By CASEY NEILL
GREATER Dandenong’s business community has welcomed the company tax cut in last week’s Federal Budget.
But there are concerns the 2014-’15 plan won’t boost jobs and will put undue stress on jobseekers.
Adrian Boden from the South East Melbourne Manufacturers Alliance (SEMMA) said there was “a lot of detail we still need to go through” but the 1.5 per cent reduction in company tax was “very welcome”.
“The bad news is a decrease in research and development (RND) incentive contributions by the equivalent of the tax rebate,” he said.
“It’s significant.
“When I made a presentation to the Federal Inquiry on Manufacturing, I said the one thing that must be maintained is the RND incentive.
“If you want companies to innovate they need to be able to afford to innovate.”
Mr Boden said SEMMA was also disappointed that jobseekers under 30 wouldn’t be entitled to unemployment benefits until they’d been out of work for more than six months.
“We know there are people who could have been working for 10 years, be 28, have a family, and become unemployed and take six months to get back on their feet,” he said.
“This will increase their stress levels and impact their health in general.
“And I’m not sure that I can see where the government has assisted in the creation of jobs.
“The budget doesn’t seem to give a great boost to job creation.”
Mr Boden said it was not yet clear if the federally-funded Enterprise Connect was disappearing.
“They supply business specialists that can advise you on your company and grants,” he said.
“We believe it is being shut down from 1 January next year, and we’re not sure if it’s being replaced or not.”
Committee for Dandenong chairman Gary Castricum encouraged the State Government to access the new $11.6 billion Federal Infrastructure Growth Package to fast track the Port of Hastings “as a nation-building project with rail and road links to the inland port in Dandenong”.
He said the $1 billion removed from Industry Assistance programs would impact negatively on industry.
“But proposed small business subsidies and the proposed Entrepreneurs Infrastructure Fund may well assist many of the smaller innovative businesses that also operate in Dandenong,” he said.
“Of course the drop in corporate tax rate of 1.5 per cent will also benefit those smaller companies not impacted by the paid parental leave levy.”
