For a business leader who has just seen his members start to enjoy $5.5 billion in tax breaks, Peter Strong isn't overly happy.
The head of the Council of Small Business of Australia concedes that in the last 12 months there has been a seachange in which small businesses are considered differently and separately from big business.
"We have business class warfare alive and well in Australia," Mr Strong told the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday.
He says penalty rates are ridiculously high and as a bookshop owner in Canberra he was forced to close on a Sunday and lay off his staffer when wages were increased to double time.
But he then discovered that through negotiations with the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees' Association (SDA) if you work for Coles or Woolworths you can still work on a Sunday at time and a half.
SDA national secretary Gerard Dwyer hit back saying Mr Strong misunderstood industrial relations in the retail sector by appearing to suggest some collusion between the union and major retailers to lock out small operators.
"The simple fact of the matter is that the SDA has very effectively negotiated above-average wages and conditions for many of its members - a fact that the union is very proud of," Mr Dwyer said in a statement.
Mr Strong attacked mining companies for not paying taxes, for a lack of transparency and for being the worst sector for paying people on time - at 120 days.
"If you own a small business and want to put food on the table, it's a bit long to wait," he said.
The start of the new financial year means that the Abbott government's small business package and a suite of tax concessions come into operation, a package that was a central part of the May budget and talked up as providing a boost to jobs growth.
But Mr Strong said in the end employment growth will come from confidence.
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