Small Business Development Corporation Motion Speech

[COUNCIL - Wednesday, 15 September 2010] 6599

HON LYNN MacLAREN (South Metropolitan) [3.50 pm]: I rise to speak to the motion. In some ways I
support the motion, but in other ways I am very sympathetic to what the minister said in his response. There are
certainly elements of the motion that are of some concern to me, but I will flesh those concerns out as I go on. I
appreciate the fact that Hon Ljiljanna Ravlich has given us an opportunity to look at the Small Business
Development Corporation and its future in Western Australia. It is understandable that the Labor Party has an
interest in looking at this, because I know that it was established in the time that Hon Mal Bryce was the
Minister for Small Business. It represented a significant change in the Western Australian business culture to
have a government department that actually went some way towards fostering small business in an economy in
which large business often has the advantage. That is why it is particularly relevant today to look at the SBDC.
We are at the precipice of changing our retail trading environment by extending hours, and the big fear about
that is that the bigger players will have an advantage. Therefore, small business is going to need some extra
attention to be able to ensure that it can weather this change and maintain its vibrancy as a sector. Although it
would have been hard to foresee 18 months ago that this matter would be relevant at this time, at the time it was
also hard to imagine that we would be this close to debating bills on retail trading hours. However, that is the
situation we find ourselves in, and I take this opportunity to make some comments about that.

As part of the government’s reforms in bringing about extended trading hours, it has agreed to establish a small
business advocate within the SBDC. Depending upon what one has read, the small business advocate was to be
underway before the extended hours were brought into play. We are now hearing that it is part of the same
package and that the small business advocate will begin his or her role when the extended trading hours begin.
That is a bit of a catch 22, because small businesses are particularly concerned about these changes, and if they
do need some help, they will need that help on day one. I, for one, have advocated for the small business
advocate to be up and running before we implement extended retail trading hours. That is why this motion is
relevant today, because it asks the government to put on the record the nature of its commitment to the SBDC.
We would like to have the small business advocate established.

I listened very carefully when the minister rose to address the motion, to find out whether he would put
something on the record about whether that commitment would be honoured. It is still unclear to me when the
small business advocate will be working. However, I did appreciate the fact that the minister acknowledged that
there has been, and will be, no change to the funding of the SBDC, nor to the government’s commitment to that
very important agency. I felt that that was really good, and I appreciate the fact that the government has made
that commitment.

The second part of protecting small business in these times of change is, as was mentioned by the minister,
commercial tenancy protections. We have yet to see how they will play out, but we will certainly be watching
that. I would expect the SBDC to play a pivotal role in educating small business people about their rights in this
time of change so that the big players, the large businesses, do not gain an unfair advantage if trading hours are
extended. It is really important to know that 96 per cent of all business in Western Australia is small business.
That is a huge sector, and in this post global financial crisis phase, we cannot afford to let them down. We cannot
afford to place them in a position of risk, when the laws are changing and they will not have a safety net to catch
them so that they can cope with this change. It is critically important that the strategic long-term plan that the
government has identified as being necessary is put in place so that even if the small business advocate is not put
in place now, we can at least see where it is on the horizon and what that strategic vision is for this corporation.
In times of uncertainty, organisations like the SBDC can carry us through, especially when small business is
most impacted by changes in the marketplace. I note that more than one-third of small businesses—Hon Helen
Bullock may also have mentioned this—are sole traders. That puts a lot of pressure on those businesses. They
need to be able to ensure that they can respond appropriately to any change that takes place in the regulatory
environment.

I would like to make special note of the comments made by Hon Max Trenorden about the importance of the
SBDC in the regions. I was very concerned to learn that the corporation has shrunk in the Wheatbelt from four or five officers to only one. That is of deep concern because it means that farmers in the Wheatbelt, in a time of
climate change when they will be looking at trying to develop new ways of supporting themselves, will no
longer have that assistance from the SBDC if there is only one person there to assist them. I therefore urge the
government to pay attention to what Hon Max Trenorden said and prioritise the regions when looking at
expanding the services that the SBDC offers. We know that the impact of the global financial crisis could have
been a lot worse if we had not had supports like the SBDC in place to provide advice from a very independent
standpoint. Instead of having to go and pay an accountant, people could go to the SBDC and be provided with
some guidance on how to weather that storm. I think that is a very valuable and appropriate role for the
government.

It is noted in the motion that the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Western Australia believes that there are
significant opportunities for the core functions of the SBDC to be absorbed by other agencies. The minister
seems to have indicated that the government has no intention of following that recommendation, and that is very
good, but there may well be some role for further assistance from the private sector that small business can get,
so I do not think we should dismiss that idea out of hand. However, I think that the core functions of the SBDC,
as I say, have historically assisted Western Australian businesses, and I would like to see it remain there long
into the future.

I hope that the remarks that the minister has made today allay the concerns of the small business sector, if indeed
it has concerns, about the future of the SBDC. The minister went some way to finally publicly acknowledging
that the SBDC is safe and that it is a service that the government is committed to. The only thing that the Greens
(WA) would also like to see is for the government to follow through on that commitment to develop the small
business advocate within the SBDC.

In concluding my remarks, I would like to support the motion. Although I appreciate the Leader of the House has
in many ways addressed most of the concerns, I think it was worthwhile to have those on the record. Therefore,
the Greens (WA) support the motion.