The federal opposition has sent small businesses in Labor-held marginal seats posters apologising to their customers for rising costs under the carbon tax. But the Labor government says businesses are at risk of heavy fines if they make false claims about the impact of the carbon price on their own prices.The posters have been sent to 7000 bakers, ...

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Butchers, bakers and meal makers will tomorrow receive from the Coalition leaflets apologising to customers for price increases after July 1 attributed to penalties on carbon emissions. A range of small businesses are being recruited to the front line of the Opposition's campaign against penalties of $23 a tonne to be levied on major carbon pollute...

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A federal government iPad app designed for small business has been labelled a flop after it was only downloaded 690 times in the six months since launch.Opposition small business spokesman Bruce Billson calculated that just one in 3900 businesses had downloaded the app."With reports that the majority of small businesses have no meaningful informati...

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AN INQUIRY into price signalling by petrol stations has reignited criticism of the government's move to ban the practice only in the banking industry.The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission this month launched a probe into price sharing among petrol stations through a data aggregation website called Informed Sources.The investigation wil...

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MELBOURNE Water has agreed to open one lane of Heatherhill Rd during its drainage works.But traders, politicians, residents and, more recently, Frankston Council, say the multimillion dollar project to install pipes along the busy shopping strip still had to change.In March Heatherhill Rd shop owners begged the water authority to consider an altern...

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LESS THAN 70 days before the introduction of the Gillard government's carbon tax, the federal Coalition says small business owners remain in the dark about how it will affect their operations.As the competition regulator warns businesses it will monitor price gouging in the wake of the carbon tax's introduction on July 1, Coalition Small Business s...

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Putting the carbon tax aside, which will be the greatest economic impost on small business created by man, the Gillard Government must learn that reducing the red-tape and compliance costs crippling small business needs far more action than an improved system for registering a business name.Labor ministers continue to point to national business nam...

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Credit where credit is due. Prime Minister Julia Gillard has taken a big step forward for small business people. She’s appointed a new small business minister, Brendan O’Connor. For the first time the minister sits in cabinet, at the heart, not the fringes of government decision-making.At long last a Labor government is recognising the true, centra...

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Credit where credit is due. Prime Minister Julia Gillard has taken a big step forward for small business people. She’s appointed a new small business minister, Brendan O’Connor. For the first time the minister sits in cabinet, at the heart, not the fringes of government decision-making.At long last a Labor government is recognising the true, centra...

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THE NSW federal MP who threatened to get a tattoo to show his loyalty to the prime minister has won a double-headed promotion in the latest Labor government reshuffle.David Bradbury, the member for Lindsay - the fourth most marginal seat in the country - will become assistant treasurer alongside Treasurer Wayne Swan.He also takes on the newly creat...

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Labor Senator Mark Arbib has stepped down from his role as Small Business Minister, much to the exasperation of the small business sector, which will now have to deal with its fourth federal representative in five years.Arbib, who was also serving as Assistant Treasurer and Sports Minister, announced his resignation from Parliament yesterday, just ...

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A WORLD-CLASS teleconferencing service used by big banks, designers and Hollywood stars is being overlooked by the Federal Government, its Mornington Peninsula owner says. Express Virtual Meetings chief executive Simon Ross said his business could help the Government cut costs, slash its carbon emissions and meet its own procurement policy. Mr Ross...

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Julia Gillard remains Prime Minister after her Caucus colleagues decisively backed her against former PM Kevin Rudd. Gillard won the leadership ballot 71 votes to 31.But Shadow Small Business Minister Bruce Billson says a “divided and dysfunctional Government is only adding to the unease which is being felt by small businesses” and Labor figures th...

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THE old Mornington Post Office has received a stamp of approval. Now home to Mornington Historical Society’s museum, it will house items displayed at the former National Postal Museum. Dunkley federal Liberal MP Bruce Billson and Opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull made the announcement last week. ‘‘ It’s great to see that Morningt...

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COLES' decision to slash fresh fruit and vegetable prices has prompted politicians to call for an overhaul of Australia's competition laws, with several MPs predicting the short-term consumer benefit could spell the end of Australia's agriculture sector.The supermarket giant announced this week that it was cutting the price of some produce by up to...

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