While so many of us delight in the numerous public holidays during April and early May, it is important to keep in mind this is a tough time of year for our hard working small business owners. When you aren’t open for business, you aren’t making money – yet the bills and staff costs don’t go away. This is a great time of year to make an extra special effort to support your local small business community by shopping locally, and using local service providers.

It would be weird not to mention the upcoming federal election on 18 May. A great initiative gaining attention is the “Small Business is a BIG Deal” campaign being run by the Chamber of Commerce movement across Australia – encouraging MPs and Senators to back small business. As is quite rightly pointed out in the campaign messaging “small businesses make up 97% of all businesses in Queensland and employ more than government or large businesses. It’s small business that gives hundreds of thousands of young Australians their first job”.

As always, I work side by side with my interstate colleagues and Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Kate Carnell to ensure the needs and challenges faced by our Queensland small business community, continue to influence and shape the national small business agenda.

Small businesses across Queensland keep referring me to examples of red tape, and the cost or other burdens imposed by regulation. One thing is certain, there will never be a perfect world when it comes to regulation and its impacts on business. However I am working hard with the Better Regulation Taskforce (BRT) to raise awareness of those impacts, and to propose practical, workable solutions. You can see some of the progress being made in the Queensland Government’s response to the BRT’s 2017 recommendations for regulatory reform. Those recommendations were based on consultation and research conducted by the BRT into the live music and entertainment industry, start-ups, and eco-tourism sector. The BRT is determined to achieve positive outcomes for small business and we have put steps in place to work more closely with each of the Queensland Government agencies involved, to ensure the problems we identified for solving, are in fact solved. I will keep reporting on our progress.

Queensland small business week is coming soon! Have you checked out the hundreds of workshops, seminars, webinars, celebrations, and networking events happening right across Queensland for #QSBW2019 in last week of May? It is set to be bigger and better than ever with approximately 150 events listed so far, with many more to come. This is a brilliant opportunity to come together with fellow small business owners: learn something new; better understand something that affects your business; become inspired; and grow your business network. I’ll be at heaps of #QSBW2019 events, talking to as many Queensland small businesses as I possibly can. I hope I’m able to meet you, so please say hi and tell me about your business.

I’d like to mention a couple of handy tools I’ve discovered that might be of use you to:

• The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO) has created a business dispute navigator, for guidance in figuring out who can help in the event of a dispute.

• RDA Ipswich and West Moreton has created a grants and support finder.

Upcoming events I am attending:

7 May: Redcliffe Chamber of Commerce meeting at Mon Komo Hotel

8 May: Small Business Industry Roundtable discussion with special guest Geoff Browne, Lead Small Business Ombudsman with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority

15 May: Meeting of the National Small Business Commissioners and Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (hosted by NSW Small Business Commissioner, Sydney)

16 May: Inaugural Small Business Friendly Councils Conference, Sydney

22 May: Australian Newsagents and Lotteries Association, Brisbane Industry Breakfast

27 May: #QSBW2019 State Launch event

28 May: #QSBW2019 Women’s Plumbing Alliance small business lunch

29 May: Queensland Small Business Advisory Council meeting in Townsville

29 May: Business Networking in Townsville

30 May: IPA national regulatory roadshow with ASIC (Brisbane)

30 May: #QSBW2019 Logan Business Links

31 May: #QSBW2019 Taste and Trade event

Maree