Retail issues that affect the franchisee community are up for discussion at a forum hosted by the Franchise Council of Australia (FCA) in Sydney this week. On the table are a range of small business issues, including a proposed Retail Leasing Code of Conduct, a real payroll tax freeze, government assistance for small business and occupational health and safety.

The FCA has taken a lead role in coordinating the event, but there is interest in contributing to the discussion from the Australian Retailers Association, the Pharmacy Guild and the Australian Sporting Goods Association.

Both the Victorian and NSW Small Business Commissioners have indicated an interest in the topic.

FCA executive director Steve Wright expects the focus of the forum to be very positive.

“This is about constructive solutions and improvements, and is not intended to be a wailing wall. Those attending represent successful small business, and are looking at ways for small business to be more successful,” Wright said.

Retail tenancy code

Last year the FCA put the focus on retail tenancy, began working on a draft document, and has called for industry support for the concept.

“The retail tenancy discussion will be very direct, and important issues such as information inequality, excessive rental increases at end of term and other inappropriate conduct will be discussed,” said Wright.

“However the intent is to have a constructive focus – how can the retail tenancy environment be improved, how can the competitive landscape be equalised, and for the landlords how can the compliance cost of having to comply with different legislation in every state be simplified? We hope landlords will engage constructively with us, as we believe it is possible to improve the regulatory framework for the benefit of everyone.”

Government assistance

The discussion about government assistance will centre on the model adopted by the United States Small Business Administration (SBA). Since its founding on July 30, 1953, the SBA has delivered about 20 million loans and loan guarantees to small businesses.

Wright said “The FCA is not intending to ask government to be a lender, it is asking it to make use of an unused bank wholesale funding guarantee to provide a guarantee to business start-ups which lack a guarantor and who would otherwise get a bank loan if they had a guarantor.”

Payroll tax freeze

The concept of a payroll tax freeze will also be discussed at the forum.

“The FCA is not asking for a reduction of payroll tax, it is asking only for a freeze, so that payroll tax bills paid by employers do not get any bigger. A freeze would remove any ‘threshold creeps’ which can be a disincentive to employ new workers as the new employment may take a business above the threshold, and therefore incur the tax or even be dragged into paying payroll tax simply be granting a pay rise to employees, in order to keep them,” said Wright.

• Steve Wright explains why retail needs a leasing code
• More about the forum