After The Death Of A Salesman, A Chance To Reform Franchising

The Australian:

JUST when the federal Government has called for franchisees to make submissions to a review of the industry’s code of conduct, a franchisee in dispute with his franchisor has paid the ultimate price, taking his own life.

Another franchisee also in dispute with the same franchisor has accused the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission of having blood on its hands.

For legal and family bereavement considerations names have not been published but the incident shows the under-the-surface issues that need to be considered more seriously by everyone in this very successful industry.

It also comes at a time when federal Labor is in desperate need of a credible small business policy following a plan for the sector released by Opposition Leader Kim Beazley, which has received a thumbs-down in a recent poll. “SMEs (small and medium-size enterprises) have traditionally favoured the Liberal Party so the results are not wholly surprising,” said David Ratcliffe the chairman of accounting business PKF. “But the scale of the rejection of the five-point plan suggests Labor has failed to empathise with SMEs owner-managers’ real concerns.”

In a pitch for middle Australia, Mr Beazley linked small business to the group and told the Council of Small Business Organisations of Australia’s (COSBOA) national small business summit late last month that he would free up small businesses from onerous paperwork as well as improve skills and telecommunications services “to help drive the next wave of productivity in the Australian economy”.

The plan promised:

* A $200 Business Skills Credit to all new small businesses.

* A single superannuation “clearing house” to end the super paperwork nightmare.

* A red-tape-reduction fund and a “small-business-first” approach to regulation design.

* Ensuring government and corporate debtors pay bills on time, to improve cash flow.

* Cheaper phone calls and greater access to IT applications.

What seems like a no-brainer for a party that can never expect to win over small business employers, with their industrial relations policy of bringing back unfair dismissal and killing off Australian Workplace Agreements, is to go where the Howard Government fears to tread. And that’s where bigger business exploits small business.