Australian Government

27 March 2020

The Hon. Christian Porter, MP

Box 6022Parliament HouseCanberra ACT 2600

AustralianSmall Business andFamily EnterpriseOmbudsman

via email:

Monitoring the impacts of coronavirus on the Australian workforce

Small and family businesses, many of which are still recovering from the impact of drought, fire andfloods, must now prepare themselves for a sharp and protracted drop in demand for their goods orservices as a result of disruption. Challenges such as supply disruptions are makingmanaging a business at this time even more complex.

Clarity of messaging is critical

To give small businesses the best chance of long−term survival, information provided to smallbusinesses must be absolutely clear, and able to be relied on. Small businesses are extremelyconcerned about their future and want to understand exactly what their obligations are. We havereceived numerous calls from small businesses unsure about:

• what constitutes an essential service;• when they can stand staff down;• when they can reduce hours for permanent staff;

• if they can continue to trade, what additional duties of care do they have to staff in thecontext of and

• whether they can deploy staff employed in one of the business to another part. Forexample, where a staff member is employed as front of house staff, are they able to beredeployed to deliveries.

Small business owners are desperate for clarity, as evidenced by the surging numbers of peoplevisiting government websites and calling government information lines. As an example, contact withthe business.gov.au call centre rose from 236 calls and 600 web chats on Friday 20 March to 1,500calls and 1,400 web chats on Monday 23 March.

Impacts associated with any disruption to goods and services

Small businesses are consistently are confused about what constitutes 'essential' andservices. As has been advocated for by the National Farmers Federation, there needs to beconsistency across the nation in determining what defines an essential service to ensure security ofsupply chains.'

Pharmacy representatives have reported around whether pharmacies are classified as anessential and whether they need to expand operating hours to meet additional demand.

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T 1300 650 460 E info@asbfeo.gov.au

Office of the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise OmbudsmanGPO Box 1791, Canberra City ACT 2601

This will create workforce challenges for pharmacies and particularly so while complying with socialdistancing measures in small shops. This is an acute issue for small rural pharmacies. If thesebusinesses need to close if a pharmacist falls ill, these essential services won't operate.

Clarity must be provided that pharmacies are indeed an essential service. Should it be necessary toextend opening hours, these should be uniform within State boundaries. Finally, Government shouldinvestigate securing and supporting locum pharmacists in the event that a rural pharmacist is unableto run their pharmacy for a period of time due to illness.

Industry associations across multiple sectors, report that changing lifestyles are placing pressure onthe supply of goods and services. For example, the surge in demand for home delivered grocerieshas been hard for smaller operators to respond to. The increased costs to provide these services isreducing already slim margins.

Grocery retailers should be able to redeploy staff from other areas of their business, to supportdelivery services. Government will need to work with Unions to amend Enterprise BargainingAgreements where necessary to facilitate this change.

Finally, as the demand for home of products continues, Government must provide guidancefor businesses in relation to their obligations to protect staff from coming into contact with infectedpeople.

Impacts on the workforce, including of

There is confusion around the impacts of stand downs and the accompanying access to payments foremployees. Small businesses are trying to reduce costs to survive. It is difficult to balanceminimising costs with helping their employees access redundancy payments rather standing staffdown without pay. Business owners are seeking support for businesses to make redundancypayments, or capacity to defer these payments.

State and federal governments need to pay close attention to mental health in the workforce overthe coming period and put in place measures to support people wherever possible. It is critical thatsupport for initiatives such as the Beyond Blue virus support line is prioritised.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment. If you would like to discuss this matter further, pleasecontact Mr Alex Maskiell on 02 6121 3590 or by email to Alexander.Maskiell@asbfeo.gov.au

Yours sincerely

Kate Carnell AOAustralian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman

Office of the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman