Dismay at the government’s decision to retain the small business exemption from privacy law hints towards naivety and only highlights the costly cumulative impact of poor policy processes. Over 2.5 million small businesses were relieved to learn more was not being added to their compliance plate during the worst operating environment in a decade.
Small businesses are grappling with complex industrial relations changes , the undermining of international students, and an attack on suburban tax agents, just to name a few. Add to this sticky inflation, rising energy and rent costs, and it is little wonder 51% of small businesses believe things would get worse before better. Economic conditions alone are not a justification to oppose policy.
Some 41% of small businesses continue to cite government red tape as a key impost to their ability to remain in operation. Australia’s existing privacy laws should not be baulked at. Earlier this year our privacy-tsar publicised its $21 trillion case against Medibank as a signal moment, warning it was a wake-up call for all Australian firms and more was to come.
But invoking the bad actions of the few to foreshadow a blanket approach for the many resembled a sledgehammer to crack a nut. More regulation is not the answer The small business exemption exists because it is self-evident that a sole trader does not possess even a fraction of the internal compliance team employed by a large enterprise. Small businesses are not typically treasure .