By CASEY NEILL
MANUFACTURERS in the south-east welcomed the company tax cut in the 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 (R and D) 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 R and D 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 ending.
“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.”
