Opinion: Adding extra complexity for already stressed SME owners is not helpful

Recently there was an article in SmartCompany by David Adams titled Small Business Minister Julie Collins on Labor’s SME track record and IR “fear-mongering”. 

In the interview, the Minister made the following statements about IR:

“I think, frankly, a lot of people need to stop the fear-mongering, and they need to actually look at the detail.” 

“We need to have grown-up conversations about how this really impacts people or doesn’t.”

I agree. But where is the fear-mongering coming from and where are the grown-up conversations?

The IR changes are built on misinformation provided by the unions – fear-mongering if you must. They talk of the casualisation of the workforce, yet there are no statistics that support that. They talk of wage theft, yet the biggest firms and experts like Maurice Blackburn (the preferred law firm of the union movement) had to pay back millions of dollars to workers because the system is so complicated that those experts still got it wrong.

The Minister says we should actually look at the details. It is common knowledge the Australian workplace relations system is the most complex in the world. The details, aka awards, will run to more than 100 pages. It is so complicated that the department (DEWR) that manages WPR had to apologise to staff they had underpaid.

The process is so difficult that the government made over 150 amendments to the original legislation. Hardly an easy process. And very difficult to ‘look at the detail’.

What stands out as a glaring omission in the interview by the Minister is any discussion on the mental health of small business people. This is alarming as we see that, according to a report from the federal Treasury, 22% of self-employed people have a mental health problem that has been diagnosed by a medical practitioner. It gets more concerning that more than one in three small business people in the retail, manufacturing and food sectors have a diagnosed mental health issue. These are mainly employers – faced with increased complexity.

Is the government deliberately creating an environment where mental health issues for small business people will grow or do they just not care?

There has been extra workplace complexity and confusion added continuously by the government. As another example of neglect of the mental health needs of the self-employed they introduced paid domestic violence leave to be managed and paid for by the employer. This is despite the fact that studies showed victims do not want to discuss their private lives at work. The better option was to give the expert community-based social workers the capacity to grant leave paid by Centrelink. Then the victim could access leave while they access professional assistance. And keep their privacy at work.

When this was pointed out, the government then provided a two-hour video for small business employers to watch – a video about domestic violence. It takes social workers three years to become experts in dealing with these situations. But the government has decided that a group of people, many with serious mental health problems, should spend less time looking after themselves or their business but instead focus on a task they will never be able to do properly.

When a person has mental health issues and is facing stress and confusion, adding extra complexity is not helpful.

The Minister and the government also do not understand the importance of the health of the ‘boss’ to the employees of small businesses, or perhaps they don’t care about workers in small businesses, as it is unlikely they are union members.

I’m further concerned that the Minister may try to placate small business advocates by simply expanding mental health support services, such as hotlines, for small business people. That might make them look good, but it is a failure. They must remove the cause – not just treat the symptoms.

We know that if a third of workers in any sector had diagnosed mental health problems, then studies would quickly be undertaken to look at what causes the problems and then the causes would be removed. The government either doesn’t care about the causes because they don’t care about that person who is self-employed and is struggling, or they are incompetent.

It is various pressures that a small business person faces that create the problem of stress and all that comes with it. Late payments are also a growing cause of concern; access to finance; the declining ability of consumers to spend more and so forth. But have no doubt workplace relations is a major concern.

The government is a product of the unions so has no natural care for the mental health of people in the small business sector. Yet if the unions cared for all workers, they would ensure that small business employers are considered equal and human when it comes to health.

Peter Strong is the former chief executive of the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia.

If you or someone you know is at risk of harm, call:

• Lifeline: 13 11 14
• Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636
• Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467
• Headspace: 1800 650 890
• Kids Helpline: 1800 551 800 (for people aged 5 to 25)
• MensLine Australia: 1300 789 978
• StandBy – Support After Suicide: 1300 727 24