TRANSCRIPT:
Monarch Cakes, in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda, has been going for more than ninety years.
Nikki Laski is the owner of Monarch Cakes, and says she is just one of many small business owners underwhelmed by the federal budget.
"Everybody was sitting there waiting for some miracle to happen, and it just was a real nothing. Not enough to make any real changes for small business or for families."
Nikki says the costs facing Monarch Cakes are closer to home for most people than the problems for many small businesses.
She says increasing power prices have hit hard for business like hers that need to run things like ovens and cool rooms constantly.
And the egg price increase many have noticed at the supermarket recently?
When you make cakes for a living, that is also a negative.
"Our butter and our eggs are our most-used ingredients, and they are going up every single week. And it's impossible to keep raising the prices, because people don't have any money. You can raise the price, but then, you are going to lose customers. What do you do? You just make less money. You just work for nothing."
The company, founded by Polish immigrants, is one of 2.5 million small businesses in Australia which makes up more than 98 per cent of all the companies in the country, employing more than five million people.
Small business advocacy group COSBOA says the budget comes at a time when the sector is under pressure, with decade-high insolvencies and crippling costs.
Chief Executive Luke Achterstraat says small business is the heart of the Australian economy - and current problems make it all the more important that the sector gets more help.
"The government, trying to deal with the cost of living crisis... it really does beggar belief that there wasn't more support for small business, during a really challenging operating environment."
The federal budget has included two key measures for businesses in Australia: the first, a promise to remove non-compete clauses for workers earning less than $175,000.
Under existing rules, businesses can stop or restrict workers from moving to a competing employer.
There's also an instant asset write-off scheme, which has been enhanced to allow eligible businesses - that is, those with turnover of less than 10 million dollars per year - to immediately deduct the cost of assets up to 20,000 dollars.
The limit had previously been just 1,000 dollars.
But the measure is due to end on the 30th of June, and there was no mention of extending this measure in the budget.
Independent Senator David Pocock says that's poor from both major parties, and shows a bias towards big business over small business.
"We've seen the major parties rush through a bill for three multinationals that pay no tax in Australia. And yet, for 2.5 million Australian small businesses that are part of their communities, that are contributing to the economy, we haven't seen that sort of political will. I am urging the government and the opposition to legislate this year's 20,000 dollar instant asset write-off."
