Please don’t ask small business families to pay for it

Radio transcript.

Ross Stevenson 0:04
A suggestion has been made that there’ll be a public holiday if the Matilda’s win the World Cup. Well, let’s win it first right?

Russel Howcroft 0:23
Exactly.

Ross Stevenson 0:24
And I’m confident that you you like me would not be a fan of this idea. I’d accept a compromise if we swapped it out for the grand final public holiday.

Russel Howcroft 0:35
There we go.

Ross Stevenson 0:35
Swapped it out for another one. Bill Lang is the Executive Director of Small Business Australia. I read a staggering stat the other day. Do you see how many, what percentage of small businesses in Australia don’t make money?

Russel Howcroft 0:47
Oh gosh. Well, a lot of it goes, you know, to somewhere else.

Ross Stevenson 0:51
The Government. Bill, good morning to you.

Bill Lang 0:55
Yeah, g’day Ross.

Ross Stevenson 0:57
What’s your attitude to the proposal for public holiday if the Matilda’s win the World Cup?

Bill Lang 1:02
Well, look, I think every every employee would love to get it but please don’t ask small business families to actually pay for it. There’s more than 10 millon Australians work in private sector businesses, a majority of them, you know, small family businesses Ross, and it’s sort of 300 bucks a day on average is what an employer is paying one of those workers and the majority of these businesses just cannot afford it.

Ross Stevenson 1:23
So if a public holiday was, you know, was declared, what sort of multiple do you have to put on a casual worker that might be in a cafe?

Bill Lang 1:31
So I think it’s at least a sort of 50% plus loading with respect to those people that work on those days. It could well be double time, depending on the awards and things that they’re under. But the reality here is if the Prime Minister wants to do something along those lines let all Australians pay for it, rather than putting the burden on a couple of million small business families, and you saw that statistic Ross, you’ve just mentioned, it’s it’s almost a half now. We’re still losing money. We still have an ongoing significant crisis with respect to the level of demand that small businesses have got from customers, but they’re just spiralling costs in every area of their balance of their profit and loss statement. The expenses are up and continue to rise.

Ross Stevenson 2:11
And governments seem to be addicted to having more ways of spending money other than money of their own.

Bill Lang 2:20
Things are heading in a very much in the wrong direction and I see it from recent research with the majority of Australians are now saying that we’ve got you know, there’s no such thing as a free ride with this stuff. Ultimately, it’s got to be paid for. And at the moment many small business families who are ones having to pay for it and other people have got a break with their taxes. There’s time for things to be reined in time for the government’s to speak the truth with respect to the situation that we’re in and start acting appropriately.

Russel Howcroft 2:44
So Bill, you’re in charge right now. What would you do? What are the one or two things that would be very good for small business right now?

Bill Lang 2:52
Look, we believe at Small Business Australia at making things much simpler, and much easier for people to deal with. Things are so complicated and every sort of area of life. But I think the government’s need to stick with some simple rules, and then get out of the way and with business people with the customers get on with business.

Russel Howcroft 3:09
I like the idea of that.

Ross Stevenson 3:10
Good on you Bill.

Bill Lang 3:11
Get out of the way and let us get on with business.

Ross Stevenson 3:13
Get out of the way would be good.

Bill Lang 3:14
Get out of the way.

Ross Stevenson 3:15
And Bill, I think that figure was 43%, is that about it 43% of small businesses don’t make any money.

Bill Lang 3:22
That’s correct. And it’s a high percentage in Victoria, Ross.

Ross Stevenson 3:27
Bill, nice to speak. Bill Lang, Executive Director of Small Business Australia.