October is Small Business Month, a time to celebrate and support the backbone of local economies in NSW, especially in Lismore, where retailers have been struggling for the last three and a half years.

The state’s 870,000 small businesses make up 97 per cent of all NSW businesses. These small businesses employ 1.7 million people in NSW, which is about 40 per cent of the state’s workforce.   

This October, Small Business Month is about more than celebration – it’s about action, with government red tape under the microscope as it is one of the biggest barriers to growth, limiting productivity and innovation.

Minister for Small Business Janelle Saffin launched Small Business Month at Daleys Homewares in Keen Street this morning.

"I'm encouraging everybody to come out and say thank you to small business. Not only do they sell great products and deliver great services, we also call upon them all the time to help with social causes, to help with fundraising, all sorts of things that they do in a local community.

"I want to just make one other announcement, a critical announcement today, everybody in small business says to me, Janelle, we've got too much red tape. I said. I want to do a proper red tape inquiry. I want one that's guided by small business, and today, the acting Small Business Commissioner, Catherine Ellis, will launch a survey that will go to all small businesses in New South Wales. It is asking small businesses, tell me your pain points, tell me about some of the bureaucratic compliance, and we're going to do a deep dive and see if we can ease some of that pressure."

Matt Healy, owner of Daleys Homewares, said that one of the biggest and most complicated elements of his business is icare and dealing with the workers comp system.

"So I'm selling sheets, towels, pillows and blankets. As far as the workers compensation perspective is concerned, it's very, very low risk, but it's eye-wateringly expensive. It's many, many, many hundreds of dollars a month for my little business. That's a big one.

"And the process of just renewing is really complex. So that's my little one. We did talk earlier about payroll tax and things like that, not really an important part for a small business like me, they tend to be the larger businesses. So in small business months, let's not talk about them."

Matt didn't want to preempt the outcome of the Red Tape Inquiry, but would prefer to see what businesses in NSW report and what their pain points are. "Then it's over to Janelle and the Commissioner to actually move it," he said.

The result of red tape though, is the amount of time it takes to complete, which should be spent on running his business.

Ms Saffin said that business owners have said to her that ti takes around 15 hours per week to deal with government red tape.

"Some of it's federal, some of it is state. So, I'll deal with the state stuff, but it takes their time, that's money, and it takes their attention away.

When asked why this inquiry would be different to previous inquiries, where the results sit in a draw, Ms Saffin replied, "Because I'm committed to help small business, and that's why I said, and I did say this publicly, I didn't want to do a BS red tape inquiry, because I've seen inquiries before, and I've seen them sit on the shelf and with the Acting Small Business Commissioner, we've been doing a deep dive and taking this really seriously. We want to know some of those pain points that Matt talked about, and see if we can we ease that regulatory burden. And that's what we'll do.

"As Matt said, one step at a time. Even if we ease one particular pain point, that's a good thing. But we'll look at all of them. I've got some examples from local businesses and some of the farmers who are small businesses. Some I already know myself. Even the food vans that go around the markets, what we've done at state level already is that if you're licensed in one LGA, the next LGA can then license you on the basis of that. So, I'll be watching that to see how that plays out as well. It's not like nothing's been done already. We're trying to do things, and with fitness trainers, it's the same thing. So, we'll just continue to work on that.

As for small businesses and how they are trading in what has been a tough environment, Matt said it takes a special kind of crazy to be a small business owner.

"At the moment, everybody knows that it's tough out there. It's everywhere. There's a cost-of-living pressure, so people are holding back. As a result, it's very quiet in towns, Lismore in particular. We've got the additional benefit of the flood we're still recovering from, but we're moving onwards. We're moving upwards. As Janelle said, we're involved in the community, we're part of this community. It's my hometown too. We've been here for 150 odd years, my family. So we're out there in the community, supporting the community, providing products for our community.

"People haven't got money to spare, so they're not coming into town to spend. So we're having to find ways of getting through this tight period. It's as simple as that. We just have to find ways. So, we've been here for 36 years, we're about to have our 36th birthday. The family started this during the 80s recession, when they borrowed money to start it was at 17-18% interest. So it's tough now, but it's not our first one."

There has been some negative talk about the Lismore CBD recently in the media, but Matt has this advice as people shift into Christmas shopping mode in October.

"Come on down, Lismore's fun. We've got interesting shops down here; it's not the same beige chains that you see in lots of other towns. We've got weird stuff down here. We specialise in weird stuff. So, come down and enjoy our weird stuff.

Once the interviews wrapped up, Ms Saffin truly supported Small Business Month by purchasing some new sheets. You can do your bit by spending locally.

Small businesses are encouraged to share their experiences with red tape and compliance via an online survey at: https://www.smallbusiness.nsw.gov.au/consultation-red-tape

To explore and register to attend Small Business Month events, please visit: nsw.gov.au/nsw-small-business-month