Inc magazine’s The Best Industries to Start a Business Right Now -lists 18 industries poised for growth.

herVoice is proud that so many ABN members have already identified those opportunities and are growing successful businesses in those areas.

Seeing what these entrepreneurial women have achieved with little or no government assistance at all, leads herVoice to wonder what Australia’s SME sector could be achieving now if the Rudd Government hadn’t wound up the previous Government’s Commercial Ready program.

Over its life, Commercial Ready gave billions of dollars of support to innovators and helped many Australians launch businesses that in turn provided employment to tens of thousands.  

The Govt’s replacement programs are tailored to assist only a few select industries and are focused more on addressing social policy imperatives than on supporting the growth of Australia’s SME sector.

A new resource for small business owners facing a life-
threatening illness

Developed by the Victorian Government, the Illness and Business Management Plan offers practical support to small business owners,  in the form of information sheets, checklists, contacts and case studies.

It helps business owners plan for the day-to-day running and long-term future of their businses, while they come to terms with the physical, emotional and financial impact of a serious illness.  

The plan guides business owners through questions such as how to inform staff, appointing Power of Attorney, deciding what to do with the business and accessing support from a range of organisations.  

Visit  http://www.business.vic.gov.au/illness  for more information.

Reading this article in today’s Daily Telegraph has brought on a reflective mood to herVoice.

By necessity, herVoice was a full-time working sole parent for many years. Her overriding memories of those years are the working mum’s guilt she lived with daily,  having to choose between her child and her work.

But at least herVoice had choices which gave her the opportunity to do what she thought best for her child.

Five years later, paid parental leave has become a policy reality and in eighteen months will become a fact.  But one simple fact seems to have missed our friends in Canberra, the unions and all the other vocal advocates for paid maternity leave.

Paid parental leave is a disincentive for employers to offer jobs to women of child bearing age.

Today’s article has stated the obvious - mothers are bearing the brunt of the recession.

And with women over-represented in part-time work and lower-skilled jobs, this trend will continue, particularly as the Government introduces higher penalty rates next year.

The bottom line is that the Rudd government has set up a direct pathway for indirect discrimination to prevail against women in their 20s and 30s .

Which means that many mothers, especially sole parents, won’t have the choices herVoice did - they will be forced to live off welfare, as they become less and less attractive to employers.

And their children will suffer as a result.

With his demonstrated disdain for the interests of small business Mr Rudd is rapidly becoming the Opposition’s best friend - all our “alternative government” has to do is sit tight, say nothing and watch the small business community vote with its feet at the next election.