Business Enterprise Centre Closures a Real Loss for Business Community
Better Business Aug/Sept 04
Business Enterprise Centre Closures a Real Loss for Business Community
Earlier this month, the Carr Government delivered another slap in the face for
rural and regional NSW for small businesses in announcing that 50 Business
Enterprise Centres (BEC) would be replaced by 18 centralised offices.
This announcement is as a result of the Carr Government slashing of the NSW
Regional Development Budget to the tune of $2.5 million dollars next year with
further cuts increasing to $6 million dollars in the following years.
Both Lismore and Casino Centres have successfully provided a FREE Business
Advisory Service to the North Coast business community over many years and more
importantly has the infrastructure in place to meet the needs of its own local
community to meet contractual arrangements with the State Government. A
tremendous amount of knowledge, skills and experience is tied up with our LOCAL
BEC Network.
These Centres are a catalyst for community based projects that are responsive to
communities needs, it is the first port of call for information to a large
number of community organisations and an effective referral point, being a very
cost-effective RESOURCE for THE GOVERNMENT.
Katrina Hodgkinson, Shadow Minister for Small Business and Fair Trading, visited
the Lismore Electorate last month to speak with Managers and teams of the
Lismore and Casino Business Enterprise Centres. These discussions reinforced the
need for BEC's within our area to support not only current small businesses, but
to encourage and provide local advice to develop new ventures.
Katrina has produced a brochure, titled "Advancing Small Business - Knowing your
facts and Issues". This publication is available from my office upon request and
as a Small Business owner myself, I appreciated this document which covered
State taxes and charges, payroll tax, websites, unfair dismissal legislation,
WorkCover Regulations and statistics.
