Small business ‘will be sent bust by flawed IR bill’

Small business will be “sent to the wall” by the complex and unworkable industrial relations changes in the government’s Closing Loopholes Bill, says the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia.

The complex legislation has become the number one threat to the sector, COSBOA says.

It said the latest tranche of IR revisions were being rammed through the lower house of parliament despite the concerns of small business and called on the Senate to reject the legislation.

COSBOA CEO Luke Achterstraat said the Closing Loopholes Bill had been roundly rejected as flawed and unworkable by small businesses.

“The sheer complexity of the bill will turn headaches into migraines for businesses already grappling with a complex system,” he said.

“The failure to even bother modelling the impact of the 800-page package on small business raises serious concerns about the government’s promise to make life easier not harder for small businesses.”

“Decision makers need to understand that our industrial relations system is much more than a political plaything – it affects the daily lives of our small business owners and their 5 million employees.”