Report tabled on the inquiry into barriers for small business employment

SMALL BUSINESS is the engine room of the Australian economy—it generates investment and employment opportunities for thousands of Australians.

The Standing Committee on Education and Employment tabled its report on Tuesday into the barriers that jobseekers face when seeking employment with small businesses.

Committee Chair, Andrew Laming MP, said the report’s recommendations are aimed at making it easier for small businesses to invest and employ and for disadvantaged jobseekers to find work with these businesses.

“We want small businesses to succeed, to grow, and to employ. This report recognises that while the Coalition Government have achieved a great deal to promote opportunities for small business, there are some specific areas for improvement” Laming said.

The Committee recommended:

• establishing a working group to examine the alignment of the definitions of employee and contractor and relating legislative barriers, and to consider a proposal for the establishment of a register of building contractors;
• investigating the impact of lowering the GST threshold on the importation of low value physical goods;
•  improving the promotion of the value of employing culturally and linguistically diverse people;
•  reviewing careers advice provided in schools;
• further funding and support for driver’s licence programs;
• assessing skills recognition and apprenticeship programs;
• better supporting for providers of ancillary services for jobseekers;
• changing welfare eligibility criteria for sufferers of episodic illnesses; and
• reassessing the policy case for the taxation of redundancy payouts for persons over 65 years.

The full report and information about the inquiry, including submissions, can be accessed via the Committee’s website.

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