COSBOA rates major party policies

Wondering how the major parties’ small business policies compare? COSBOA, the association representing Australian small business (yes there is such a thing!), has put together a table so you can see the similarities and differences between Liberal and Labor’s policies on a variety of issues affecting small business including tax, red tape, late payment, competition, contracts and justice, wages, energy, infrastructure and NBN, access to finance, industry specific policies, vocational education and training, export markets, and mental health.

Nationwide, small business owners make up 14 percent of voters and will be critical in marginal electorates like Corangamite and Wentworth.

Of the 13 policy areas deemed to be ‘Important Policy Areas’ for small business, the Coalition trails in one (ie, Climate and Energy) and the ALP’s trails in 7 areas, with a further two areas where the ALP had no policy coverage (ie, Export Market Facilitations and Mental Health policy for small business owners).

COSBOA has weighted the various issues from 1 to 3, with Wages, Policy, Vocational Education and Training, and Access to Finance ‘Highly Critical’ categories. For these three, the parties were judged to be fairly similar

in two areas – Access to Finance and Vocational Training) but the ALP policy was ranked as a ‘fail’ in the area of “Wage Policy”. We have republished ratings for these three critical policy areas below:

‘The best way to get a small business vote is to talk to us as people not just as businesses,’ said COSBOA CEO Peter Strong. ‘We value time with our family; the removal of complexity; the ability to focus on our business and our employees not on unnecessary compliance; and on fairness in dealings with big businesses and governments.

‘We want to run our businesses and keep healthy. Not all of us want to grow to become a large business but we do want the economy to be stable; and those that do want to grow want access to finance and support when needed,’ he concluded.

In the full comparison document, COSBOA has also included a third column so you can see how the major party’s policies compare to what COSBOA advocates for. To access the COSBOA ratings in all matters affecting small business, click here.