Ben Kearney, CEO of ALNA - Australian Lotteries and Newsagents Association, in relation to the FWC decision on the minimum wage yesterday said.

This is a very difficult time for small businesses, as we work through the long recovery from COVID. We are all under pressure from rapidly rising costs, and our employees are no different in that regard. The FWC decision was surprising in that it was higher than we had expected and it will coincide with an increase in Superannuation thereby adding significantly to staffing costs.

With sharply rising energy costs, interest rates, inflation and potentially increasing rents with the CPI changes, there is a perfect storm building in the small business and retail sector.

Small businesses like ours will need pricing power support from our suppliers to adapt to this confluence of cost rises. They will also importantly need strong government policy that really helps small business owners to drive greater cost efficiency swiftly through changes to mandate least cost routing for payments, less red tape overall, greater access to cheap digital tools and advice on automation to save money. They also need well targeted programs that will assist them in reducing vital overhead costs such as energy.