Coalition Govt will promote ind development and small business

26/11/96

The Coalition Government will implement a broad-ranging program to promote industrial development and further encourage small business, Deputy Premier Hendy Cowan said today.

Mr Cowan, the Minister for Commerce and Trade, Small Business and Regional Development, said there had been a fundamental shift in the Government's approach to business development since the days of Labor's disastrous deals with big business.

"Western Australia now has by far the highest rate of small business growth in the nation," he said.

"We are also attracting major industry projects based on resources development, value adding and services as well as international companies which choose to make WA their Asian headquarters."

Mr Cowan said that efforts to attract major new industries to the State would focus more on provision of infrastructure rather than direct financial assistance.

The wool processing, shipbuilding, offshore oil and gas, heavy engineering and technology industries would receive the benefit of more than $50 million worth of infrastructure development committed for the next two to three years.

However, Mr Cowan said Government programs which helped small to medium enterprises to improve their business skills, to tackle export markets and encourage innovation would continue to receive strong Government support.

There would continue to be a heavy emphasis on support for research and development.

In the area of industry infrastructure, the Coalition would:

·       complete the initial stages of the Jervoise Bay shipbuilding precinct, at a cost of $19 million;

·       continue to seek a Commonwealth contribution towards the establishment in Perth of the CSIRO National Centre for Petroleum and Mineral Resources Research; and -

·       expand and upgrade the administration and technology centre of the highly successful Technology Park at Bentley and consider its further expansion into a larger and more diversified technology precinct.

Mr Cowan said that in the Coalition's second term, the Government would be working towards further improving the environment for small business, streamlining access to business improvement programs and further reducing onerous red tape.

"A major priority will be to ensure that businesses in regional areas are not disadvantaged when it comes to delivery of Government programs and services," he said.

"A key component in regional business development will be the retention of a uniform electricity tariff for residential and small business consumers, no matter where they live in WA for the term of the next Government."

During its second term of office the Coalition Government will also:

·       introduce legislation complementing Federal Trade Practices laws so as to offer small businesses better protection from predatory trade practices;

·       reform the Government tendering process so that small businesses are better able to compete;

·       establish a 'contracts ombudsman' within the Ombudsman's office, to deal quickly with complaints relating to tendering for government contracts;

·       abolish State business name registration renewal fees for trading businesses;

·       transfer all small business programs from the Department of Commerce and Trade to the Small Business Development Corporation, with a commitment to review the programs to ensure they best meet the needs of small business in WA;

·       expand the SBDC's Business Information Licensing Centre to become a one-stop shop for Government information relating to small business; merge the Small Claims Tribunal and the Small Debts Division of the Local Court into one entity to allow businesses to collect money owing more quickly;

·       maintain the existing policy in relation to shop trading hours; replace the Small Business Loan Guarantee Scheme with a fund which will allow prospective and expanding small businesses, and people wishing to commercialise an invention or new technology, to access private sector advice and business planning expertise;

·       provide the Small Business Development Corporation with the resources and capability to expand its service delivery in regional areas and to provide greater regional representation on the SBDC board;

·       seek to obtain a greater Federal commitment to supporting the State in developing Aboriginal business opportunities; and -

·       require all Government agencies and all non-Government agencies delivering government services to implement an affirmative action program to improve delivery of services, including equitable cost, quality and access, in regional WA.

The Government would also introduce new Technology and Industry Development legislation aimed at increasing accountability for financial assistance to industry and also focusing on:

·       enhanced support for science and technology;

·       promotion of an environment which supports the development of industry; and -

·       actively encouraging the emergence of internationally competitive business in WA.

Mr Cowan said that during the Coalition's first four years it had progressively raised the income threshold at which businesses were obliged to pay payroll tax to the point where an estimated 96 per cent of small businesses did not have to pay the tax.

The Coalition had also reformed the land tax system, through the introduction of annual valuations, with the result that 80 per cent of taxpayers now paid less land tax than they did in 1992-93.

It had also implemented accountability reforms unprecedented in the State's history and which made it the national trendsetter on business assistance accountability.

The success rate for WA small business had underlined the effectiveness of the Government's policies to date.

Media contact: Peter Jackson 222-9595