Franchise Council of Australia warns of Unnecessary Additional Burdens on Small Businesses

The Franchise Council of Australia advises Governments to be wary of adding red tape and unnecessary regulatory burdens during a time when businesses are experiencing a low in confidence.

According to the Black In survey, published by Deloitte, it reports a stagnation of business growth amongst accounting legal SMEs, with only 3.8% respondents had experienced business growth in the previous quarter. This is down from the 45.1% report in June 2010.

The Black Ink survey was conducted after official statistics showed South Australia was lagging behind the rest of the country in terms of business and consumer confidence. Executive Director of Franchise Council Australia, Steve Wright, says the report is disconcerting news for the South Australian franchise sector and the thousands of franchisees and employees who work in it.

“The strong message to the South Australian Government should be that at this time the small business sector needs proactive support, not extra taxpayer funded bureaucracy, which will serve only to put a brake on business investment,” says Wright.

An example of the Government’s unnecessary red tape and burdens is the Small Business Commissioner Bill 2011, which was tabled in the South Australian Parliament on 28 July by the Small Business Commissioner Minister Tom Koustantonis.

“Mr Koutsantonis told the Parliament this bill mirrors the Victorian SBC model. But the truth is it goes much further -- to the point it is actually a defacto franchising bill, with heavy new penalties and the potential for different rules to those which exist in the rest of the nation,” says Wright.

“If Mr Koutsantonis thinks this will inspire business growth in SA, he is wrong. He needs to pull back from this aggressive approach and return to what the Victorian and other State Governments have recognised is the sensible approach – a Small Business Commissioner office which focuses on quick affordable dispute resolution, not one which sets up an expensive quasi tribunal.”

“Small business needs reduced red tape, not a new big-stick bureaucracy which would cost taxpayers millions of dollars a year to run.”