The value of the small business economy is more than $500 million.
Additionally, small businesses make up to 97% of all Australian businesses.
Julie Collins speech at this year’s COSBOA National Small Business Summit highlighted benefits that small business owners will be receiving.
The Albanese labour government is focused on supporting small business operators to make their lives easier by offering practical improvements in the following categories:
- Energy bill support
- Small business innovation
- Cyber security support
Energy bill support
Through the Energy Bill Relief fund, the Albanese government is providing $3 billion of support to small businesses. This equates to approximately $650 of energy bill relief since July 2023 to around 1 million small businesses.
Innovation
The Digital Solutions program has been supporting 2400 small businesses since April 2023 with selling online, social media and digital marketing, using online software, cyber security and data privacy. This means that small businesses can access free workshops and webinars.
Additionally, thanks to a partnership between CSIRO and The Institute of Applied Technology Digital, is supporting one million Australians to be able to attend an Introduction to Artificial Intelligence skills course which is also free.
Cyber security
There were almost 94,000 cybercrimes reported to the Australian Cyber security centre in the last financial year. The Cyber Health Check Program should be available by the end of 2024, this is an online interactive tool for small businesses to evaluate their current cyber security and make changes to strengthen it.