Charter of Contractual Fairness
On 1 July we launched our Charter of Contractual Fairness

We have heavily drawn the principles of contract fairness from the new consumer unfair contract protections laws. If it's fair for consumers, it's fair for small business people - the self-employed and independent contractors.

We are currently writing to Australian corporations asking them to commit to contract fairness in their dealings with small business people.
Election Face-off 2010
Here's how the 2 sides currently shape up for small business/self employed people! (10 July 2010)
Gillard's ALP

So far, they've told us "here's what we've done!"

• Started a superannuation clearing house
• Begun a small business online inquiry service
• Established a Small Business Advisory Committee
• New liability contract guidelines for government procurement
• National Business Name Registration
• A new guide for self-employed people
Abbott's Coalition
They've announced the first part of "here's what we're going to do!"

• A dedicated Small Business Minister who will be in Cabinet
• A new Small Business Ombudsman to handle and resolve small business complaints about the federal government
• The extension of consumer unfair contract protections to small business people
• Retention of the current self-employed (PSI) tax laws
• Stop small business red tape on Paid Parental Leave
• Mr Abbott's and Mr Billson's joint press release
What we've been asking for
• The extension of consumer unfair contract protections to small business people

• Retention of the current self-employed (PSI) tax laws. Our letter to the PM (28 May 2010)

Failure to fix unfair business contracts
ICA says "extend unfair contract protections for consumers to small business".

New laws:
Legislation #1 (March 2010)
Legislation #2 (June 2010)

Here's our summary of the situation.
How the legislation defines unfair contract terms.
Why small business people should have TPA protections from unfair contracts.
We need an answer on tax, please
We've made it quite clear that self-employed (PSI) tax should not be changed.

We've written to the PM for an answer, but we do not yet have a reply.

Tony Abbott has been clear. NO change!
Industry/Retail super funds must come out
The Cooper Review into superannuation says the big funds are not disclosing enough and must be forced to do so. This is vital. See Chapter 4.

Here's why workers' money is at risk if disclosure is not enforced.
Look after your retirement
The Cooper Review of superannuation says Self Managed Super Funds are good and need little change to existing arrangements. This is welcome. See Chapter 8.

The Report also seems to have stopped the attack against SMSF's.
Stand Up for Your (Contract) Rights!
We're monitoring contracts in general and promoting good contracts in particular. For example:
Another bad contract (Jun 2010)
One of the worst contracts we've seen (Jan 2010)
'Tom' versus DEEWR (Nov 2009)
But a positive development from government
Ken Phillips comments
And some interesting discussions
Central Banks on Debt
Since mid-May, central banks have been worried about sovereign debt. Click here for a list of useful links and summaries.
Problems with Phoenix companies
Two ICA members' tell their stories
ATO information on reporting suspect activity.

Govt's attempts to do something:
ICA comment

Newspaper comment:
The Australian
The Age/Sydney Morning Herald
Business Spectator

What 'Tom' thinks
What 'Jim' thinks
Dick Davies Writes...
"...the human fabric of the workplace precedes in importance that of technology!"
Dick Davies prods us to think about management, independence and motivation. Click here.
Stop Sham Contracts!
ICA supports the prevention of sham contracts. We monitor what's happening with them:
One person's story
Successful FWO prosecution (Dec 2009)
Info from Fair Work Ombudsman (July 2009)
First sham contract prosecution: ICA summary
Make a complaint to FWO
Business Spectator article
Read the debate
... Unquote
The Pessimists' Economic Views
(Posted January 2010)
We've brought together some pessimistic views about economics and likely economic trends in 2010:
US toxic loans
'US as sick as Greece'
Ken Phillips's summary
An 'IMF' perspective
Predicting 2010
Government debt a giant ponzi scheme?


Click to enlarge.

