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The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bruce Billson has urged the Federal Government and regulators to consider the reactivation of temporary insolvency protections, to support small and family businesses doing it tough in lockdown.
Mr Billson says the re-introduction of measures, such as the extension to existing safe harbour provisions, would provide temporary additional protections for small and family businesses that may be trading insolvent due to lockdown trading restrictions.
A national awareness campaign about a free tailored mental health support service for small business owners has begun, amid new research revealing the emotional toll on small business owners during the past year.
The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bruce Billson welcomes the Government’s commitment to lowering costs for businesses through least cost routing.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has released the Payments System Review which assessed the adequacy of the current regulatory framework.
“The review recognised that there are regulatory gaps and reform is needed to ensure the system reflects rapid technological change,” Mr Billson says.
The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bruce Billson has welcomed ASIC’s announcement that they have cancelled or suspended Australian credit licences for failing to be a member of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA).
Australian credit licence holders are required by law to join AFCA, which has been set up to sort out complaints between financial firms that are members and their small business and consumer customers that can’t resolve matters themselves.
In the period 1 January 2021 to 30 June 2021, 24 licences were cancelled.
In this video Ombudsman Bruce Billson discusses the role of our office.
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Transcript
The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, Kate Carnell welcomes the announcement by the Treasurer to introduce an Australian Business Securitisation Fund and facilitate further discussion on the development of an Australian Business Growth Fund.
The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bruce Billson has welcomed the banks’ ongoing efforts to support small businesses impacted by COVID-19 lockdowns.
The Australian Banking Association says banks will defer loan repayments for small businesses affected by lockdowns throughout Australia for three months.
“This is a positive initiative that will help many struggling small businesses stay afloat in these challenging times,” Mr Billson says.