Malcolm Farr
March 26, 2013
news.com.au
THE fifth Small Business Minister in 15 months, Gary Gray, already is facing a rebellion from the sector where the Federal Government has an approval rating of just 14 per cent.
Mr Gray was appointed today by Prime Minister Julia Gillard in the ministerial overhaul forced by resignations following the collapse of the Kevin Rudd leadership threat last week.
He will be the sixth holder of the portfolio under Prime Minister Gillard in less than three years.
Small and medium operators want more help so they aren’t prevented from taking advantage of growing confidence in the national economy’s future.
Their demands include simplified GST paperwork, abolition of carbon pricing, and greater funding for skills training.
Some 72 per cent of small business operators expect increased or stable revenue over the coming 12 months, according to a survey commissioned by software company MYOB.
But the same survey found that despite the optimism, 54 per cent of small business owners were dissatisfied with Government support with “a growing proportion indifferent”, said MYOB chief executive Tim Reed.
Over the past 15 months the small business portfolio has been held by Nick Sherry, Mark Arbib, Brendan O’Connor and Chris Bowen. Mr Bowen stood down last Friday after backing a challenge to Prime Minister Julia Gillard by Kevin Rudd.
There have been six Small Business Ministers in the Gillard Government. The first in September, 2010, was Craig Emerson.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said the departure of the latest minister, Mr Bowen, was a distressing feature of last week’s resignations from the ministry.
“That’s a pretty dispiriting situation for small business to be in. Small business is the creative heart of our economy,” Mr Abbott told reporters.
And the Opposition will add to the attacks by pointing out that close to 250,000 small business jobs have disappeared nationally since Labor took government.
Liberal small business spokesman Bruce Bilson highlighted official figures showing the sector’s share of the private workforce has fallen from 51.3 per cent to 45.7 per cent under Labor.
That represents a 243,000 decline from 5,061,000 to 4,818,000, according to the Bureau of Statistics figures.
And the number of small businesses has fallen from 749,454 to 739,312, a fall of 10,142, according to the ABS figures cited by Mr Bilson.
The small business survey, conducted by market researchers Colmar Brunton since 2004, collected the views of 1005 respondents.
It found 65 per cent wanted simplified GST and BAS paperwork; 63 per cent wanted abolition of carbon pricing; 61 per cent wanted greater investment in transport; and 57 per cent wanted more funds for training and apprenticeship programs.
And 53 per cent wanted a waiver on penalties for late tax. Some 51 per cent want government funding to teach how to use the internet better.
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