The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bruce Billson has recognised the rise of ‘womenpreneurs’ and the key role women will play in driving future business growth on World MSME Day (Sunday 27 June, 2021).

World MSME Day 2021, declared by the UN, has identified the evolution of womenpreneurs as one of the Top 10 Trends of the year.

Mr Billson says this is also an emerging trend in Australia, with women-owned women-led enterprises increasing at a faster rate than male-owned businesses.

The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bruce Billson is encouraging Australians to support Indigenous businesses, as the nation celebrates NAIDOC WEEK 2021.

Mr Billson says the Indigenous business sector is one of the fastest growing in Australia, with fresh data from the University of Melbourne revealing indigenous businesses’ contribution to the economy has more than doubled.

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.

The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bruce Billson has welcomed the additional support to small businesses impacted by protracted lockdowns, announced by the Australian Government.

From week four of the lockdown, small and family businesses that have suffered a 30% decline in turnover, will receive 40% of their payroll payments (between $1500 and $10,000 per week) so long as staffing levels are maintained.

Sole traders who have experienced a 30% fall in revenue will receive $1,000 per week.

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.

The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bruce Billson has urged struggling small and family businesses to be proactive at tax time, as a new report reveals declining payment plans despite record collectible debt owed to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

Mr Billson says the report, released today by the Inspector General of Taxation and Taxation Ombudsman (IGTO), shows that although SMEs owe $21 billion to the ATO – well over half of this collectible debt is held by just 6.4% of SMEs.

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.