COSBOA was disappointed that we were not at the business round tables discussing the impact on small business of any carbon tax. But we have now been consulted and can focus on the key issues for our sector.

Peter Strong, Executive Director of COSBOA has stated "We know that the small business community is diverse. When it comes to the climate change debate small business people are like everyone else - there are believers, there are deniers and many are confused. What we are sure of is that small business people will suffer if implementation and management of any process does not include consideration of our needs. We know that whatever the government decides there will be an impact on every small business owner in Australia. These additional costs have to be passed on and in turn will increase the cost of living on every Australian."

He added "COSBOA will not support any process that is imposed without proper consultation with the small business community. In the end COSBOA may oppose whatever is proposed depending upon its impact and we will be watching for any process developed by government and big business that suits their own purposes and does not include our input."

Mr Strong also stated that " there are areas where our concerns are deepest, for example a small business family may be hit twice with increased costs, once at home and once at the workplace, so any compensation must be at both these locations. We also are worried that red tape and compliance will be easy for experts in big business and a nightmare for small business. We believe that the two speed economy will be magnified by this process unless we get it right."

Our consultations show that most small businesses will not be impacted by increased power costs.  Home based businesses and Independent Contractors, who make up a great number of small businesses, appear to be unaffected by any power cost increase, above and beyond the potential impact on all individuals.  The main areas will be those in shops and commercial prremises, and those who use large amounts of power such as hair dressers and dry cleaners.  We are in dialogue now with the Department to develop ways and means to alleviate any extra costs and ensure that if costs have to be passed onto consumers that big business are not given a chance to gouge small business and that they do not use this as an opportunity to increase their market share at the expense of small business and the expense of choice for consumers.

We have also been assured that there will be no red tape or reporting requirements placed on small business from any carbon tax.  We beleive what we have been told BUT we will continue to monitor developments and process to make sure that red tape doesn't sneak out from some unnoticed corner of bureaucracy.

Small business people are the ones who will innovate and take advantage of changes made to the way we use and produce energy, let's support them and not inhibit this behaviour. We need to be constantly informed and involved in the development of the process or the process will not work. In the end the individuals who are self employed will make their opinions felt at an election, like every other individual so let us have an impact now on process and policy.