Small Business Ombudsman Kate Carnell is sick of big businesses feathering their own nest by holding up payments to smaller companies.
“These companies pay slowly because they can, little businesses have no choice but to deal with them,” Ms Carnell said.
“In Australia we tend to have a fairly solid concentration of big business, like supermarkets, transport companies and so on.
“Really, they’re using little businesses as their bank.”
One of Ms Carnell’s chief concerns is the impact of late payments on rural and regional businesses.
“The impact of rural business is significant. Often their businesses’ are mums and dads, family businesses. And they have to make their payments to staff weekly or fortnightly, their landlords, suppliers and the Tax Office.”
Ombudsman research show payments are the biggest cause of disputes.
