Australia’s peak body for small business advice is puzzled by the South Australian Labor Government’s decision to stop funding frontline support for the state’s many small business owners, says Business Enterprise Centres Australia (BECA).
In its state budget handed down last week, the Rann Government cut almost $100 million from the Department of Trade and Economic Development, closing Business Enterprise Centres, and scrapping Small Business Month, the Small Business Helpline, and the SA Young Entrepreneur Scheme.
“This sends very confusing messages to the marketplace because only last month the Minister for Industry, Trade and Small Business, Tom Koutsantonis, was quoted bemoaning the fact that South Australia can get stuck in its ways and risk not creating a new generation of iconic businesses, ‘the new Coopers … Balfours … Haighs’,” notes BECA chair, David Baumgarten. (more…)
Business Enterprise Centres Australia 