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Chris Small: ABC Business Sales Managing Director on National's 47 point small business plan · Best of Business

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from Newstalk ZB. Follow this
• 0:13
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  Speaker 1: funny old policy from the Nats yesterday, small business package, right?
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  Speaker 1: Odd thing is it's got 47 points in it, which
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  Speaker 1: is a lot of points. They'll review the $ 60, 000 GST
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  Speaker 1: registration threshold. There's a tell government once service, that's a,
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  Speaker 1: you know, so to cut the paperwork. A promise of
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  Speaker 1: faster employment disputes and simpler health and safety rules. Chris
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  Speaker 1: Small is the ABC business managing director and he's back
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  Speaker 1: with us on the program. Chris, very good morning to you.
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  Speaker 2: G'day, Mike. How are you going?
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  Speaker 1: Very well indeed. Is this material? Is this a thing?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I've got to be honest, Mike. I was hoping
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  Speaker 2: when I read the headline it was going to be
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  Speaker 2: pretty meaningful, you know, being really involved in small business.
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  Speaker 2: But I guess the word I'd use is it's practical,
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  Speaker 2: but it's certainly not transformational. There's no real meat on
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  Speaker 2: the bone, unfortunately. It's a fair bit of talk, and yes,
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  Speaker 2: it will help. but it's not transformational or particularly material
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  Speaker 2: when you think of being a business owner.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, having said that, could you drum up 47 things
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  Speaker 1: that could be done, should be done? I mean, I
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  Speaker 1: just don't understand how you can drum up that many
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  Speaker 1: things after three years in government.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, there's a fair bit of repetition there. They
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  Speaker 2: talk about the ERA and various things the same way
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  Speaker 2: in about four different sentences. So they have sort of
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  Speaker 2: gone for quantity over quality, What I would say, it
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  Speaker 2: really just emphasises that the government really does have bugger
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  Speaker 2: all money to spend because something meaningful would be like,
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  Speaker 2: and I'm not supporting anyone in particular, but something like
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  Speaker 2: actors proposing that junior wage, so if you took on
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  Speaker 2: a new staff member and you could pay them 60%
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  Speaker 2: of the minimum wage for the first 12 months if
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  Speaker 2: they're under 20, that would be $ 14 an hour. That's meaningful.
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  Speaker 2: So that means a cafe can take on two staff
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  Speaker 2: instead of one for the price of one, if you
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  Speaker 2: know what I mean. That's actually saving them real money.
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  Speaker 2: That's what a business owner wants. Something's going to save
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  Speaker 2: them real money rather than just something that sort of
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  Speaker 2: talks about it.
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  Speaker 1: What about things like GST? I mean, the GST registration
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  Speaker 1: thing at 60 does need changing, doesn't it?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, correct. And that's where they've missed a trick. They
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  Speaker 2: talk about talking about it. So yes, we're going to
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  Speaker 2: look at it rather than just putting their balls on
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  Speaker 2: the line and going, look, let's make it 100 or 150,
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  Speaker 2: whatever the number needs to be. That could have been
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  Speaker 2: quite meaningful. They could have said to a business owner,
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  Speaker 2: the trial period is no longer 90 days, it's 180 days.
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  Speaker 2: Really meaningful stuff as material rather than just a lot
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  Speaker 2: of talk. But look, the idea to put it together
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  Speaker 2: is great. They've shown that you've got a soft spot
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  Speaker 2: for small business, but they just could have put a
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  Speaker 2: bit more meat on the buying.
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  Speaker 1: Very well said, Chris. Appreciate it very much. I came
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  Speaker 1: to the same conclusion myself. Chris Small, ABC Business Managing Director.
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  Speaker 1: I just wonder if it's a reflector. I don't know
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  Speaker 1: Simeon Brown well enough. He's the campaign strategist. I don't
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  Speaker 1: know him well enough to know whether this is a
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  Speaker 1: reflection of him, but I certainly know Luxon well enough
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  Speaker 1: to know it's most definitely a reflection of him. No
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  Speaker 1: one loves a list like Luxon. And he would have
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  Speaker 1: looked at 47 points, including a whole lot of we'll
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  Speaker 1: look at this and we'll review that. And if I
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  Speaker 1: had a criticism of the National Party, the government in general,
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  Speaker 1: because they're a coalition, but the National Party in general,
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  Speaker 1: if I had a criticism, they promised a lot. And
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  Speaker 1: there's a lot at the end there, at the end
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  Speaker 1: of their first term, that they've reviewed, they've looked at,
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  Speaker 1: and I go back to it, the MAPAS thing, The
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  Speaker 1: Waitangi Tribunal thing promised to look at it. It's sitting
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  Speaker 1: there on a desk, haven't quite done anything about it.
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  Speaker 1: And they'd go, oh, but we've been flat out, et cetera.
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  Speaker 1: And then the next thing they do in a campaign
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  Speaker 1: is come up with 47 points for small business. And
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  Speaker 1: as Chris quite rightly points out, most of them is
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  Speaker 1: just yet more looking at stuff.