Peak business body demands progress

MORE than one in four businesses say they will shut if the next NSW Government does nothing about the cost of doing business crisis, according to a new survey of 900 businesses.

And if you think that figure is scary, spare a thought for the local café owner, childcare centre operator or manufacturer who must live with this prospect every day.

Business NSW, the state’s peak business body, has launched the We Mean Business election campaign this month.

The campaign policy platform is the culmination of member surveys, local and regional meetings and consultation with the nearly 50,000 businesses that Business NSW represents.

The We Mean Business campaign is demanding progress in areas including payroll tax, insurance premiums, housing, skills development and manufacturing.

It follows Business NSW’s most recent survey of 900 of the state’s enterprises which has revealed concerning statistics, including:

30% of small businesses will have to close if the next NSW Government does nothing to improve business conditions;

• 82% believe politicians in NSW are not taking steps to address the needs of business;

• 43% identified housing as a barrier to accessing skilled workers (whether it is availability or affordability);

26% considered the rising cost of doing business as having an extremely severe impact on their business by restricting it from operating at its full potential.

Business NSW Senior Director Regions and Visitor Economy Paula Martin said businesses across the Central Coast are still recovering from the pandemic.

“Businesses have been left on the brink because of factors including inflation at record levels, soaring interest rates, energy prices, insurance costs, changes to the industrial relations landscape and significant tax burdens,” Ms Martin said.

“The challenges for NSW businesses are very real – and many of these challenges are beyond the NSW Government’s control. But there is a lot that our state politicians can do.

“It will give manufacturers in Somersby the impetus to buy that new piece of kit that will help drive innovation.

As the peak representative of all NSW business communities, Business NSW says it is time the next government makes a commitment to:

Ensure there is no increase in the tax burden for businesses in NSW;

• Lower the payroll tax rate from 5.45% to below 5% and increase the threshold to at least $1.3 million;

• Stop making employers pay for icare’s poor performance and reform the NSW workers compensation scheme to fix the broken system;

• Increase our skilled migration visa program intake from 15,000 to 30,000;

• Offer an additional 100,000 feefree apprenticeships and 70,000 fee-free traineeships to boost skills here at home;

• Deliver the natural gas production we need in NSW and build the energy network to connect a minimum of 13GW of renewable generation by 2035;

• Establish an industry audit of manufacturing capabilities within the first 100 days after the election to strengthen NSW manufacturing capacity for critical goods with stronger supply chains;

• Establish a $1.3 billion government-backed venture capital (VC) fund to nurture start-ups in NSW;

• Grow the allocation of government procurement to small and medium businesses to over $10 billion per annum.

Further, Central Coast specific commitments include:

• Develop the Gosford Waterfront to revitalise the Central Coast CBD as a vibrant business and tourism investment attraction.

• Accelerate CBD Precinct investment to stimulate tourism and new knowledge industry development.

• Enable new investment in our devalued CBD by establishing a Business Improvement District led by industry to ensure that place-based solutions let businesses thrive.

• Accelerate partnership programme between TAFE and new CBD university campus to develop learning pathways and micro-credentials for emerging industry areas.

• Unlock employment lands in the Northern Growth Corridor and Somersby to meet local employment demands.

• Overhaul planning processes to help reduce Central Coast development delays.

• Set a 30 per cent target for affordable housing on surplus government owned land to support key workers to live closer to where they work.

Business NSW’s policy platform can be found at: https://www.businessnsw.com/content/dam/ nswbc/businessnsw/2023election/WMB_PolicyPlatform_FINAL.pdf

„ DALLAS SHERRINGHAM

GOING out on the Central Coast has sadly become a risky business, especially for women and gender diverse residents.

In the “good old days” you could wander anywhere in relative safety but unfortunately, times have changed in 2023.

Now, Central Coast Council is to participate in the NSW Government’s $30M Safer Cities program, aimed at improving the safety of women, girls and gender diverse people in public spaces around transport precincts.

Council will receive $1M to develop and pilot safety boosting initiatives so that women and girls experience improved perception of safety on our streets, in parklands and at public trans- port hubs, in partnership with Transport for NSW (TfNSW).

Executive Director Cities Revitalisation and Place Transport for NSW Caroline Butler-Bowdon said the ‘Safer Cities: Her Way program’ was an incredible opportunity to partner with councils across NSW and deliver improvements that addressed local experiences and needs,” she said.

“We’re excited to be working closely with Central Coast Council to listen to the voices of local women, girls and gender diverse people and trial initiatives that help them feel they can move freely and comfortably through their local public spaces,” she said.

Council’s Director Community and Recreation Services Melanie Smith said Council didn’t hesitate to participate when invited by TfNSW.

“Women and girls across the Central Coast actively use and depend on public transport, public spaces and the streets and paths that connect them, to access essential services and opportunities as part of their everyday lives. Yet, women and girls face more gender-based harassment and safety issues when using public spaces than men do,” she said.

“This program will run over the next 18 months to trial place-based approaches to improve women’s perception of safety travelling to, through and within public spaces and transport hubs.”

Council Administrator Rik Hart said the initiative was crucial to ensure women and girls felt they were not constrained in how they moved about Gosford in their day-to-day lives.

“We want women and girls to feel safe as they move around the city, using public transport, public spaces or walking along streets and paths that connect transport hubs to work and social areas,” Mr Hart said.

Visit https://www.haveyoursay.nsw.gov.au/safer-cities until 8 February 2023 to take the survey.