Mickyj I would tend to agree insofar as smaller businesses overheads are now making it difficult to exist. The first is often real estate prices and therefore lease/rents skyrocketing. When our properties became betting odds for multinationals( aka linked to funds and stocks) in the late 1990's it bubbled their value several hundred % higher than they should be. These prices should more closely match normal population growth, which has only been about 30% over the same time.
Another is electricity bills, we sold our grids to multinationals to build and maintain, and they promptly went and screwed us for about 200% inflation over the next 20 years. Costs like these have to be passed onto consumers in order to run the small business.
Aussies are also some of the dumbest when it comes to happily paying for things we want. We don't have the competing markets of Europe nor the sheer size of the North American economy.
It hit me when I was working in the middle east and I saw all these cashed up Arab families driving tricked up hiluxes and landcruisers for 20-30k US. Everyone says oh yeah, less taxes, less tarrifs. Taxes and Tarrifs dont triple prices. We get f**** over basically because the companies set prices in line with customers credit limits