Small businesses drive Australia’s economy, but complex taxes and regulations make success harder than it needs to be. We need fairer, simpler rules to help businesses thrive.
Small businesses are the backbone of the Australian economy. They employ five million Australians, make up 97% of all businesses, and contribute a third of our GDP.
Yet, for too long, our tax and regulatory system has made running a business harder than it needs to be—simply because so much of it was designed for corporations with hundreds of employees, not a local business with 20.
When small businesses thrive, communities prosper, jobs are created, and innovation flourishes. But right now, our system discourages businesses from expanding and punishes success with unnecessary complexity and compliance costs.
I know this from personal experience, for example, when I managed a small family business looking to expand beyond the 15-employee payroll tax threshold. For many small business owners, the barrier to success isn’t competition – it’s red tape.
Small businesses currently spend an average of $16,716 per year and 9.3 hours per week on compliance activities—including BAS, licensing, workforce, and sector-specific rules.
As someone who’s worked in finance and who’s spent a lot of time listening to the concerns of business owners in the area, I hear consistent themes emerge:
- One-size-fits-all rules: A family business with 16 employees has the same industrial relations rules as a corporation with 200. Many small businesses avoid hiring beyond key thresholds to avoid triggering major compliance costs and red tape.
- Complex tax and compliance: Small business owners are forced to navigate a maze of state and federal obligations—GST, BAS, PAYG, payroll tax, licensing—often with contradictory rules between states.
- Growth penalties: Every small business owner is conscious of the thresholds that trigger additional compliance burdens (15 staff, $75,000 revenue, $10 million turnover).
- No voice in regulation: Only 7% of small businesses believe government regulations are designed with them in mind. The rest feel they are left out of policy-making decisions, even when the rules directly affect them.
We need fairer, simpler rules for small business
Create a fairer small business definition
The current definition of “small business” (fewer than 15 employees) is outdated. I support the proposal made by Independent MP Allegra Spender to increase this to 25 employees – a change that would cut red tape for thousands of growing businesses.
In addition, I will work to:
- Introduce scaled compliance obligations instead of arbitrary thresholds that trigger major regulatory burdens all at once. For example, businesses with 20-50 employees should have simplified workplace regulations compared to large firms.
- Legislate amnesty periods to reduce penalties for non-compliance during the first 18 months of a new regulation or compliance requirement, giving business owners time to adjust.
Cut Red Tape
Only 7% of small businesses believe current regulations are designed with them in mind – and to a large extent, they’re right. We need to stop regulating small businesses like big corporations, which means:
- Introduce a ‘Small Business Impact Statement’ for all new regulations, ensuring policymakers assess the cost burden on small businesses before passing laws.
- Review regulations every five years, removing or updating rules that no longer serve a purpose.
- Streamline compliance reporting, so small businesses only submit data once instead of duplicating reports across multiple agencies.
- Require direct input from small business representatives on all relevant government policy.
Simplify Taxes
Right now, payroll tax rules vary wildly between states, making compliance a nightmare for small businesses. And there are a number of tax benefits that keep being extended temporarily, but never sustained. Small business owners have enough to worry about without having to figure out what taxes apply to them and what benefits they are eligible for.
- Harmonise payroll taxes across the states: Push for a single national payroll tax framework to cut administrative costs and remove confusion about where wages are taxed.
- Make the instant asset write-off permanent: To ensure businesses aren’t rushed to bring forward investments before arbitrary policy cut-off dates – and to continue supporting business innovation and technology adoption.
Anyone that’s run a business knows that simple changes can make big differences. Thoughtful, targeted, simple regulations make life easier and ensure everyone works to the required standard and plays by the same rules.
As an independent, with real experience working with businesses and investors, I’ll work hard to make sure our tax and compliance systems are as simple as possible to make it easier for those who start a business to succeed.