Online business registrations make sense: Quirk

A decision by the Stirling, Wanneroo and Swan City Councils to allow for online registrations of home based businesses has won praise from Small Business Minister Margaret Quirk.

The full text of an announcement from the Minister's office is pasted below

The Stirling, Wanneroo and Swan City Councils have set new benchmarks for efficiency by allowing online registrations of home based businesses, and other councils are being encouraged to follow the lead.

Small Business Minister Margaret Quirk says these local councils are to be congratulated for cutting red tape and making life easier for people wishing to operate a business from home.

"Home based businesses represent around three quarters of all small businesses in Western Australia, so initiatives that save time and money for this sector are a bonus," Ms Quirk said.

"The Government is keen to see a reduction in any red tape that hinders small business in WA, and we are urging all local councils to implement streamlining processes wherever possible.

"In fact small business owners wanting to use the Council's online processes can access the sites from the Small Business Development Corporation's own website, which will make finding the information much easier.

"The City of Stirling is the latest council to introduce online registrations for home based businesses and it's estimated that going online will save up to a week for the registration process."

The City of Stirling's new process includes registering online and having approval certificates issued electronically. These changes are expected to reduce application completion times from two hours to 15-30 minutes, and provide the opportunity for applicants to monitor the progress of their applications online.

The Minister says on-line services provide many opportunities to streamline outdated manual registration processes, and councils should look at all possible applications.

With almost three quarters of all small businesses in Western Australia using a computer in their business, and two thirds having access to the internet, it makes good sense to use this medium for services to small business," Ms Quirk said.