Ken Phillips on the debt equation


Watching Goldman Sachs
Rolling Stone magazine has blown the lid on Goldman Sachs:
Article 1 [July 2009]
Article 2 [April 2010]
Article 3 [May 2010]
Tax burden: UK versus Australia
Just as the UK is moving toward more sensible small business (contractor) tax laws, in Australia we're having to defend the progress we've made.
Laughing lawyers
You'll be amazed by the 'slips' that some lawyers make in court.
News Items

Banks wrong on small business finance [30 July 2010]
Some bank representatives say unfair contract protections for small business people will push up the cost of finance. We disagree. In fact it's more likely to reduce the cost of finance.

Look at this contract. Owner-drivers working for a large multi-national company can have their contract cancelled at a moment's notice. They can be forced to sell their vehicle to the company at a price the company determines.

This is huge business risk. Banks charge a large risk premium if giving loans to the drivers. The outlawing of such unfair contracts will push down the cost of small business finance.

It's an election issue. Tony Abbott says he'll introduce unfair contract protections for small business. Julia Gillard opposes this. Here's why we say unfair contract protections are needed.

Abbott's small business policy [29 July 2010]
Yesterday, Tony Abbott released the Coalition's small business policy. The newer items include:
• Company tax down to 28.5%
• Requiring better business finance when you have your home as security
• A small business representative on the Board of Taxation.

The earlier promises include:
• No red tape in paid parental leave
• Small business unfair contract protections
• Keep the existing self-employed tax laws (PSI)
• Small Business Minister in Cabinet

There are 13 key policy points in all. We've made our position well known as strong supporters for keeping the PSI laws and extending unfair contract protections to small business people. We've linked to Tony Abbott's and Bruce Billson's (Shadow Small Business Minister) policy document here. We're interested in policy substance. We recommend reading the full document. It does paint a vision which needs to be understood. Click here for the Press Release. Click here for the Full Policy.

Truckies win! [28 July 2010]
Some time ago (September 2008) we covered the first unfair contract action under the Independent Contractors Act. It involved self-employed truckies against Riteway Transport. The truckies won, but Riteway appealed. Recently, Riteway lost the appeal, confirming the truckies' win.

This is a hugely important win on the fair contract front. But look at the downside for the truckies. It's taken them 3.5 years for a resolution and presumably heaps in legal fees for a combined damages payout of $100,000. It's hardly a commercial win for all parties.

This is why we're seeking to work with major Australian corporations to have them implement fair contracts in their business dealings. It's a big job, but worth the effort.

Australian military aircraft (JSF). Bad deal? [23 July 2010]
A little while ago, several self-employed military specialist contractors sent us details of the new Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft on order by Australia. Current likely cost is to exceed $A20 billion.

The specialists at Air Power Australia say that the aircraft's a lemon and we shouldn't buy it. Robert Gottliebsen (Business Spectator) also says to drop the JSF.

We've summarised the arguments against the JSF, sourced links to JSF promo videos and reveal a Pentagon document that trashes the JSF programme.

If the criticisms are accurate, it raises questions about procurement and contract management capability inside the Department of Defence.

Here are some promotional videos of the JSF:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQoxidTMqW4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTSRbXTh-_A

Update 28 July 2010: It seems there are lots of concerns about the JSF programme. On 24 July, the Ottawa Citizen ran a critical commentary by the former Canadian defence procurement bureaucrat who signed the original US-Canadian memorandum committing Canada to the JSF development. It seems the JSF is under attack on several fronts.

Cleaning up justice [21 July 2010]
Some months ago we were contacted by a self-employed cleaning contractor who had not been paid. Fortunately, he was in Victoria, and we advised him to go immediately to the Victorian Small Business Commissioner. He did, and now he's been paid.

Here's "Jason's" success short story.

This service is only available in Victoria. This is one reason why we argue for unfair contract protections for self-employed people, which should include dispute-resolution procedures. Every small business person needs access to cheap, fair contract enforcement processes.

Unfortunately, it's become a political issue in this election. I've explained the (strange) politics and the policy issues in this Business Spectator article.

