Originally posted in the Canberra Times

It is pleasing to see so much recent attention on what is needed to bolster our economic resilience and to restore living standards at a time of uncertainty and disruption. International economic uncertainty is exacerbating existing and persistently strong pressures on many small and family businesses.

Improving our productivity and competitiveness has gained a necessary and welcome renewed focus now that the election is over.

Economists often talk about productivity and its centrality to sustained improvements in living standards, incomes and national wellbeing.

Yet, in political corridors, productivity tends to be talked about quietly (if at all), and rarely raised as a topic to be discussed amongst polite (public) company.

It is because of how the term grates on the electorate which often feels it amounts to doing more for less or working harder for the same pay.

In fact, it is about doing more with what we have and creating more value from what we use.

In a business-sense, it's being able to produce more services and things, of better quality and higher value, from what is needed to provide them.

How the talents and time of the team are best deployed; to the way we get the best from equipment we use; how automation can "up" the outputs, speed and accuracy of processes; how the smarts of technology are deployed; where efficiencies can be found; how actions and decisions can contribute to better outcomes; how new ideas and ways of working can create new possibilities for delighting customers - these are the building blocks of improved productivity, competitiveness and resilience.

This is how "value" is enhanced, and the economic "pie" is sustainably enlarged, with benefits shared between businesses, their teams, customers and our community.

Small and family businesses, and those thinking of creating a business, reach for these goals every day. Not just when the going is good and conditions are right, but even more so when there are many headwinds and trading conditions are tough.

It is because so much is on the line - a lifetime of work, the big responsibility of business ownership, how business viability enables livelihoods, identity, passion and purpose motivations, a drive to succeed and often a vision that spans generations which sees small and family business people push on and persevere. 

Economic resilience is part of their DNA.

This drive is more than optimism - it is a relentlessness, a dedication and unwavering belief that sees problems solved, hurdles overcome, setbacks learned from, and new, better possibilities imagined and pursued.

It means small businesses are often innovating by necessity, adapting and adjusting in real time, investing and trying new things to keep ahead of big competitors, continuously improving because they have to, unable to rest on a big balance sheets or dominant market positions.

Small and family businesses "live" economic resilience, innovation and how to lift incomes by improving productivity - as business owners know all too well, they are mostly the last to be paid.

Reform to boost productivity, competitiveness and economic resilience have to start with "energising enterprise" and turbo-charging the small and family business engine room of the economy.

It is essential that we create a more supportive entrepreneurial ecosystem to inspire Australians to turn an idea into investment, to build a business, to take on the risk and responsibility of a new enterprise and to employ that extra person.

We need to give enterprising and passionate people the best chance to be successful, even when the market is tough.

Since August last year I have been talking about 14 steps to energise and support Australia's more than 2.5 million small businesses.

Early action on a number of these steps as an initial focus would see immediate and positive impacts for small businesses around the country.

Supporting investment in small business through targeted tax incentives would be a great place to start.

We know that it is in the early years of a business - the first three years in fact when they are most financially vulnerable, and the constraints of cash flow can impact business growth and sustainability.

A tax discount or offset scheme, allowing new businesses to retain more of their initial earnings, which would reward entrepreneurial risk-taking and support reinvestment into the business. This would greatly improve business survival and long-term success and is worth serious consideration.

A more generous and durable instant asset write-off measure would drive investment in productivity-lifting machinery and equipment.

Reinstating and retaining technology uptake and energy efficiency incentives would support deeper digital deployment, and operational cost and emissions savings.

New tech and AI adoption offer the promise of streamlining the "business of running the business".

Most small business owners do the right thing each and every day in fulfilling ever-increasing and more complex, and onerous compliance and regulatory obligations.

A renaissance in the rigour and discipline around "right-sizing" regulation will properly recognise that small businesses are not just "shrink-wrapped" versions of Australia's big corporate businesses.

It will improve the way new impositions are devised, and existing ones are implemented and enforced.

A genuine "seeing" of small business would require every cabinet submission, regulatory recommendation and new policy or program proposal, to include a small business impact statement.

Establishing a Prime Minister's Small Business Award would recognise and celebrate excellence and inspire the next generation.

A fair dinkum fair go for small business in a more competitive economy would lead to improved access to affordable and timely justice to enable smaller firms to enforce fair trading protections via a tribunal-like Small Business and Codes List in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia.

Banning unfair business practices that distort competition and harm small businesses needs to be a priority.

These are all doable and small business owners and industry associations are rightly calling for decisive action.

It is not just for the benefit of small business but will deliver dividends for the nation.

Of course, "rare-earths" and other potential "big wins" can play a role in our future economy, but a greater focus on the "exceptional grit" of small businesses people that are our economic foundation is essential.