Some of our AR’s recently rolled up their sleeves at Foodbank Queensland, then handed over a cheque for $25,000 on behalf of the IA Foundation.

The group, led by Steve Carey, Authorised Representative at Lewis Insurance Services, spent time volunteering on the ground before presenting the donation, getting a first-hand look at how the charity distributes donated food to Queenslanders doing it tough.

Why Foodbank Queensland Matters

Foodbank Queensland is the state's largest hunger relief charity. It started in 1995 from a small shed in Fortitude Valley, and now it reaches communities right across Queensland.
The numbers tell the story:

• It supports around 135,000 Queenslanders in crisis every week.
• It provides breakfast to 52,000 children each school week.
• It works with more than 350 community partners and 430 school breakfast programs.
• It delivers roughly 14 million kilograms of food a year.

The need keeps growing. Right now, 1 in 5 Queensland households are going without regular meals. That's about 480,000 households, and many of them have children at home.

Foodbank does more than hand out food. It rescues surplus produce from farmers, retailers and manufacturers, food that would otherwise end up in landfill. Strong supplier relationships mean every $1 invested returns about $2 in food retail value, so donations stretch a long way.

The IA Foundation backs causes that make a real difference in the communities where IA advisers live and work. Hands-on volunteering paired with financial support reflects how the Foundation likes to give: showing up, doing the work, then helping fund the mission.

Thank you to Steve Carey and the team and to Foodbank Queensland for the work they do every single day.

General Advice Warning

This communication including any weblinks or attachments is for information purposes only. It is not a recommendation or opinion, your personal or individual objectives, financial situation or needs have not been taken into account. This communication is not intended to be a constitute personal advice. We strongly recommend that you consider the suitability of this information, in respect of your own personal objectives, financial situation and needs before acting on it. This document is also not a Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) or a policy wording, nor is it a summary of a particular product’s features or terms of any insurance product. If you are interested in discussing this information or acquiring an insurance product, you should contact your insurance adviser to obtain and carefully consider any relevant PDS or policy wording before deciding whether to purchase any insurance product.

With higher interest rates, elevated inflation and cautious consumer spending, many businesses are looking carefully at where they can reduce expenses. The 2026–27 Federal Budget introduced targeted measures for businesses, including a permanent $20,000 instant asset write-off for eligible small businesses from 1 July 2026, the reintroduction of loss carry-back for eligible companies, and changes aimed at reducing compliance costs and improving productivity. 

These measures may help some businesses with cashflow and investment decisions, but they do not remove the need for disciplined cost management. A practical approach starts with understanding your cashflow, your key risks and the resources your business relies on most.

Retain the right people

When cashflow is under pressure, reducing staff numbers can seem like a quick way to lower costs. But losing experienced people can also affect service, productivity, customer relationships and your ability to respond when conditions improve.

Instead, businesses may benefit from identifying the roles and skills that are essential to day-to-day operations, then looking at where more flexibility can be built in. This could include casual or contract support, outsourcing non-core tasks, cross-training team members, or reviewing rostering and workload planning.

The aim is not simply to cut headcount, but to protect the capability your business needs to keep operating well.

Make use of relevant Budget measures

The Budget’s permanent instant asset write-off may help eligible small businesses invest in equipment, vehicles, technology or other assets that support productivity and growth. However, businesses should avoid spending simply to access a tax deduction. Any investment should make commercial sense and support the business beyond the current financial year.

Eligible companies may also benefit from the reintroduced loss carry-back measure, which allows certain losses to be offset against tax paid in the previous two income years. This could provide cashflow support for businesses that have moved from profit to loss due to changing conditions. 

Businesses should speak with their accountant or financial adviser to understand how these measures apply to them.

Review how you manage physical assets

Equipment, vehicles, stock, premises and other physical assets can tie up cash. If your business has accumulated assets over time, it may be worth reviewing whether they are still being used efficiently.

Ask whether each asset is essential, underutilised, too costly to maintain, or able to be sold, leased, shared or repurposed. Reducing unnecessary outgoings can free up cashflow and help your business stay more agile.

Look for efficiency, not just cuts

The Budget also includes broader productivity measures, including reducing some regulatory burdens, simplifying engagement with government and making certain standards easier to access for small businesses and tradies. 

For business owners, the broader principle is useful: look for ways to operate more efficiently, not just more cheaply. That could include reviewing supplier contracts, subscriptions, payment terms, debtor management, stock levels, systems, automation and energy use.

Review your insurance cover and premiums

Insurance is another area businesses often look at when trying to reduce costs. While it may be possible to adjust your cover, excesses or payment options, reducing insurance without proper advice can leave your business exposed.

It is also important to remember that inflation can affect the cost of repairing, replacing or rebuilding assets. If your sums insured are no longer accurate, you may not have enough cover at claim time.

Speak with your insurance adviser to review your current policies, confirm whether your cover still reflects your business operations, and look at practical ways to manage premiums without leaving key risks unprotected.
 

