Like a long line of governments before it, the current federal government has announced plans to cut business red tape. The plans this time look more thought out and designed for action than announcements in the past. I hope it works. Cutting red tape was on the wish list for the Minister of Small Business which I published on the weekend.
I like the idea of business people meeting with state and federal leaders prior to COAG meetings. I am concerned, however, about the limited small business representation. There are so many small businesses in Australia, over a million according to the ABS, and to distill the needs of these to one, maybe two, representatives feels to me as unworkable. The other challenge is that small businesses are to be represented by COSBOA which, while the peak small business group in Australia, does not represent the majority of small businesses which do not belong to or support industry associations.
I’d love to see COSBOA engage with member associations, like the ANF, to ensure that red tape ideas and issues are canvassed as close as possible to the grassroots and filtered up, as appropriate to ensure that those representing small business at the pre COAG meeting are properly informed to represent their constituency.
The government needs a workable group if it is to make progress on red tape and I am sure this has informed the size of the group they are putting together. We in the small business trenches need to make sure that bodies representing us through the channels to COSBOA are informed of specific red tape reduction ideas we have.