The ACT Government’s Small Business Strategy 2023-26, released last week, is designed to “support a dynamic and thriving small business community”, Tara Cheyne, ACT Minister for Business and Better Regulation, said.

But the reaction from the business community is mixed.

The Canberra Business Chamber believes the strategy addresses many issues they have raised this year, and is “keen to be working with the government to make sure that the strategy can be … [implemented] as rapidly and effectively as possible”, CEO Greg Harford said.

But Tom Adam, president of the Phillip Business Community, believes the Strategy is mere ‘lip-service’. The government, he asserts, did not consult him or other small business groups about their needs.

“The biggest issue with [the Strategy] is it doesn’t appear to actually support small business,” Mr Adam said. “I feel like they’re trying to say all the right things, but they just don’t know how to talk to small business because they won’t talk to us; they don’t know how to communicate…

“The document reads like ‘we [the government] don’t know what we’re talking about, we’ve not spoken to small business, so we’re just going to tell you what we think is going to work in the future and what you [business] want to hear.”

Small businesses, Ms Cheyne said, are “an integral part of our community and our economy”, and valued “partners in our city’s economic future”. There are more than 34,000 businesses in the ACT, employing almost two-thirds of Canberrans; 97 per cent of those businesses employ fewer than 20 people.

The Strategy sets out five priority areas: improving businesses’ experience when dealing with government; supporting businesses to start, operate, grow, and innovate; showcasing and promoting local small businesses; futureproofing small businesses; and adopting a one-government approach to business.

Businesses want an easier, more streamlined experience when dealing with the government; an open and transparent procurement process; and reductions in regulations that make it difficult to start and operate a business, the Strategy states. The government will provide individualised business support to navigate licensing and approvals through the Access Canberra Business Assist team; expand the Business Hub website; review and streamline procurement legislation; and run a pilot business sentiment survey. The Chamber welcomes the move to improve procurement processes.

The government says it will provide tailored services to give back time to established businesses and people wanting to start businesses. It will encourage greater diversity in industries (for instance, helping more Indigenous businesses start up through the Badji program, or investigating barriers to women, or disabled, LGBTIQ, young, or culturally diverse people owning businesses). The Canberra Innovation Network’s footprint will double to provide more space for growing companies and for events, meetings, and workshops that connect people and organisations, while the government will invest in early stage commercialisation through the Innovation Connect grant.

Mr Adam, however, has a low opinion of the Network. “I’ve been to some of the training, and I’ve spoken to people, and they’ve all said the same thing: it’s a private entity looking for the best value for money for themselves,” he said. “So, people are paying for courses [where they] cherry-pick what’s a good idea for them to invest in, not what might not necessarily be good for the community.”

The government will showcase and promote local small businesses, especially in order to access new markets, both in Canberra and interstate or overseas. For instance, it will hold a Small Business Expo to showcase local small businesses, and recognise and encourage female talent through the Canberra Women in Business Awards.

The government will help businesses to adapt and take advantage of change as the ACT transitions to net zero by 2045. Workforce shortages and attracting skilled staff are critical issues for many businesses, while business owners do not have time for lengthy professional development that takes them away from planning their business, the Strategy states. The government will arrange microcredentials for small business owners in business administration and digital skills (an initiative the Chamber welcomes).

Businesses want the government to better understand their needs and experiences, to consider needs and impacts on small business in their decision-making, the Strategy states. To increase awareness of small businesses’ needs and foster better connection and engagement with business and industry stakeholders, the government will organise a government-to-business secondment program and small business awareness training modules for public servants. The Chamber supports this move.

How much feedback?

The Strategy, according to the minister, is built on conversations and consultations with business leaders, business owners and operators over the last few years, and on ‘learnings’ in the development of the Better Regulation Agenda and the delivery of business support programs.

But Mr Adam claims that the government did not meet the Phillip Business Community, nor the Woden Valley Community Council, nor the Molonglo Valley Community Forum.

“They haven’t sat down with community groups to say: ‘What is the ideal business environment?’,” Mr Adam said.

“They did not communicate with us. I didn’t know anything about this [Strategy] before it came out. I’m not saying I should have been involved from day dot, but even just: ‘Hey, here’s a draft; what are your thoughts?’ Like, for God’s sake! I even do that with my own customers…

“They only talk to the big industry groups – the unions [and] the Canberra Business Chamber, who are too scared to say anything negative about the government, even though they don’t get funded by them anymore. But they won’t come and talk to business groups like me because they go: ‘Oh, you’re a member of the opposition party, so therefore you can’t have any good ideas’.”

