The two flaws in our democracy revealed by Covid & the impact on small businesses

Small Biz Matters

Small Biz Matters – a half hour program each week where you can work ON your business rather than IN it. with Alexi Boyd, broadcaster, advocate and small business owner. Date: 2 June 2020

Australia’s response to the pandemic has been one of the most effective in the world. But ironically that success shows us how broken is our democracy. Today we’re in conversation with Jeremy Goff, an expert in Strategy, Communication & Investor Relations and he’s here for what’s likely to be a robust chat about the two main flaws in our democracy revealed by the Covid response - and the impact on small and medium businesses.….

Welcome to the show Jeremy.

Topics we’ll be covering:

The first flaw is ideology - in particular the cult of the budget surplus. When people’s lives depended on it in the pandemic, that went straight out the window because - as any householder with a mortgage will tell you - debt is good if it’s helping you invest in your future. But the pandemic response has been the exception. Throughout the last 23 years of economic growth there hasn’t been nearly enough government investment in creating the industries we need to support small business innovation.

If governments had invested much more in supporting clean energy enterprises over the last twenty years, a regional port like Eden on the NSW far south coast could have become home to new sectors like wave power generation manufacturing. The flow on effects of an industry like that can be massive for a wide range of small businesses from welding and electrical engineering to services like catering, hospitality and facilities maintenance. But today those jobs are nowhere to be seen.

The second big flaw in our democracy is the power of big business - in particular the coal and gas industries. As the Podcast Hot Mess reported just last week, for over thirty years those industries have deliberately muddied the waters by funding false scientific research to throw doubt on the science of climate change. They also currently have three former executives as senior staff in the PMs office. This has slowed or stalled sensible, rational market based responses to ever growing climatic impacts on human society.

The results for many small businesses across Australia will be dramatic. We’ll start to feel them in the next decade, with more profound effects by 2040. There will be lower commercial fish stocks for our commercial fishers, longer more frequent droughts for our farmers, and the probable disappearance of meaningful winter snow in the alpine regions. All of that is devastating for small businesses across those regions.

What can we do about it?

1. Ban all corporate political donations.
2. Disclose all individual donations in real time
3. Mandate that all parliamentary staffers paid for with public money must be career public servants. If you want a career political apparatchik you pay for it with Party funds.

You can chat to Jeremy more via his LinkedIn page - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-goff-a08b7332/