Page 2443 - Week 09 - Thursday, 17 September 1992
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In other words, training schemes are bandaids. The sore festers on regardless, under the soothing plastic-shield cover. It looks good, but there are big problems underneath. In fact, the bandaid could make the problem worse by not letting the air in. For this Government to stand up and say, "Hey, listen, we have four-and-a-half thousand schemes", is humbug.
Madam Speaker, Mr Kaine said, "What could we have done?". There is a lot that this Government could have done. Let us tackle the cost of labour first. That is the greatest impediment. People must realise that the greatest impediment to employing other people is the cost of labour. We heard nothing in this budget about what this Government would do to release the private sector from the shackles that they are in because of the fact that there has been a 17.8 per cent increase in taxes to the private sector over the last two years. Some will say, "Oh, yes, but this year we have increased only the financial institutions duty". The reality is that over the past two Follett budgets there has been a 17.8 per cent increase in the cost of labour.
The ABS figures are very interesting. They break down the cost of labour on the following lines: Overall, earnings were up 6 per cent to $26,225 per worker. Superannuation, a Federal Labor Government initiative, went up 18.1 per cent. Payroll tax went up 11.5 per cent. Workers compensation went up 3.8 per cent. Fringe benefits tax went up 17.3 per cent, and that did not take into account the announcements made by Mr Dawkins yesterday - the ones he tried to shield not one month ago when he delivered his budget. That is what is impeding people employing people.
Interestingly enough, today I received a letter from a well-known Canberra small business person who I believe has, in a nutshell, hit the problem right where it hurts. I am sure that she will not mind me using it. It is from June Tammett of Tammett Pty Ltd, a long-term employer of people in this town. She says this:
At a time of record high unemployment the government's policies seem hell bent on making it more and more difficult for employers to employ staff. The burden of long standing associated costs including payroll tax, holiday leave loading, generous sick leave entitlements, numerous paid public holidays and workers' compensation insurance, has recently been further weighed down by the imposition of the "training guarantee" and employer-funded superannuation.
Quite apart from the actual outgoings involved in all these charges (which are considerable) the administrative operation for a small businessman is a nightmare.
She goes on:
There is a limit to the capacity of businesses to meet these ever-increasing costs of labour. Many have already reached that limit and gone out of business. For those that remain the obvious priority is to limit staff numbers to the absolute minimum in order to survive.
That is the sort of thing that is being said daily by small business people in the ACT. What does this Government do for them? It does nothing.
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