General Advice Warning

This communication including any weblinks or attachments is for information purposes only. It is not a recommendation or opinion, your personal or individual objectives, financial situation or needs have not been taken into account. This communication is not intended to be a constitute personal advice. We strongly recommend that you consider the suitability of this information, in respect of your own personal objectives, financial situation and needs before acting on it. This document is also not a Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) or a policy wording, nor is it a summary of a particular product’s features or terms of any insurance product. If you are interested in discussing this information or acquiring an insurance product, you should contact your insurance adviser to obtain and carefully consider any relevant PDS or policy wording before deciding whether to purchase any insurance product.

Managing risk is part of running a business. Some risks are operational, such as equipment failure, staff injury or supply chain disruption. Others are external, such as cyber incidents, severe weather, theft, property damage or a significant liability claim. 

Insurance is one way businesses can transfer some of these financial risks. The challenge is balancing the cost of insurance with the potential cost of being underinsured, uninsured, or not having the right cover in place.

In the current environment, this balance is especially important. Higher operating costs, inflation, cyber risk, labour shortages and severe weather events can all increase the financial impact of a claim. While reducing insurance cover may lower premiums in the short term, it can leave a business exposed if something goes wrong.

For example, a business may be able to absorb the cost of replacing a small item of equipment. But if a fire, storm, cyber incident or liability claim disrupts operations, damages stock, affects customers or stops income, the cost could be far greater than the premiums saved.

Insurance that may be required

Some types of insurance are required by law, depending on your business structure, location and operations.

• Workers compensation: If you employ staff, workers compensation insurance is generally required. Requirements vary by state and territory.
• Compulsory third party insurance: If your business owns or uses vehicles, compulsory third party (CTP) insurance is required. CTP covers injury to people caused by the use of a vehicle, but it does not cover damage to vehicles or other property.

Insurance to help protect your business

Other covers may not be legally required in every situation, but can play an important role in protecting your business.

• Public and product liability: Can help cover claims for personal injury or property damage connected to your business activities or products.
• Property insurance: Can cover damage to buildings, contents, equipment, machinery and stock from insured events such as fire, storm, theft or accidental damage.
• Business interruption: Can help protect income if your business cannot operate after an insured event.
• Professional indemnity: May be relevant if your business provides advice, designs, consulting or other professional services.
• Cyber insurance: Can help cover certain costs linked to cyber incidents, including ransomware, phishing, business email compromise, data breaches and system interruption.
• Management liability: Can help protect directors, officers and the business against certain claims relating to company management.

Your insurance needs can change as your business changes. New equipment, higher stock levels, increased revenue, additional staff, new contracts, cyber reliance or changed premises can all affect your risk profile.

Recent Federal Budget measures, including the permanent $20,000 instant asset write-off for eligible small businesses, may also encourage some businesses to invest in new assets or equipment. If your business does invest, it is important to make sure those assets are properly reflected in your insurance cover.

Reviewing insurance is not just about finding a cheaper premium. It is about understanding what your business could afford to absorb, what could seriously impact operations, and where insurance can help protect against major financial loss.

To balance cost and risk properly, speak with your insurance adviser. They can help review your current policies, identify any gaps or overlaps in cover, check whether your sums insured remain appropriate, and look at practical ways to manage premiums without leaving your business exposed.
 

General Advice Warning

This communication including any weblinks or attachments is for information purposes only. It is not a recommendation or opinion, your personal or individual objectives, financial situation or needs have not been taken into account. This communication is not intended to be a constitute personal advice. We strongly recommend that you consider the suitability of this information, in respect of your own personal objectives, financial situation and needs before acting on it. This document is also not a Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) or a policy wording, nor is it a summary of a particular product’s features or terms of any insurance product. If you are interested in discussing this information or acquiring an insurance product, you should contact your insurance adviser to obtain and carefully consider any relevant PDS or policy wording before deciding whether to purchase any insurance product.

The 2026–27 Federal Budget has put small business cash flow, investment and resilience back in focus, with several measures aimed at reducing compliance pressure and supporting businesses through changing conditions.

One of the key announcements is the permanent extension of the $20,000 instant asset write-off for small businesses with turnover of up to $10 million, from 1 July 2026. This means eligible businesses may be able to immediately deduct eligible assets costing less than $20,000, rather than depreciating them over time. For many small businesses, this could make it easier to invest in equipment, tools, technology or machinery needed to improve productivity, replace ageing assets or support growth.

The Government has also announced the reintroduction of loss carry-back rules for eligible companies from 1 July 2026. Broadly, this would allow companies with aggregated annual global turnover of less than $1 billion to carry back certain tax losses and offset them against tax paid in the previous two years. For businesses facing a tougher trading period after previous profitable years, this could provide useful cash flow support.

Start-ups have also been addressed, with a proposed loss refundability measure from 1 July 2028 for eligible start-up companies with annual turnover of less than $10 million. This is intended to help early-stage businesses that are investing and employing people before becoming profitable.

While these measures may be welcome, the Budget does not remove the broader pressures many small businesses are still managing. Rising input costs, wage pressures, interest rates, supply chain uncertainty and changing customer behaviour continue to put pressure on margins. For many business owners, the challenge will not simply be whether support is available, but how to make practical decisions around timing, investment and risk.

