Small business owners say they’re being left out in the cold while behemoth companies are propped up by taxpayer dollars.
Queensland’s small businesses lashed Premier Steven Miles for comments made about the government stepping in to save Star Entertainment’s Star Brisbane Casino in The Queen’s Wharf precinct.
Star pushed back the release of its annual financial results, which were due to be delivered on Friday, triggering the suspension of its shares from ASX trade.
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“The Star is currently reviewing its financial and liquidity position with various advisers in the context of seeking to finalise its preliminary financial report for the financial year,” the casino operator said in a statement to the market late on Wednesday.
Miles indicated on Thursday that the government would consider tax relief for the troubled casino operator as it struggles to keep the Brisbane facility running just days after opening.
“We want to make sure taxpayers receive the full dividend from this project, but the fact is we won’t receive that dividend if the Queen’s Wharf Brisbane closes and 1400 people lose those jobs,” he said.
“I think it’s appropriate for the government to look to what we can do to try to protect those jobs.”
However, small businesses and industry advocated have condemned the move as prioritising big business over local ones.
Farmhouse owner Amanda Scott told 7NEWS.com.au the Premier’s comments are “tone-deaf”.
Scott has been running small businesses for decades — but when the state government told them they fell into a different tax category, they were left with an earth-shattering bill.
They already pay payroll tax on Farmhouse, their larger business located at Kedron in Brisbane’s north, but the state government told them in May that their smaller milk bar, gelato shop and Asian restaurant were all one business, and were also subject to a payroll tax.
“We needed to pay $240,000 in 14 days,” Scott told 7NEWS.com.au.
Scott asked for an extension, but said she was told the interest on a one-year extension would be five per cent higher than what the bank would charge for an identical loan.
“So we extended our mortgage, and we’re paying it that way,” she said.
It has destroyed the couple’s plans to open more small businesses in the state, she said.
“We no longer feel like doing that because, what’s the point?”
She said the Premier’s comments were essentially telling her: “We will subsidise a massive company from overseas, that is in gambling, but we won’t even consider that Australian businesses, which grow, shouldn’t have to pay payroll tax.”
“They’ve already had all sorts of benefits and incentives thrown at them. We don’t.”
‘Cannot compete’
The government preparing to step in to save Star also comes after City Winery Brisbane CEO Dave Cush pointed to the casino as contributing to the chain’s closure.
City Winery has six locations — under the banners City Winery and Ardo’s — across the city that are set to close their doors.
While historical effects of COVID-19 contributed the most to the closure, Cush said The Star’s opening was the “proverbial final nail”.
“We simply cannot compete with an operation of that scale,” he said.
Small business advocate Phil di Bella from industry network, which supports 950 small businesses in the state, Phil di Bella told 7NEWS.com.au: “You’ve got about 490,000 small businesses in Queensland, unfortunately we’re gonna see a fair few go broke.”
“Is he (Miles) gonna bail out all of them? Because at the end of the day, it’s everybody’s taxpayer money.
“The government keeps talking about small business, but all their actions ever aim towards is big business, and this just another example.”
He called it “irritating” for his network members.
“The government certainly doesn’t have the right to apply a rule for some and not for others. If you wanna help big business then you’ve gotta help small business.
“Someone and something that needs that money is going to miss out, so what is it? Be transparent.”
Support from the union
However, the United Workers Union has supported Miles and called for all parties to prioritise the jobs of 8000 workers employed by Star Entertainment Group.
“All parties — the company, regulators and governments — should be doing everything they can to keep Star’s doors open,” United Workers Union Casinos Director Andrew Jones said.
“It’s not fair that hard-working Star employees could be left carrying the can for a series of regulatory and operational failures they have had nothing to do with.
“These are 8000 jobs that should not be thrown away.
“It’s hard to overstate the exhaustion and fear these workers have endured in the last couple of years, let alone the last couple of days.”
When asked to address the backlash on Friday, Queensland Deputy Premier Cameron Dick said 95 per cent of businesses in Queensland do not pay any state taxation.
“For those that do, we regularly enter into payment plans with companies and individuals who might encounter difficulties in paying taxation,” he said.
“In the case of the Queensland Revenue Office, that’s around 20 companies and individuals each and every week, and that includes businesses big and small.
“So this is not anything unusual, and we will always help companies that might be in distress or looking to enter into a repayment plan for their taxation.”
– With AAP