Too often the Greens and their policies are not reported on by the media. This means many people think the party doesn’t have pro-business policies, but a quick trip to their website shows their policies are well-suited to the printing industry, especially for small businesses.

The Greens focus more on small business over big business because the sector employs a lot of people and adds diversity and strength to the economy. PrintTogether employs eight people and most of our clients are small businesses or organisations.

Our business model also benefits from the Greens' focus on, and support for, sustainability as we offer environmentally responsible materials and inks and try to avoid waste as much as possible.

For me, the Greens have two promises for small business that would make a big difference to myself and other printers.

They want to cut the company tax by 2% for businesses with a $2 million turnover or less, and do it straight away, which is sooner than the Coalition’s smaller tax cut promise.

They also want to raise the instant asset write-off threshold from $6,500 to $10,000. Since the Greens announced this plan, Labor has come out and backed the change, but only temporarily; the Greens want to change it for good.

While it doesn’t immediately put cash in our pockets, the Greens’ proposal for a small business commissioner backed up by legal powers would help all of us. The commissioner would be able to force government and small businesses into conciliation during a dispute and would be an advocate for us with government.

The Greens also want to strengthen competition laws to make it harder for big business to abuse their market power and consumer laws so small businesses would be covered in disputes over contracts with other businesses.

As a business owner I’ve been impressed with how economically responsible the Greens are. At the start of the election campaign they put out their platform of all the policies they wanted to pursue and as they’ve announced each one they’ve said how much money they will cost or raise.

They’ve also been really clear about the need to raise more money, not just cut services and jobs. Australians never like being told taxes or charges will increase but the Greens have made sure that in their plan only the people who can afford to pay would and they are not afraid to take on the big end of town.

We don’t operate our businesses in a vacuum. We are part of society and our votes should consider our business position as well as the type of Australia we want to live and work in.

Voting Greens is not just for people who care about the environment or asylum seekers, it’s for anyone who also wants to see a more caring society, good public education and public health, a fairer tax load, and investment in renewable energy and public transport.

[Related: More Industry Insider columns]

Calan Stanley is the owner of PrintTogether

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