Telling the truth about self-employed people [20 July 2010]
Recently we released research telling the truth about self-employed people. Kelly Services and Flying Solo have also released research which is highly consistent with the profiling we're identifying.

Here's Kelly's global research of 130,000 self-employed people in 29 countries.

Here's the Flying Solo research from 1330 self-employed Australians:
Summary.
Full report.

We've compiled a chart comparing the research outcomes and showing the consistency. There's a really interesting profile emerging.

Election battle begins over small business vote [17 July 2010]
The election has been called and issues for small business people suddenly emerge as a key dividing line between the major parties.

Last week, Tony Abbott announced that a coalition government would extend unfair contract protections to small business people. That's about 2 million self-employed people who would be affected if Abbott wins.

Yesterday, the ALP responded by alleging that Abbott's policies would be interventionist and anti-competitive. The thrust of the ALP's response suggests that unfair contract protection for small business people is now a major electoral battle line.

Here's ICA's position on the issue. We support unfair contract protections for small business people.

Update 20 July 2010: Click here for Ken Phillips' Business Spectator article.

Confusing tax forms [16 July 2010]
The ATO has put out some helpful information for completing your tax return. We've lots of handy links here.

But for Australia's 2 million self-employed people the tax return form is very confusing. It's full of tax double-speak and is badly set out. We've had complaints. Read this frustrated person's query and our attempt to assist.

See if you can understand what's going on!

Super Into the Future: SMSFs on top [12 July 2010]
The Cooper Review into superannuation was released last week. We've been warning that the big super funds wanted to get their hands on Self Managed Super Funds' money.

The reverse has happened. ICA member Allen Cummings has written another really good commentary for us. He's included some SMSF investment tips. In short:
  • SMSFs look good
  • Retail funds criticized for mismanaging client's funds
  • Industry funds' captive market of union members can no longer be taken for granted
  • Big funds will be forced to disclose information.
Further details, background information and links can be found here.

A mess brewing in the US? [9 July 2010]
There's a sense of foreboding developing around the US economy with too many bad signals. On 25 May we pulled together stories of US housing problems, bank closures, US state and municipal government debt and 'bizarre' capitalism.

Now we see: Unrealistic pessimism or an accurate reading of the situation? You be the judge!

 
Today we release a unique research report made possible by an unusual collaborative effort. The report shatters many preconceived beliefs about 'us'; small and micro business people.

Contrary to most assumptions, 'we' self-employed people are mostly:
  • not young, but mature;
  • not in trades, but dominant in the professional/managerial areas;
  • working in high skilled occupations, not low skills;
  • have higher incomes, not low incomes;
  • not forced to be self-employed, but take the plunge into business for lifestyle reasons;
  • not poor business managers, but highly competent;
  • not subject to traditional business cycles, but have specific business cycles linked to our personal life-cycles.
These truths about 'us' shake the standard public policy preconceptions that determine much of governments' approaches to regulating small and micro-business people. The findings are a wake-up call to large organisations that seek to sell to, and communicate with, us---that is, 2 million people in Australia.

The report was compiled by Monash University, supported by CBA, coordinated by ICA and assisted by Roy Morgan Research, the ABS and the ATO.

Here are: Main points and commentary; Summary; Full report.
 

Govt Contracting: Good news alert. Liability [4 July 2010]
New guidelines have been issued to government procurement officers about how liability is to be allocated under contract. If you contract to government, this is good.

Here are the new Guidelines
And the model contract clause

We summarise everything and make suggestions about what you should do if contracting with the federal government.

The Guidelines are intended for contracts with small business/self-employed people, but have direct application for large businesses as well.



Join Now!
Click here to become a member of Independent Contractors of Australia. Membership is open to all independent contractors. Two forms of membership are available to individual contractors: affiliate contractor or full contractor membership. Membership fees are $55 for one year (or $110 for three years) for affiliate members and $110 for one year (or $220 for three years) for full contractor members. Further information about the categories of membership and their benefits is available at the link above.