Mr Adam is a member of the Canberra Liberals party.

However, Greg Harford said the Strategy incorporated feedback the Chamber and business community had provided over recent months.

“The ACT Government strategy addresses many of the issues raised by the Chamber over recent months, and is a great starting point,” Mr Harford said.

“The Canberra Business Chamber has long been concerned at the regulatory burden facing business, the complexity of doing business with multiple government departments, and the challenges of getting government representatives to understand the operations of small business.”

The government states that it will track the impact of the Strategy through a range of measures – such as businesses continuing to grow and employ Canberrans, economic diversification, level of satisfaction with ACT Government services, and the like – that will form the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the Strategy. These will be measured through Australian Bureau of Statistics data, a business sentiment survey, an Access Canberra customer and business satisfaction survey, uptake of government programs, and adaptation of businesses to net zero.

But Mr Adam said he is not certain how the Strategy will be implemented.

“At no point in that document does it actually talk about Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-Bound (SMART) things,” he said. “That’s how you run a business. Here are my seven vital signs. I need to generate this much revenue [and] this much interest per week. I need to have the cash flow XYZ. I need to have my payroll below this. My customers need to be giving me 4.8 stars out of 5 every week to make sure that they’re happy… What in that document is actually measurable? Is it just a thought bubble guidance document, or are there things where we can go back to them and [suggest] legislative changes that would help?”

Mr Adam holds an Executive Master in Business Administration, and has run privately owned and operated businesses in Queensland and the ACT since 2006.

The problem, Mr Adam believes, is that nobody in the ACT Government has “genuinely run a business, [or] understands the complexities of the micro-economic environment within the ACT”.

“Has Tara Cheyne ever run a business that required her to work her butt off to make sure that she and her staff got paid at the end of the week? Because that’s how business people operate. A lot of business people in the ACT … are genuinely fighting to make sure that at the end of the week they’ve got enough money. To come out and say all this fluffy stuff and not genuinely engage with small business groups, it’s lip service. You’re trying to do your best to make it look like you’re doing something.”

Ms Cheyne, a former public servant, has a Master of Business Administration, and was chair of the Belconnen Community Council and secretary of the Belconnen Arts Centre.

Tom Adam: What the government should do

First, the government should engage with small business organisations better. The Canberra Business Chamber used to have quarterly meetings with local business groups, which ministers and members of Transport Canberra & City Services would attend; Mr Adam wants that forum back. The government could even lead the agenda. “It doesn’t have to be a whinge fest.”

Second, Mr Adam suggests, the government should make it easier for people to operate businesses from home, and allow zoning changes so light commercial businesses (Ma and Pa commercial, maximum four employees) can set up in areas under development (such as the Molonglo Valley).

Bigger cities have businesses in residential areas, outside the commercial hub, such as boutique interior designers or skateboard shops in suburbs. That, however, is a question of rent. Businesses can afford the rent in Brisbane, for instance, Mr Adam says, because it costs as much as renting a house; here, it would be four times the cost of renting a house for the same space. He believes rent-seeking landlords are keeping prices artificially high because there is no incentive for them to lease it out at a lower price. A vacancy tax (such as Greens MLA Johnathan Davis proposed last year) would create turnover, allowing smaller businesses to come in.

Third, the government should revitalise suburbs (a major omission in the Strategy, Mr Adam thinks). For six years now, he says, he has been urging the government to fix gutters, broken footpaths, and potholes in Phillip.

“How much money do they generate in rates from these areas that they are ignoring? It’s always going to be the new and the flashy. I get the feeling that if they don’t see any political gain in it, they’re not going to invest in it,” he says.

Business owners also want to discuss parking arrangements with government – a perennial problem in Phillip – but the government attitude, Mr Adam claims, is that it is “too complex, too hard”.

Cafés want 15-minute parking outside their shops. While they have a high turnover, customers tell them they cannot find anywhere to park because all the spots are an hour or two. Businesses struggle to get employees coming to Phillip because they cannot find anywhere to park.

“So, fix local issues, and we will employ local people,” Mr Adam said. “We don’t need your help; we’ll get it done ourselves. We just want you to get out of the way, but stop telling us what you think we need to hear, and start asking us.”