Opinion: A World Cup win public holiday might sound fun, but it wouldn’t be for SMEs

No one wants to be the fun police. The Matildas getting this far is amazing. Already world beaters is an amazing reason enough to celebrate. And me? If you know me you know I am all for celebration. On Saturday night I was at an annual reunion of the girls I went to kindergarten with, we are more girl power than the Barbie movie could ever hope to be. The “no phones at the table” rule was broken and we hugged strangers at an Italian restaurant. Jubilation and celebration. It feels good to feel good.

As a small business owner, nothing about a public holiday, from penalty rates to press soundbites from the PM, feels or sounds good.

Let’s be more creative about how we celebrate, rather than relying on the playbook of a former prime minister. Our SMEs are also the best in the world, but the conditions to operate also have to be.

During the last federal election, there were inches of columns dedicated to fears about this being an anti-business government, and with the glib populist soundbites about an extra public holiday, it’s hard not to feel this is coming true. There is no doubt that big business has concerns about how business-friendly the government is around reform and growth, but we know the first place to suffer from an anti-business agenda is small businesses. The businesses that will be most affected by an extra public holiday are SMEs.

The Victorian AFL Grand final public holiday has been a disaster for small businesses, with a city full of visitors but cafes being unable to afford staffing bills for their biggest day of business. Dan Andrews hasn’t thrown his support behind this one yet, because he’s learnt that political lesson. Surely of all people, he knows that it’s hard to get a coffee before 11am on the weekends in the Melbourne CBD now.

There is no denying the current climate is difficult for Australian SMEs. The cost of living impacts all households, and if you own a SME? A double whammy of worry. This morning I spoke to a financial advisor who specialises in servicing women business owners. The key issue she’s seeing is cash flow, staffing is difficult, supply is disrupted and let’s add the uncertainty of a public holiday.

As a business owner, it’s hard to just stop working for the day. We all know there really is no such thing as a day off, and if we have to pay staff to work on a public holiday? We have to find and make that money somewhere else.

As a former press secretary to a Prime Minister, it also leaves me a bit bewildered about an interest in long-term business-friendly strategy. I would be providing significant counsel on the language, the tone and the context of calling for a public holiday. When I heard this quote from the Prime Minister, “’I’ll be clearly putting the argument and I reckon they’ll fold like tents. They will go one after the other”, I really had to go as far as to find the transcript. It’s a joke. Other premiers “folding like tents”. Is this a power play as well as an insult to SMEs?

There is nothing fun about increasing pressure on cash flow. I’m not sure about anyone else, but I’ve spent the morning chasing up invoices, so I can pay my other small business contractors. There is nothing celebratory or funny about that. In our current economic climate, we need leadership that supports small businesses, not turns it into a joke about a political contest that will cost thousands. Is it that he doesn’t understand the economic realities of running an SMEs? Or that he just doesn’t care? Find yourself some advisors who have run businesses, owned businesses, and worked in a job where they didn’t rely on a salary, but they had to find a salary to support their staff and their staff’s ability to pay bills. It’s hard not to feel that with an extra public holiday, celebrating a historic win, is more important than the work SMEs do to support our economy, our nation’s identity and our well-being every single day of the year.

I want to celebrate the Tildas and I will. I’ll let my kids stay up late, we’ll deck the house in green and gold and have a street party — I’d rather pay in cranky children on a sugar crash than find the cash to support running a business on an extra public holiday. With our world-beating businesses, I know there is a small business owner out there who will come up with a more creative way for us to celebrate our world beating women. Put the idea out to a PR creative or a marketing creative. I know at least 10 women-owned SMEs who could come up with the very right campaign to celebrate other women that won’t be at cost to our economy. We are a clever nation, let’s find better ways to celebrate than stealing ideas from Bob Hawke.

Sally Branson Dalwood is the director of Sally Branson Consulting, founder of The Suite Set and co-Founder at FOMO Alerts.