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
The federal election was held on on 21 August 2010. ICA was active in assessing the policies of the ALP and the Coalition. Here's our comparative summary of the parties' policies just before the election.
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.
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.
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
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
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
Watching Global Economies
Watching the USA
The US economy appears to be in recession. At the very least, we're getting very mixed signals about what's happening. Click here for a rundown on some of the best links we've found.
Watching China
China has just passed Japan as the world's second largest economy. It could become the largest global economy by 2030. We're maintaining a watching brief on the Chinese economy here.
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]
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.
What the Pessimists said (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

Understanding "Us": Self-employed People
ICA is committed to quality research to understand self-employed people.

6 July 2010: We released a unique research report made possible by an unusual collaborative effort. The report shatters many preconceived beliefs about 'us'; small and micro-business people. We believe it has global implications.

Main points and commentary
Summary
Full report.

20 July 2010: Here's further research from Flying Solo:
Report Summary; Full report and from Kelly Services: Report. And here's a comparative chart of our own.

Australian military aircraft (JSF). Bad deal?
Australia's decision to buy the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) as the backbone of our air defence is under attack. Is this a bad procurement and contract management stuff-up? We've summarised the arguments and included some useful videos.

We Oppose Workplace Bullying
ICA opposes attempts by construction unions to bully their way on to work sites. Here are the issues from 2010:
Overview
Union violence on Westgate
Unions make threats

Paid Parental Leave =
Unnecessary red tape for small business
Media Releases

17 June 2010


COSBOA: Promise of Deregulation replaced with More Regulation

COSBOA is disappointed that the government's promise to deregulate has been shown to be a farce with the involvement of small business owners as the paymasters in the paid parental leave process.

There was one last opportunity to give employers a choice on whether to be involved or not in PPL pay process and the senate has sided with the government and passed the bill.

The Executive Director of COSBOA, Peter Strong, said today "the government has spent a lot of time and energy promoting its success in deregulation of the market place but this is just for big businesses . The government shows that it does not value the time and effort put into the economy by small business by continuing with this bill ."

Mr Strong added " Government's for the last 20 years have said all the words and made all the statements about cutting compliance and red tape, and everyone of them has continued to add to the onus placed on families who run a business. For example there is now in place a new business regulation Impact Statement that has to be completed by government departments for all new policies. There is also an Office of Best Practice Regulation whose job is to make sure we get the highest quality regulations, and there are any number of Ministers involved in deregulation.

In spite of all of this the Paid Parental Leave legislation was still passed and small business has more red tape and more compliance to follow. Now Centerlink will pay the business and the business will pay the person on leave. All small business wants is for Centerlink to directly pay the person on leave. But no. Again we have more complexity. Will the government never learn the simple needs of small business? The system has once again failed the people who run a business."

COSBOA strongly supports the idea of paid parental leave but using this to create more compliance and more process for business is not productive. The government must take notice of its own advice and its own departments and advisers and not impose any more red tape.

COSBOA demands that other red tape and compliance is removed to make up for this new demand on business. For example the removal of business involvement in the distribution of supertannuation payments would be a good start and we will all then be happy to see lots of new babies crawling around small shops and cafes across the nation.


TSBC: Paymaster role for parental leave peeves small business owners

Executive Officer of the Tasmanian Small Business Council, Robert Mallett today accused the federal government of being well out of touch with the small business sector.

"Paid parental leave is a fact of life in most of the western world and small business owners are happy to see it introduced in Australia. However, the move by the Government to make the business owners responsible for making the parental payments shows little or no real understanding of the culture of small businesses" he said in Hobart today.

"The reasoning behind the decision to make the small business the paymaster and not process payments through Centrelink just doesn't hold water. This will supposedly help the bond between the employer and the employee by extending the paymaster function but in reality it will just cause resentment and confusion", he said.

"Small business owners know their staff very well and don't need this contrived mechanism to ensure that their pregnant staff are more connected with the business."

"It is the owner and their family who will visit the mother and baby in hospital; it is the owner and their family who will provide presents for them and it is the owner and their family who will watch their staff members family grow up. Employees in small businesses are not numbers they are people yet the Government can't seem to grasp this very basic concept."

Chair of the TSBC, Geoff Fader told the Innovation Forum in Canberra today that "this is exactly a case where a differential procedure for small business should be introduced but government policy remains steadfast."

"Centrelink is equipped to handle these payments and indeed has to approve them, but no, the responsible department has prepared a 24 page book on the administrative procedure required. There will be countless mistakes and unintended fraud. The politicians will bask in the headlines that show some small business operator that could not cope with the administration has been sent to jail."

Mr Mallett said that "it was particularly disappointing that the Senate in passing this bill didn't recognise the risks and unnecessary compliance in making the business pay and passed the bill without amendment".


ACCI: Business Welcomes Paid Parental Leave Scheme

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), welcomes the passing of paid parental leave legislation by the Commonwealth Parliament today.

"Australian business welcomes this important taxpayer funded social reform which will benefit women and their families. The scheme has strong bi-partisan and community support and its time has well and truly come."

"As the representative of more than 350,000 small businesses across Australia; many owned and operated by women; ACCI is disappointed that the Government chose to ignore amendments to the legislation proposed by the Opposition and supported by Senators Fielding and Xenophon which would have seen the Government administer parental leave payments through the Family Assistance Office rather than imposing this considerable burden on small business people".