Small business owners alarmed

SMALL business owners are raising the alarm about Labor’s proposed industrial relations reforms as the government’s own regulatory impact statement revealed Tuesday that a company with as few as 16 employees could be forced to shoulder costs of $75,000 or more to participate in negotiations over wages and conditions.

At issue is the definition of small business, which the government’s proposed legislation sets at 15 or fewer employees, meaning that even a small cafe that employs more than that number of people for brief shifts could be forced into expensive and complex multi-employer bargaining arrangements. “Our members are telling us they are gravely concerned,” said Alexi Boyd, CEO of the Council of Small Business Organisations of Australia, which had previously cheered Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s so-called jobs summit where the multiemployer bargaining was confirmed.

Ms Boyd said the bill “should be broken up” so that questions about small businesses could be dealt with rather than having the entire bill rushed through parliament. “The multi-employer bargaining section needs to be removed so it can be properly assessed and give organisations like ours the chance to offer perspective.”

The group’s concerns were raised a day after Small Business Minister Julie Collins was unable “to name one small business” that supported the change to industrial relations laws. In Question Time teal independent Zoe Daniel lashed out at the government’s reforms. “There would be thousands of small businesses across the country potentially drawn into multi-employer bargaining,” she asked. “Overall, I supported the bill, however, does the government accept the numbers should be raised to a higher number of full-time equivalent staff?”