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Giving Small Business A Big Say –
Be Part Of The Change
As the NSW Small Business Commissioner, I was appointed to assist small businesses in NSW. I will act as an independent advocate for groups who need a voice to speak on their behalf. In addition, I will make low-cost dispute resolution services available, advise on cutting red tape and help you and thousands of other small businesses.
To be effective I need to know what you, as small business owners, want me to do. I will listen if you will share your views and experience with me. While I have limited resources and can’t change everything, I invite you to have your say and tell me what changes need to be made to help you and thousands of other small businesses in NSW thrive.
I have put together some questions for you in the Giving Small Business a Big Say booklet to prompt your thinking about the issues facing your business. The questions are a guide to help you think about examples in your own business - feel free to provide some comments in relation to just some or all of these questions.
You can communicate with me informally by sending me an email, letter or fax, or for your convenience download the response sheet and return to me.
Report on the Small Business Commissioner's Listening Tour 2011
One of my first actions as Commissioner was to embark on a month long 'Listening Tour' throughout NSW and hear about the challenges and rewards of running a small business as well as what helps or hinders small business operators.
I met with a total of 533 small business operators in numerous locations across the State including metropolitan Sydney, the Northern Rivers, Mid North Coast, Murray Riverina, Central West, Central Coast, and the Hunter.
The Listening Tour 2011 report identifies those issues and provides an initial update on work already undertaken to ensure this vital sector of the NSW economy continues to thrive.
Residential Building Licensing
The Office of the Small Business Commissioner is aware of a number of small businesses experiencing legal problems because they are carrying out, or have carried out, residential building works without a licence.
Currently, licences are not required to carry out commercial building work, however businesses and tradesman carrying out residential building work worth over $1000 in labour and materials content must hold the correct building licence.
Businesses in the steel fabrication industry are the latest businesses to experience problems as they are beginning to move from commercial building work to residential building work.
Before you carry out any residential work, you must ensure that you have the correct licence or you could be prosecuted for breaking the law.
A full list of building and trade licences and their requirements can be found at the following link to the NSW Fair Trading website: http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/Tradespeople/Home_building_licensing/Building_and_trade_licences.html
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