Small Business Advisory Group Report Welcomed

August 26 2004

Small Business Advisory Group Report Welcomed

New Zealand Business Roundtable Policy Advisor Norman LaRocque today welcomed the Small Business Advisory Group annual report.

The report, released yesterday, aims to put a greater focus on enterprise education, improve the process for developing regulations that will affect small business, and lift the regulatory burden on small business.

"The Small Business Advisory Group has put forward a wide-ranging set of recommendations for the government to consider", Mr LaRocque said.

"The Business Roundtable is pleased to see a mix of both short-term initiatives, such as changes to current personal grievance provisions, and longer-term initiatives such as improvements to the process for developing policies that affect business. These two issues in particular have been the focus of much work by representative business organisations", Mr LaRocque said.

"The advisory group's recognition that issues of concern to small businesses are the very same issues that concern larger businesses is a big step forward. This realisation has not yet dawned on some in government", Mr LaRocque said.

"When the Employment Relations Reform Bill returns to parliament from a select committee soon, the government will have an opportunity to adopt the advisory group's recommendations on personal grievances, which are an obstacle to the employment of marginal workers. The ball is now definitely in its court to show that it takes the advisory group seriously", Mr LaRocque said.

ENDS

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