Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a pleasure to rise in this place to speak on another one of our bills in support of small business and enterprise, the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bill 2015. The government is funding $8 million over four years for the creation and ongoing operations of the ombudsman, who will advocate for the Australian small business community.

As we have seen in much discussion over the past few weeks, small businesses and family enterprises play an integral role in the Australian economy, to the extent that they represent around 97 per cent of all Australian businesses, and it is these small business people who face many daily challenges as they seek to expand their business, and they put their whole life on the line. Family enterprises, too, share these challenges, and face many issues because of the nature and characteristics of family business. That is why small businesses and family enterprises need a strong advocate to represent their interests—an advocate who can represent a range of issues, from red tape to taxation—and to be treated as though they were big business with all the resources possessed by Australia's larger companies.

This bill seeks to address the relationship between Commonwealth laws and state laws, and establishes an ombudsman and specifies the functions and powers of the ombudsman. The ombudsman has both advocacy and assistance functions.

This bill will provide significant support to Australia's small business and family enterprise community, with an ombudsman that will undertake research and inquiries into legislation, policies and practices on their behalf. The value, we hope, will be that Australia's small business people will no longer feel left out of the loop, with an ombudsman who will work collaboratively with industry bodies and other groups to advocate and bring a voice to the federal government. The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman represents a positive opportunity to establish a highly regarded advocate who will act as a conduit for issues that small businesses and family enterprises face. It is envisaged that the ombudsman will provide valuable leadership and promote a nationally consistent and coordinated approach to the issues small businesses and family enterprises face, by collaborating with state small business commissioners, other state and territory officials and peak industry bodies. The ombudsman will raise the concerns of small business and family enterprise in discussions and interactions across both the public and private sectors.

The Australian government is committed to a general deregulation agenda. A 2012 university study found that small businesses in Australia were spending around $28,000 and nearly 500 hours per year on red tape and compliance burdens. In establishing an Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, we seek to reduce the regulatory burden at a Commonwealth level by undertaking activities including: reducing administrative burdens—for example, suggesting simplifications to administrative forms and processes; minimising the costs businesses incur in complying with regulations; providing advice on matters affecting the interactions of small businesses and family enterprises with Commonwealth agencies; conducting investigations into industry sectors in which small businesses and family enterprises face particular problems; and making recommendations on practical solutions to reduce burdensome regulation. In establishing the ombudsman we hope that it will, in effect, lead to a net reduction in the regulatory burdens faced by businesses, with broader net economic benefits to businesses estimated to be in the order of $18 million per year. But broader net economic costs associated with the ombudsman's assistance function include staff time and out-of-pocket expenses relating to participating in an ADR process. Economic savings relate to avoided court costs, where a dispute is resolved through the ombudsman's assistance function rather than through a court.

With more than 11,000 small businesses in the Forde electorate, the Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman will go a long way to assisting these businesses deal with the issues they face on a day-to-day basis and allow the hardworking men and women who run small and family businesses to focus on what they do best: and that is, to build and grow their businesses and employ fellow Australians.

The ombudsman will cut costs significantly for business people across Australia. This bill reduces regulations and administrative burdens. The ombudsman will offer advice and recommendations, and provide a better service and collaborative effort on solving industry problems. The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bill will improve support and reduce expenses for Australian small businesses, and I commend this bill to the House.

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