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HOME PAGE
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We bring people
together in each federal electorate (150 electorates around
Australia) to work locally in engaging our communities and our
representatives in an agenda of empowerment of ordinary people
and strengthening of civil society.
CLICK HERE to join us. |
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SELF-DIRECTED
SERVICES AND PERSONAL BUDGETS
You can take charge of your social support, education and health
care through a personal budget.
CLICK HERE
for further information. |
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AGM SEASON
Making a difference in our not-for-profits.
CLICK HERE
for further information. |
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STREET BY STREET
Linking
up people who live in the same
street or nearby to build community through practical helping
tasks - on a national scale.
CLICK HERE
for further information. |
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COMMUNITY BUILDING
NATIONAL NETWORK
CLICK HERE
to participate in the
Network. |
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LEFT AND RIGHT?
"The Left and Right have been as bad as each other. The Left has
allowed its distrust of markets and endless faith in government
to obscure the importance of civil society. The Right has been
so focused on replacing the state with markets that it has
forgotten how to cultivate a trusting society.
This is the politics of the absurd. The Left identifies with the
good society but rarely talks about the mutualism and trust
between people. The Right recognises the importance of moral
obligation but gives the impression of trusting market
transactions more than civil society.
Few things seem to happen anymore
without a government law or market transaction to guide
them. This is how record levels of GDP in Australia now sit
alongside record levels of crime, social stress and family
breakdown. The political balance needs to swing back towards
civil society.
This task, in fact, requires a new type of politics."
Mark Latham, Mutualism: A Third Way for Australia," 1999.
CLICK HERE
to read more. |
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SURVEYS |
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If you are the proprietor of
a small business, please send us your thoughts on how we can support
small businesses through our |
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SMALL BUSINESS SURVEY |
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If you
are caring for an ill or disabled family member at home, please click
here to participate in our |
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Family CarERS SURVEY |
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Creating a Voice
for the 2.4 million
Self-Employed Australians and the
8 million
in Small Business
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DRAFT
Small business MANIFESTO
There
are 2.4 million small businesses in
Australia
providing a livelihood for 8 million people. These businesses are critically important to the
health of our economy and the well-being of local communities.
However,
small businesses are trapped in an economic and political no-man’s land,
caught between the anti-competitive practices of big business and the
anti-enterprise culture of trade unions. Being diverse and fragmented, small
firms lack a strong, unified voice. Politically, they lack the direct
sponsorship of the two major parties whose prior allegiance is to big business
and trade unions respectively.
Socially, small
businesses are vitally important to local communities. Their social contribution
has long been ignored by social policy makers.
This draft Small Business Manifesto is a call to action and
a campaign tool for the self-employed and small business sector.
DRAFT SMALL BUSINESS MANIFESTO
This Small Business
Manifesto is a call to action and a campaign tool for the self-employed and small business sector.
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1.
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Remove
all federal and state restrictions on the right of small businesses to
collectively negotiate with suppliers, acquirers and franchisors.
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2.
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Strengthen
the Trade Practices Act to require a forced divestiture of assets in any
firm controlling more than 50% of market share
in any domestic market.
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3.
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Exempt businesses
which employ less that 20 people from:
a. the requirement to collect superannuation contributions by
transferring this function to the tax system;
b. unfair dismissals legislation; and
c. paid parental leave legislation.
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4.
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Exempt family members working in family businesses from employment laws, and remove
the requirement for police checks on young family members.
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5.
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Strengthen
the Trade Practices Act provisions dealing with anti-competitive behaviour, predatory pricing, price fixing and collusive behaviour.
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Consolidate
all employment on-costs for businesses employing less than 20 people into
an (optional) single monthly payment made to one entity – a Small Business
Employment Agency (a state-based
office) to be subsequently distributed to
appropriate federal and state agencies.
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7.
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Restrict
licensing fees for all business activities to cost-recovery rates so as to
prevent licensing fees from being used as revenue-raising instruments for
governments.
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8.
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Reduce
fees for use of card payment systems by small businesses employing less
than 20 people by requiring this reduction be written into the terms of
bank licenses.
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9.
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Strengthen the Franchising Code of
Conduct to provide additional
protections for franchisees including acceptance of ‘class-type’ actions against
franchisors.
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10.
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Ensure long-term
workforce flexibility for small businesses
employing less than 20 people by establishing a network of community-based labour
supply social enterprises which take responsibility for and meet the
compliance obligations of employment in small firms, while developing the
skills, career planning and social aspirations of employees.
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11.
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Assign real powers
to Small Business Ombudmen/Commissioners to function as independent public statutory offices to
investigate and act on discriminatory conduct against small businesses,
and disputes between governments and small businesses.
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12.
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Require the introduction of
Small Business Impact Statements in
major policy initiatives and major project developments |
Comments
on the draft Manifesto are welcome and should be sent using the online form below.
HOW
TO BECOME INVOLVED
We will use the Manifesto as one tool in developing a public voice
and tool for political influence for self-employed people and their small businesses.
Fill in the online form
below to give your views on the draft Manifesto.
Register your interest in our campaign for voice and representation for
self-employed people and small business using the form below or
here.
Information on our campaign is available
here.
We will aim to get every MP around the country to push
for implementation of the points in this Manifesto, and we will monitor their efforts in
doing so (as well as their parties).
CLICK
HERE to complete our small business survey.
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©
Centre for Civil Society 2012-2013 |
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TRANSFORMING OUR
SCHOOLS
CLICK HERE for
details of our campaign for a Real Education Revolution.
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PARENTS FAMILIES AND
CARERS
CLICK HERE
for
info on the National
Federation of Parents, Families and Carers. |
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MAKING IT PERSONAL
Charlie Leadbeater, Jamie
Bartlett and Niamh Gallagher have authored this highly
influential Demos Report on Self-Directed Services
and Personal Budgets.
CLICK HERE
to read
Making It Personal. |
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THIRD WAY FORUM
Communitarianism,
Mutualism, Third Way Thinking
CLICK HERE
to find out more. |
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SUBSCRIBE
To SUBSCRIBE to our FREE email news bulletin, enter your
email address here.
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Family Carers
There are
2.7million family carers of people with a disability, a chronic
or mental illness, or aged frailty in Australia. They are
invisible to politicians and policy makers.
Read more... |
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How to Use this Website
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If you are visiting
this website for the first time, please note that there are two
sets of links - one at the top of each page; and a second down
the left hand and right hand side columns on our various
projects.
Click on the links on the top of the page for information on the
Centre for Civil Society.
Use the
SEARCH
button to find items of interest.If you are having problems
navigating, there are additional links at the bottom of each
page. Or click here for our
PLAIN TEXT version (ideal for printing).
For those with
reading difficulties, this website has been designed so you can
click on 'Text Size' in your 'View' menu to enlarge the font..
If you need more
assistance, feel free to send a message to our
WEBMASTER.
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