August 9, 2010More than eighty small business owners will question the Federal and Shadow Minister for Small Business on specific industry policies when they gather at the national
Small Business Forum in Brisbane tomorrow night.
In what will be their last opportunity before the national election on August 21, Federal Minister for Small Business, Craig Emerson and Shadow Minister for Small Business, Bruce Bilson will go head to head in an attempt to reassure concerned small business owners their political parties are committed to supporting their needs.
Hosted by the Australian Small Business Group, organisation founder Terri Cooper launched the Small Business Forum due to her own frustration over the lack of attention small business owners were receiving in this year’s election trail.
“I have run my own small business for several years and the amount of support we get as an industry from the government is really not up to standard,” Cooper says.
“Small businesses have a tendency to get swept under the rug and disregarded by the Government which, considering we are the majority Australian workforce, is not a smart move by any political party,” she says.
Each Minister will be given an opportunity to state their case before the floor is opened to small businesses for questions.
One of the highest issues on the agenda is to debate Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s proposed tax reduction for small businesses, according to Cooper.
“Small businesses aren’t happy with Ms Gillard’s proposal,” she explains.
“To apply for the tax reduction you have to be a registered company, which only a quarter of small businesses are. We’re really sick of government policies that state big benefits and then rule them out again with fine print at the bottom.”
While there are several big future policy questions for Emerson and Bilson to account for, Cooper reinforces that no party will be preferred in the forum, saying its main purpose is to provide small businesses with critical policy knowledge, before heading to the ballot boxes.
“There will be no political bias among small business owners attending the debate,” she says. “We just want to know exactly what both major parties are prepared to offer us so that we can make an informed decision before voting.”
The Small Business Forum will be held at the Colmslie Hotel on Tuesday, August 10 from 6-8pm with the debate being MC’d by former Director of News at Triple M, Peter Buckley.
