Gillard announces adviser for small businesses

AAP
March 14, 2012
The Courier-Mail

Prime Minister Julia Gillard said that a new Small Business Commissioner would advise time-poor business owners on government policies and programs.

THE creation of the nation’s first Small Business Commissioner will give a voice to a vital sector in the Australia economy, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said today.

Ms Gillard announced the plan in Canberra, saying that the commissioner’s office will support 2.7 million businesses employing nearly five million people.

The Small Business Commissioner will be appointed in the second half of 2012 and the office is due to be up and running from January 1, 2013.

Ms Gillard said the office will act as a one-stop shop to advise time-poor small businesses about government policies and programs.

It will also act as an advocate for small business within the government.

“It can be so much harder for small businesses to have their voices heard,” Ms Gillard told reporters. “So this is an important step forward … it’s been a long sought after policy.”
Start of sidebar.

Through the commissioner, small business owners will be able to access information and advice, and referral to external services such as dispute resolution services.

The announcement comes as the government prepares the way for a one per cent small business tax cut from July 1, linked to its mining tax legislation due to be debated in the Senate later today.

But while the small business cuts are likely to pass with the support of the Greens, Labor’s plans to deliver the cut to the bigger companies in 2013 have hit a roadblock.

The Greens do not support big business tax cuts, while the opposition is opposed to the mining tax and any measures associated with it.

Ms Gillard would not say what the government might offer the Greens in order to get the big business corporate tax cut through parliament in May.

“I’m not going to war-game all of that through for you today,” she said. “The government’s position today is crystal clear – we are for taking a fair share of tax from the resources sector and using that to benefit businesses around the nation, big and small. Mr Abbott is opposed to that. That is the backdrop to the parliamentary debate we will have in May.”