Victoria’s model on the move
The Victorian office was set up nine years ago to provide information and education, to review government practices, to investigate small business complaints and provide dispute resolution.
It’s now run by Geoff Browne, who says he’s motivated to let “small business get on with doing business, rather than getting caught up in litigation or lengthy disputes.”
According to Browne, the office has reported 11% annual growth in the number of inquiries it fields since it started. Its annual report, released in September last year, showed that retail leasing accounted for about 70% of the 1553 matters it tackled in 2011.
The Victorian office has served as a template for other states, but there are variations across the country.
Victoria is focused on a dispute resolution service that provides small business operators with a low-cost alternative to the court system.
Whereas policy and dispute resolution are separate in Victoria, in NSW they are not. Victoria doesn’t get involved in program delivery and, as a dispute resolution body, it’s quite similar to SA.
Zumbo says the SA commission covers both dispute resolution and education, with the power to enforce mandatory industry codes of conduct and a small business arm that deals with programs. It has an annual budget of $1.2 million.
Queensland doesn’t provide dispute resolution services, instead focusing on policy advocacy and red-tape reduction. Commissioner Blair Davies could not comment for this article, being in ‘caretaker’ mode ahead of the state election, but COSBOA executive director Peter Strong says the commissioner should be independent rather than pulled from the public service, and the role should be morphed into a traditional small business commission model.
Strong says budget restraints mean Tasmania won’t have a commissioner for a while, but that eyes are on WA and SA to see how their inaugural commissioners go.
Way out west
Meanwhile, WA’s first small business commissioner, David Eaton, says he’s lending his ear.
Eaton oversees the statutory-funded Small Business Development Corporation, which provides advice to the sector and policy advocacy into Government, and he says the role is about “ensuring that I fully understand what the priorities for the sector are.”
“It’s early days. I’m hearing it’s tough for small business, but I’m also optimistic.”
A former small business owner and senior executive with Australia Post, Eaton says the WA model has two main benefits: disputes are resolved quickly and cheaply, and business relationships are more likely to remain intact.
“As much as there are all these challenges, I’d also like to identify ways we can allow business to take advantage of opportunities.”
So what will the federal small business commissioner do?
In an interview with SmartCompany, Federal Small Business Minister Brendan O’Connor said the commissioner would provide representations to him on behalf of small business and advise the sector on compliance issues.
The Federal Government has also said the commissioner will serve as a “one-stop-shop” for small business people, provide referrals to external services such as dispute resolution services, and work with the state and territory commissioners.
There’s also a gap for a federal small business commissioner to deal with disputes between small business and federal government agencies.
As NSW small business commissioner Yasmin King explains, if someone now has a complaint against a federal agency, the only thing she would be able to do is refer it to a federal government agency to try and mediate.
Ken Phillips, executive directors of Independent Contractors, says this is a must for the federal role to have real teeth.
Professor Tim Mazzarol, a Winthrop Professor specialising in entrepreneurship, innovation, small business management, marketing and strategy at the University of Western Australia, has more ideas.
Writing on the Conversation website, Mazzarol says beyond mediating disputes between small business and the Federal Government and collaborating with the state commissioners, the federal commissioner could:
The Government is tight-lipped on the identity of the new federal small business commissioner, who will set up office next year.
But after years of being a bit-player on the political scene, small business at last has reason to hope it’s back in the game.
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