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I was in an Uber the other day and got talking to my driver. He was a Sikh. We had quite a conversation about his religion and the importance of it to his everyday life. I’ve never met a Sikh before! He was most interesting. I asked him why he drives Uber. His response was quick. He loves being his own boss. He can make his work fit around his family commitments.

My Sikh driver reminded me of why we at Self-Employed Australia have been doing what we do for almost 20 years. We’ve been defending the right of people to be self-employed. We’ve seen attacks from many directions. The attackers always seem to argue that somehow ‘we’ are being exploited. They can’t seem to contemplate that in self-employment there is economic liberty and freedom! My Sikh driver knows and lives that reality.  More...

A very big Season’s Greetings to all ICA members, supporters, friends and contributors—of which there are many! 2016 has been an impressive year in terms of achieving positive outcomes for self-employed people.  More...

After a year of much talk and many promises, it's good to see that there's been some action on these two important small business issues.

On illegal logging and timber importation, we were vocal in our criticism of the government's proposed legislation in September and October last year. It's good to see that the PM’s parliamentary secretary for deregulation (now Assistant Treasurer) Josh Frydenberg has given a commitment to fix the problems. More...

ICA's Ken Phillips has returned to the fray over the proposed illegal logging legislation—due to take effect in November—with a series of responses to the Minister responsible, Tasmanian Senator Colbeck. The laws, Ken says, will create criminals out of honest small business timber and timber products importers and are impossible to comply with. Small timber importers will come under a vicious bureaucratic attack that will force them into the clutches of a duopoly of big business interests. Ken's original article is here. His most recent response to the Minister is here. More...

Working to defend self-employed people can involve many strange twists and turns.

A recent example: new laws to start in November require timber importers to guarantee that any imported timber is legally logged. If they don’t, they face jail as the ultimate sanction. But government reports say that it's impossible to comply.  More...