The owner of a Sunshine Coast cafe has outlined the difficulties of trying to run a small business in the face of rising costs.
Beach St Deli Cafe owner Darren Pilcher has been in business in Maroochydore for more than eight years and his energy bills have gone from $35 to $55 a day.
“I’m just lucky that I know all my costs. If you’re in small business and you don’t know what your costs are, you’re in trouble,” he said.
“I’ll use the example of eggs: they’ve gone from 35 cents to 45 cents – doesn’t sound like a lot, but every percentage cuts into what I normally make, and in small business we’re only making around 10 per cent for 70 hours a week work.”
He has also had trouble hiring, saying he had a job advertisement out for four months before he was finally able to hire someone, putting further strain on his business.
“Things are getting tougher and tighter for all of us,” he said.
“My regulars used to have coffee and cake; now they just have coffee.”
Mr Pilcher outlined his concerns at a press conference yesterday alongside Member for Fairfax and Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy Ted O’Brien, as well as Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor and Shadow Attorney-General and Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Michaelia Cash.
Their visit came a day after Mr Taylor outlined a proposal to allow JobSeeker recipients to earn more money before losing Centrelink payments.
This would help business owners like Mr Pilcher who need more hours filled, while also supporting JobSeekers to earn more each fortnight.
“The result of that is we believe there will be more people working,” Mr Taylor told the National Press Club on Wednesday.
“There is nothing like a job to improve somebody’s life.”
The policy has earned the support of the Australian Retail Association, who said it could bolster the industry’s casual workforce.
“At present, some JobSeeker recipients may turn down additional hours as it will impact their payment,” chief executive Paul Zahra said.
“This contributes to higher job vacancy rates in retail, and across other Australian sectors at a time when the sector is at breaking point around retail vacancies.”
But government analysis suggests the plan would cost between $700 million and $2.3 billion, The Australian reported on Wednesday, a figure Mr Taylor was unable to confirm.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers earlier seized on the opportunity to accuse the Coalition of hypocrisy.
“You can imagine what they would do to a Labor opposition who made an announcement without costing it,” he said.
Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said the Coalition’s failure to cost its plan showed it has not thought it through and was not serious about improving welfare.
The treasurer said the Coalition needed to explain how the extra spending would not contribute to inflation.
Figures released yesterday showed the jobless rate rose to 3.7 per cent from 3.5 per cent last month, ticking up against expectations it would hold firm.
About 4300 jobs disappeared from the economy, the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed.
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