By Jacinta Price
I’ve sat down with grocers, butchers, nursery owners, gym owners, truck dealers and tradies in their own workshops and behind their own counters – because you learn more in twenty minutes behind a counter than months in Canberra.
Everywhere I go, I hear the same things.
Bills are increasing, month after month.
Paperwork that eats six hours a week and earns nothing.
And one thing above all, almost word for word, in every workshop and every café: nobody from Canberra has ever asked us anything.
In 2025-26 there were 375,331 businesses that closed down here in Australia.
Complying with government regulation now costs $160 billion a year.
And Labor’s answer is to restrict and tax family trusts. It is estimated that small and family businesses could spend up to $13.3b in advice and restructuring costs as a result of this terrible Trust Tax.
This Albanese Labor Government clearly does not know the first thing about running a small business.
But it spends its time lecturing the people who do.
So today I’m doing the opposite.
I’ve launched a site where a business owner can tell me directly what’s happening – in their own words.
One question. Thirty seconds.
If that’s you, I’m asking for your feedback today.
What you tell me goes with me into Parliament, into Estimates, into the party room, into the changes I push for.
And if it isn’t you, you’ll know someone it is.
Your mechanic. Your hairdresser. The café that makes your morning coffee.
Nobody has ever asked them either.
Forward this article and you’ll be the reason somebody finally does.
