Back on the agenda

Descriptions of Tony Abbott’s new cabinet as a lurch to the right are hardly surprising and not far off the mark – after all, many of the most hardline characters of the Howard Government have suddenly been thrust back into the spotlight.

But whether you agree with the appointments or not, the announcement of the cabinet has had a strange side effect – small business is suddenly back on the agenda.

The Coalition’s new IR spokesperson, Eric Abetz, has made a point of saying that small business will be his focus, and has already gone on the attack on the issue of unfair dismissal.

The Rudd Government dropped the level at which a small business is exempt from unfair dismissal laws from 100 employees to 15 employees. Abetz says this is far too low, and it appears the Coalition is favouring a policy that would lift this bar to 20 staff members.

Abetz and Abbott are also talking tough about bringing back individual contracts – the cornerstone of Work Choices – while at the same time declaring that Work Choices is dead (a trick Workplace Minster Julia Gillard has quickly picked up on and lashed out at).

“Work Choices is dead,” Abetz said. “We accept the verdict of the Australian people on that at the last election, but in killing Work Choices the Australian people did not give Labor a licence to increase trade union power.”

In other words: we swung the pendulum too far one way, and now Labor has swung it too far the other way.

That’s a sentiment that many SME owners and entrepreneurs will agree with.

It’s worth remembering, of course, that the Opposition remains a long way from getting back into Government, so change on some of these big issues effecting SMEs is not exactly just around the corner.

But it’s great to see small business back on the agenda. SMEs were largely forgotten in the Rudd Government’s stimulus measures and Malcolm Turnbull never really positioned himself as a huge advocate for the sector.

Let’s hope the SME community finally starts to get the attention it deserves.