Why businesses aren't happy with Workchoices

This month's MYOB survey shows many small businesses are not happy with the Federal government.

The most worrying statistic for the Liberal government is the fact that 30% are less likely to hire as a result of Workchoices.

What the Libs don't understand is we small business owners hate complexity. We're simple beasts that just don't have the time, money or resources to deal with paperwork.

For instance, Australian IT reports an IT hire agency has set up an Australian Workplace Agreement for it's contractors.

This is fine when you have 2,000 contractors, but when you are local business employing half a dozen people, an AWA is an expensive and time consuming process.

The silly thing is the old unfair dismissal rules that scared many businesses off employing people were more straightforward, if somewhat formulaic. Making the system more complex doesn't help the problem.

A good example of the complexity is the new requirement that businesses have to keep a log of overtime. Failure to do so incurs fines of up to 5,500 per employee. I know businesses that are looking at introducing bundy clocks for white collar staff.

Another way complexity works against small business are the fines for not getting BAS forms in time. I don't know any business that hasn't copped at least one $55 penalty in the last year.

It's a shame business groups don't stand up to the Federal government. If anything, they do the opposite as the Australian reported yesterday. It's quite clear many of the groups who pretend to represent small businesses are too close to the Liberal party.

The fact is this Liberal government has been no friend of small business. They have dramatically increased our paperwork and the penalties for not completing that paperwork. I suspect they do quite nicely out of the fines and charges we get levied.

With an election looming and a viable alternative on offer, it's time small business owners starting rattling the cages of their local MPs.