You’ve no doubt heard the highlights of the 2009 Budget brought down last Tuesday. But, what does it mean for your small business? Ask your questions here and we’ll help point you in the right direction to find answers. In the meantime here are a couple of resources: Dyamic Business and Smart Company have both covered the main issues that impact small business.

I do have a question for you though:

Is the Rudd Government doing enough to aid small business?

Take part in this national poll and tell us. We’ll share the results next week.

Tonight opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull will reply to the budget from the Liberals point of view. We’ve managed to get a copy of the response to the budget from Shadow Minister for Small Business, Steven Ciobo.

Click here to to read Shadow Minister Steven Biobo’s response to the budget.

We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Read about how the ABN is discussing a range of public policy issues identified by you; our ABN community, with Government and Opposition politicians. Some issues you raised included: the need for more government support for women in small business, compliance and regulatory issues for small business and the national issue of skills shortages.  Download  herVoice’s Spring newsletter here!

The Productivity Commission’s draft report on Paid Parental Leave has now been released. The report may be downloaded in whole or in part from the inquiry website at: http://www.pc.gov.au/projects/inquiry/parentalsupport

A detailed description of the draft model of paid parental leave that the Commission is proposing is contained in chapter 2, which also provides an overview of the reasoning behind each element in the model.

The ABN will be preparing a submission to the Commission – if you’d like to contribute, please email policy@abn.org.au with your comments, or call Susan McGrath on (07) 5592 3083 / 0439 908 108.  

The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment and Workplace Relations has asked the ABN to contribute to its inquiry on women’s equal opportunities in the workforce, including pay equity.  The deadline to lodge submissions is 28 August.

Some of the questions the inquiry would like to answer are:

What are the trends?  What needs to be done? What are the priority areas? What have been the most successful initiatives? Which policies are most effective? What are the lessons learnt? Is there enough information available to employers and employees? What improvements can be made to the current approach? Which policies need to be changed? What legislative changes are needed?

The Committee is interested in hearing our point of view on (but not limited to):

• The adequacy of current arrangements to ensure fair access to training and promotion for women who have taken maternity leave and/or returned to work part time and/or sought flexible work hours
• The need for further legislative reform to address pay equity in Australia
• The adequacy of recent and current equal remuneration provisions in state and federal workplace relations legislation
• Current structural arrangements in the negotiation of wages that may impact disproportionately on women
• The need for education and information among employers, employees and trade unions in relation to pay equity issues
• The adequacy of current data to reliably monitor employment changes that may impact on pay equity issues.

 If you’d like to contribute to our submission, please send your comments to susan@abn.org.au.  For further information on the inquiry, visit www.aph.gov.au/ewr.

FLEXIBLE working hours, equal pay, a child-friendly workplace and an understanding boss are at the top of a working mother’s wish list, acording to today’s Daily Telegraph.  http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0,23636,23322762-5012426,00.html

When I was a full time working mother with a young child, my wish list included an opportunity to work from home during school holidays; and free childcare for the rest of the year.  Now as a self-employed migration consultant, my wish list includes 25 hours in the day and one time zone around the world, so I don’t get any more late night/early morning calls from overseas clients!

What’s on your personal ”Working Woman’s Wish List”?  Be as creative as you like in your answer!

Oh - and some good news for those of you living in NSW - according to the Telegraph, that’s where you’re most likely to find women friendly businesses! 

With the advent of our new Federal Government, the time is ripe for change.

Labor is promising a raft of changes, ranging from cutting red tape for small business, to restoring unfair dismissal protection, introducing an entitlement of up to 24 months parental leave on the birth of a child and encouraging small business to gain a greater share of the annual $26 billion government procurement market.

What do you think the change in government means for SMEs?

Will Labor’s promised changes eventuate? If so, what will be the key impacts; and how should business owners adapt to the new government?

Please share your thoughts by submitting a comment to this blog post OR email us at policy@abn.org.au with your thoughts.

Please note, as the ABN is a politically neutral organisation, the following blog does not represent an endorsement - or otherwise - of any political party.

On news.com.au this morning, I read a story about rising interest rates. Read the story here.

In it, the reporter quoted Prime Minister Howard as saying “Voters don’t hold politicians to promises”. Mr Howard’s point was that voters go for the “aggregate result”, rather than holding politicians to individual commitments.

I thought Mr Howard raised an interesting point. What do you think? When is a promise not a promise? What’s more important – a politician delivering on individual promises, or providing a good overall result for their country?

In its recent report “The Voice of Super”, the Association of Superannuation Funds (ASFA) reported that

• in 2004 women had superannuation balances less than 50% of those of men and estimates that
• in 2006, average superannuation retirement payouts for women were 35% of those of men

These are alarming statistics, and frankly, we believe that it’s not good enough for any party to continue to blame this shameful situation is a result of the differing work patterns of males and females and the resulting income disparities.

We already know what causes it - our point is that something needs to be done about it!

We’ve formally written to all four major parties (Coalition, Labor, Democrats and Greens), to find out what their strategies are to redress the balance and end this indirect discrimination against Australian women.

We’ll keep you posted as responses are received.

One of my favourite sites is www.smartcompany.com.au. An extract from a recently published article follows:“Where are the women?” is the headline of a story in AFR Boss magazine today. It looks at the abysmal record of large Australian corporates to get women into their boardrooms. It also notes that while women make up half the workforce in these large corporates, they usually only have two female directors on the board.

But if Boss magazine can’t find them, we can! The answer may be that the smart ones are shunning corporate life to run their own businesses.

The SmartCompany50 list of fast growing and innovative companies shows that 20% of the companies have female founders. Kosmas Smyrnios, professor of management at RMIT University, and who studies fast growth companies, points out that this is a big increase on other years.

Other studies on women running fast growth companies show that usually about 5% to 10% are run by females, he says. “So 20% is a great result, and shows that maybe the trend of women to start and run their businesses, which has occurred in the US, is beginning to be happen here.

From my own experience in general management and later as a senior bureaucrat before establishing Susan McGrath Consulting, I think editor Amanda Gome is right on the ball- many women employed at a high level in Australian organisations eventually move on to run their own business.

I don’t think it’s surprising, as the glass ceiling does still exist in Australia, both in the corporate world and in government.

Add to this the qualities of exceptional resilience, tenacity, faith in your own ability and dedication to the job that a woman needs to push aside political and professional barriers at the higher corporate and government levels and you have the perfect entrepreneurial profile.

With the Federal election imminent, this is a great time to contact your local member and state parliamentarian to find out their stance on issues that are important to you. Your lobbying power will never be greater, especially if you live in a marginal electorate!

herVoice has put together a great resource to help you lobby – click here to download your complimentary copy, or call me on 0439 908 108, if you’d like to discuss strategy.

The Australian Electoral Commission website www.aec.gov.au, has a wealth of information about:

• your nearest polling place on Election Day

• which Federal electorate you live in

• a profile and map of your federal electorate and

• the name of your incumbent House of Representatives Member

If you need a hand with navigating the AEC site, call the ABN on 1300 720 120 , or email policy@abn.org.au for a fast response.

Every vote does count, so don’t miss out on this chance to have your say in Australia’s future!