Ken Phillips - Articles on self-employment and small business

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Ken Phillips' Articles

Ken Phillips is co-founder and Executive Director of Independent Contractors of Australia. He is an independent contractor operating as his own business, as a researcher, commentator and lobbyist, and consultant on workplace management issues.

Amongst his many activities, Ken is a published authority on independent contractor and self-employment issues and directs research on related commercial and trade practices issues.

Author of Independence and the Death of Employment, Ken writes frequently for the op. ed. pages of many of Australia's major dailies and for many online forums - always with his trademark 'take' that places him outside normal approaches to business and employment matters. In 2009, he began writing articles for the leading business online publication Business Spectator, most of which have a distinct small business or self-employment slant.

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The articles gathered here are broadly grouped by topic and then by date.

Small business news
Workplace safety principles under attack [The Australian]	May 2012
Gillard's SME-sized budget confusion	May 2012
Climbing out of a productivity quagmire	May 2012
A giant leap towards mass entrepreneurship	April 2012
Qantas shows Air Canada who's boss	April 2012
Treachery behind Labor's small business curtain	March 2012
Abbott's small business power tilt	March 2012
Workplace Minister's mission impossible will be to satisfy two masters [The Australian]	December 2011
Laws that will crush the little [The Australian]	November 2011
Playing a job security drumbeat	November 2011
Qantas brand is doomed by union bid for management power [The Australian]	November 2011
Qantas' final destination	October 2011
Gillard's blurred jobs vision	September 2011
Unwinding Shorten's red-tape assault	September 2011
Construction union dictates attack on tradies [The Australian]	August 2011
Shorten's election gift to Abbott	July 2011
Shot by Gillard's red-tape gun	May 2011
Labor's obedient children	March 2011
O'Farrell's awaiting public service work-out	February 2011
New clout for contractors	February 2011
Canada's contract killer	February 2011
Contractor culture wars	January 2011
Ignoring the economics of innovation	January 2011
Banking code bombshell	December 2010
Wasted 'help' for SMEs	October 2010
Canberra's loss of business balance	September 2010
Mowing down the MRRT	August 2010
Abbott's on the right contract track	July 2010
Keeping the government's hands clean	July 2010
Stopping small business bullies	June 2010
Seeing red over parental leave	June 2010
NAB's wooden spoon	May 2010

Superannuation
Score one for retail super	March 2012
Labor shuns transparency for super or unions [The Australian]	October 2010
From iron man to superannuation hero	June 2010
Do super members labour in vain?	May 2010
Is your super safe?	April 2010
SMSFs under attack	August 2009

Sham Contracts
Fools rush in to sham contracting	July 2011
What the CFMEU wants ....	March 2011
Has the ABCC crossed the line?	March 2011
Uneasy as ABCC	February 2011
Taking the con out of contractor	October 2009

Integrity of Contract
Guy fought the law (and the law won)	July 2011
The law is failing small contractors	September 2009

Taxation (including PSI, ATO, welfare, etc)
Super's High Court showdown	December 2010
The real sham in Shorten's super plan	November 2010
Self-employed could face more red tape	October 2010
Shorten's hidden tax agenda	September 2010
A contract on the Rudd government	June 2010
Sherry's swipe at self-employed is risky business	March 2010
Tax rights under siege	December 2009
Claw-back by stealth	May 2009
A more understanding ATO	May 2009
The personal is prosecutable	March 2009

Politics and unions
Mining's red IR alert	December 2011
Can Baillieu stop the desal drain?	December 2010
Sweet victory for the mining unions	May 2010
A new kind of union muscle	June 2009
Getting a fair deal for SMEs	April 2009
Subbie subversion	March 2009
Beware union 'super cops'	March 2009

Construction industry
IR backpedals over the boom	August 2011
Victoria sets up an IR domino	June 2011
The new NBN nightmare	June 2011
Riding dirty with building unions	April 2011
IR ghosts of Leighton past	April 2011
Don't dump the ABCC	January 2010
Japanese lesson	April 2009
Back to the bad old days	April 2009

OHS and work safety
Playing chicken with OHS reason	April 2012
Striking out Gillard's OHS harmony	March 2012
OHS law tied in knots	January 2012
The business of OHS disharmony	December 2011
Harmony lacking on nation's work safety laws [The Australian]	December 2011
Work safety spins out of control	September 2011
Dysfunctional NSW government breaks OHS agreement	October 2010
Kirk: A detailed assessment	February 2010
Kirk's legal revolution	February 2010
The direct path to a safer workplace	September 2009
High Court challenge to NSW OHS laws	August 2009
The OHS battle is won	May 2009
Guilty until proved innocent [AFR]	April 2004

Self-employed and economics
Construction on shaky ground	December 2009
What the data's missing on SMEs	December 2009
A big idea for small business	August 2009
A continental shift for IR	June 2009

Economics and policy
In the headlights of an IR collision	December 2011
Labor's unlikely IR saviour	September 2011
Unleashing an IR witch-hunt	August 2011
A blunt warning from Britain	May 2010
Comprehending global debt	February 2010
Has China peaked too soon?	January 2010
The united states of debt	August 2009
The hidden dip in employment	August 2009
Cursed by demographics	August 2009

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