure opinions about small business policies are fully informed.
Four quasi socialist platforms. Just varying degrees.
With some reports suggesting that over a third of the population are either employed by Government or dependant on Government, winding the Age of Entitlement back will be an enormous task.
Australia needs a real libertarian alternative to the Liberal party.
We need Big Government out of our life.
There is little in any policy. Tax incentives are useless if small businesses are underpaying owners for hours worked. An ombudsman is an admission the system is bust, fix the legislation rather than spend on remedies for bad legislation.
My 3 policy requests would be :
– no penalty rates in businesses employing less than 8 persons
– create an online register to give basic details of all commercial rent agreements
– classify pork barrelling as a corruption with automatic ban from public office or directorships
I dream…..
Colin if think the no penalty rate idea for under 8 people makes employee acquisition challenging if they can earn more per hour in larger businesses.
Mark,
If there is going to be rules, they need to be applied without fail. Family and small businesses circumvent by often working public holidays and Sundays or excessive hours, themselves or by friends/relatives. The rates are then not paid, but since it is the owners who bear the pain nobody cares. Start prosecuting all businesses for not paying penalty rates and you will see 1000’s of these small businesses fail overnight.
The system is a farce. No politician will apply the rules because the reality of doing so would expose the lie being lived.
The same applies to casual rates. There are casuals who have worked in small business for many years (I employed one who previously worked 15 years for one employee as a casual). They are in positions of responsibility, they manage, they work regular hours … and turning a blind eye is the name of the game.
Free up hourly rates, albeit with a decent hourly minimum. Stop pandering to the unions and the Sunday rort (why doesn’t Friday or Saturday get a penalty rate for other religions). Let businesses be flexible with as few rules as possible.
Rant over
Colin I agree we need to cut the cost of Sunday rates dramatically. My only concern is if there is a difference between small and big business as it will alter the labour pool available to us.
“– create an online register to give basic details of all commercial rent agreements” – Colin
What business is it of anyone’s to have details of an agreement between a landlord and a tenant?
Same thing goes for the supply of labour. Let the market decide.
Glenn,
A market is where willing buyers meet willing sellers. Auctions are the best example. Commercial rent agreements are not. Commercial rents are agreed in isolation. JLL, Colliers etc have a database of information on rents but is it available to tenants …no .. it is available to landlords who exploit the upside.
Let me guess … you own commercial property ?
One reasons major landlords have it written in contracts that rent is not to be discussed is that ignorance inflates the price.
Hi Colin, Yes Like many people on this site,
I own both commercial and residential realestate. Like you and nearly everyone else here I own a business and have other investments.
Why are you seeking to impose controls on part of my business? I don’t seek to have you publish your financials online. Your idea smacks of Rudd’s “Grocerywatch”.
Remember contracts are negotiable and voluntary.
I don’t recall seeing any posts from the fabulous Glenn D prior to the outing of the Tobacco Lobby and its attempts to co-opt Newsagents into a partisan political campaign.
Sounds to me like the fabulous Glenn D is simply a shill for Leyinholme’s party. Most people who read Ayn Rand, shrug and say “that’s part of my life I’ll never get back”, but a few cannot separate fact and fiction and attempt to develop entire belief systems around it.
And Colin is right, for a market to be fully free then buyers and sellers need to have access to all the information.
Markets rely on competition and competition is assisted by knowledge of the market. In the case of rent, knowledge comes from what others in similar businesses pay. This information can be shared without breaching confidentiality.
Such transparency exists in many business models today with buyers knowing more about the businesses of the sellers than ever before. It is part of a free market economy this connected century.
Hi David, I have been posting here for a while. Years I fact.
Recently under the following;
Twobob
Glenn D
Cuddles
Cuddles aka Glenn D
the fabulous Glenn D
anyway go and read your nexus magazines, sure there will be a real conspiracy in there for you somewhere.
Glenn D, don’t knock Nexus magazine, funniest read on the shelf. I love those Nazi flying saucers in their Antarctica secret base.
Glenn,
I am not seeking any control over your business nor any personal information about your financials. I am not suggesting the owner of property be published. Minimal key statistics would suffice.
A very small minority might find it embarrassing if the rent per metre of commercial properties were accessible. But the vast majority would benefit from such information, landlords included.
A level playing field would enable businesses to plan ahead, negotiate in good faith and expose unscrupulous landlords and biased deals
Imagine, you might find you are over charging your self.