AUSTRALIA | The Australian Retail Council (ARC) welcomed the Federal Government’s move to make the AUD 20,000 instant asset write-off permanent, delivering important certainty for small businesses and responding to long-standing calls from retailers.
To support a return to economic growth, ARC said retailers urgently need to see the promised structural reforms to lift productivity and reduce the burden of red tape and regulatory fragmentation, as well as measures to address spiralling business costs.
ARC CEO Chris Rodwell said making the instant asset write-off permanent is a sensible and practical reform.
ARC has repeatedly called for a permanent instant asset write-off as part of its broader productivity advocacy. For small retailers, this can support practical investments in equipment, technology, store improvements and security upgrades. Making the measure permanent gives businesses the certainty to invest when they need to, rather than waiting for another temporary extension.
Rodwell said reports that the Government is preparing a broader productivity package aimed at reducing regulatory costs are a positive signal, but the scale and speed of reform matter.
“Any move to reduce unnecessary regulatory burden is welcome, but Australia’s red tape problem demands bold and substantial reform,” he said.
“Retailers are operating in one of the toughest business environments in years, with weak consumer confidence, rising operating costs, growing compliance obligations and continued uncertainty weighing on business investment. The growing presence of ultra-cheap offshore platforms, operating on a unlevel playing field, is also a major threat to Australian retailers.”
Rodwell added that the AUD 444 billion retail sector represents almost one-fifth of GDP and employs one in ten Australians. When retail thrives, there is enormous benefit to the broader economy; the right settings are needed to enable it.
ARC has called for an ambitious productivity agenda, including a meaningful reduction in regulatory burden, with a target to cut red tape by 25 percent, alongside practical reform to reduce the cost of inconsistent rules across states and territories.
ARC-Mandala research found that regulatory fragmentation alone is projected to cost the Australian economy AUD 26 billion over the next decade, while adding cumulative costs of AUD 9.4 billion for Australian households.
“Businesses are spending too much time and money dealing with duplicated compliance obligations, conflicting state-based rules and unnecessary complexity instead of investing in growth, jobs and lower prices for consumers,” Rodwell said.
“This is a productivity drag, a competitiveness drag, and ultimately a cost borne by Australian households. More productivity, less fragmentation of rules and stronger private investment are how you build a more competitive economy and keep prices lower for consumers.”
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