Last month, the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia released The Small Business Perspectives Report 2026 based on a survey of 572 small businesses, with a particular focus on regional, rural and remote businesses.
In the CEO’s summary, she includes the challenges of:
- Rising costs
- Falling profits
- Workforce shortages
- Housing, childcare and connectivity gaps
And she lists where government could make a difference by providing:
- Simpler, more consistent regulation
- Faster visa processing in areas of genuine skill shortages
- A coordinated response on housing and childcare in regional towns
- Insurance reforms for disaster-exposed communities,
- And modern connectivity.
Listen to my full speech here.