Thumbs up for networking, mixed response to Budget

This week's Federal Budget has had a mixed response from small businesses in Shellharbour, with some in finance and real estate expressing concern over property tax changes.

Australia’s 2.7 million small businesses are feeling the squeeze of rising costs and falling demand driven by inflation, fuel costs and the war in the Middle East.

Measures to help will include making the $20,000 instant asset write‑off permanent, Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced in this week's budget. According to the government: “This change will deliver around $890 million in cash flow support over the next five years, slash compliance costs for small businesses by around $32 million a year and save them 366,000 hours on record keeping.”

However, at Thursday’s meeting of the new Shellharbour & Beyond Networking Group, the mood was less upbeat.

Several businesspeople told the Illawarra Flame they’d not had time to get to grips with the finer details of the budget yet and those who had expressed concern about the government’s major property reforms, including changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax, and how these would play out at a local level.

Mark Mangos, a broker at Loan Market in Shellharbour, had “mixed views” of the overall budget. “I think it's definitely affecting all types of homeowners, first home buyers, investors,” he said.

“The main sentiment that I could probably summarise it with is hesitancy, especially with all the things happening overseas, and now this added on top. People are just very hesitant to make a move on the property market, we are definitely seeing people hold off with their plans moving forward. So hopefully these changes are positive, but we'll see how it all unfolds over the coming months.”

Pam Muller, the director of Professionals Shell Coast at Oak Flats, was critical of the reforms to negative gearing and capital gains tax.  

“I’ve been in real estate for 35 years – seen all things that have happened,” Pam said. “[Former Australian Prime Minister] Paul Keating tried to do this in 1987 – it lasted 18 months. Same thing's going to happen, it’s going to be disaster for renters, who Labor purport to look after, the lowest people on the rung. It’s not going to work, and there's nothing in that budget that's going to help people buy houses.”

Theresa Atlee, the principal accountant at Smart Financial Accounting, said she started fielding phone calls the minute the Budget was announced on Tuesday night. Her message is: “Don't panic. Don't make irrational decisions just yet.”

While the legislation will take time to pass, Theresa doesn't expect much to change. 

“To me, I don't really see it's going to help much in the younger generation. In a way, it's government recruiting more money from the taxpayer." 

At a professional level, Theresa is keen to tackle the challenges. “We definitely need to create new strategies for small business, investors, all of that. I highly recommend people come to see me, especially if they've got a family trust in place.”

About 25 businesspeople attended May 14’s meeting of the Shellharbour and Beyond Networking Group, held at Ariel’s Cafe outside Shellharbour Civic Centre. Attendees included John Davey, the independent councillor in Ward B for Shellharbour City Council, and Serena Copley, the Liberal candidate for Kiama in the NSW state government election.

The networking group launched in April thanks to Luke Griffin, a father of two young children who recently moved from Sydney to Shellharbour. 

“I’m a corporate matchmaker,” he told the Flame. “I’m a small business leader in the community. I run Growth Concept Development Services.”

For Luke, the verdict on the Federal Budget is still out but he said the changes could affect "generations" of Australians.

The next networking morning meeting will be on Thursday, 11 June at Casa Nova Italian Restaurant & Bar, Shellharbour, from 10-11:30am. For more information, visit the SHBNG website, newly created by Matt Wilson of momentuum AI.

What else was in the Budget for small business?

On Budget night, Treasurer Jim Chalmers issued an announcement titled ‘Backing small business with tax relief’ that hailed Australia’s 2.7 million small businesses as “the backbone of our economy”.  It listed measures aiming to support resilience, investment and growth, including by:

• Making the $20,000 instant asset write‑off permanent.
• Delivering a permanent two‑year loss carry back for companies with turnover of up to $1 billion from 1 July 2026.
• Introducing loss refundability to help start‑ups grow in their first two years.
• Expanding tax incentives for venture capital.
• Ensuring around 1.5 million sole traders benefit from a $250 tax offset from 2027–28.

The NSW Small Business Commissioner has published a list of 16 budget initiatives relevant to small businesses. This included mental health and financial wellbeing support, with an additional $8 million from 1 July 2026 to support the continuation of the NewAccess for Small Business Owners program and the Small Business Debt Helpline.

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