The instant asset write-off, for example, may encourage businesses to bring forward purchases. But a tax deduction does not remove the upfront cost, so owners should still consider whether the asset is genuinely needed, how it will support the business, and whether the cash flow impact is manageable.

Similarly, loss carry-back rules may help eligible companies manage downturns, but they are not a substitute for good planning. Businesses should still review their forecasts, debt position, stock levels, staffing needs and contracts to understand where pressure points may emerge.

The Budget is also a reminder that small business risk is not just financial. When conditions shift, businesses often make changes quickly, such as buying new equipment, changing premises, taking on new work, hiring staff, reducing costs or diversifying services. Each of these decisions can affect insurance needs.

For example, new equipment may need to be added to a policy. Changes in turnover, staffing, stock levels or business activities may affect cover. Contract changes may introduce new liability requirements. Even cost-cutting decisions can create exposure if insurance is reduced without fully understanding the consequences.

For small businesses, the practical takeaway is to use this Budget as a prompt to review the business as a whole, not just the tax measures. Speak with your accountant or tax adviser about eligibility and timing, and speak with an insurance adviser to make sure any changes to your business are properly reflected in your cover.

General Advice Warning

This communication including any weblinks or attachments is for information purposes only. It is not a recommendation or opinion, your personal or individual objectives, financial situation or needs have not been taken into account. This communication is not intended to be a constitute personal advice. We strongly recommend that you consider the suitability of this information, in respect of your own personal objectives, financial situation and needs before acting on it. This document is also not a Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) or a policy wording, nor is it a summary of a particular product’s features or terms of any insurance product. If you are interested in discussing this information or acquiring an insurance product, you should contact your insurance adviser to obtain and carefully consider any relevant PDS or policy wording before deciding whether to purchase any insurance product.

Most business owners understand that a company can be fined for breaking the law. You may not know that directors, officers and senior managers can be held personally responsible – meaning the fine, court-awarded damages, or legal costs can come out of your own pocket.

Most business owners understand that a company can be fined for breaking the law. You may not know that directors, officers and senior managers can be held personally responsible – meaning the fine, court-awarded damages, or legal costs can come out of your own pocket.

In serious cases, individuals can also face criminal prosecution and imprisonment. Management Liability insurance is specifically designed to protect you and your management.

The Risk: Which Laws Can Make You Personally Liable?

There are hundreds of Commonwealth, state and territory laws that impose personal duties on people who manage a business – not just on the business entity itself. The key areas of personal exposure are:

• Work Health & Safety (WHS) Laws – officers have a personal duty of due diligence to ensure the business meets its WHS obligations. Breaches can result in personal fines and, in cases of gross negligence causing a death, imprisonment. Industrial manslaughter is now a criminal offence in all Australian states and territories, carrying penalties of up to 20–25 years imprisonment for individuals, depending on the jurisdiction. A WHS fine cannot be insured in most states, but your legal defence costs can and should be.
• Corporations Act 2001 – directors must act with care, diligence and good faith. Breaches can result in personal civil penalties of up to $1.65 million per breach and criminal penalties of up to 15 years imprisonment for the most serious offences, such as fraud.
• Fair Work Act 2009 – directors and senior managers can be personally liable for a company’s breaches of employment laws, including underpayments, wrongful dismissal and adverse action – even if the company goes into administration.
• Environmental Laws – officers can be personally prosecuted for pollution events or unlawful waste disposal under state EPA legislation. Unlike WHS fines, civil penalties under EPA laws can be insured.
• Privacy Act 1988 – amended significantly in December 2024, with new civil penalties of up to $50 million for serious data breaches. Officers who fail to ensure reasonable data protection can face personal liability.
• Director Penalty Notices (ATO) – directors can be made personally liable for unpaid employee superannuation, PAYG withholding and GST, recoverable directly from personal assets.

Managing the Risk

Good governance is your first line of defence. Directors and senior managers should:

• Regularly review and audit WHS, employment and privacy compliance systems
• Ensure board meetings address WHS, employment law and regulatory compliance as standing agenda items
• Understand the personal duties that apply to your role under relevant laws – ignorance of the law is not a defence
• Document decisions and due diligence steps, particularly on matters of safety, employment, financial reporting and data protection
• Seek legal advice promptly if a regulator investigation, employee complaint or incident occurs – early action can significantly limit personal exposure

Good risk management reduces the likelihood of a prosecution, but it cannot eliminate it entirely. When a complaint is made or an investigation begins, the costs of defending yourself are immediate and substantial – regardless of whether you are ultimately found to have done anything wrong.

 How Management Liability Insurance Helps

Management Liability insurance (for SMEs) and Directors & Officers (D&O) insurance (for larger organisations) are designed to protect the personal financial position of directors, officers and senior managers. Without this insurance, you could be personally responsible for legal costs and any damages awarded against you.

A Management Liability policy can cover:

• Your personal legal defence costs when facing a claim, investigation or prosecution arising from your management role – this is often the largest cost in any regulatory matter
• Civil damages and compensation awards made against you personally
• Costs of responding to formal investigations by ASIC, the Fair Work Ombudsman, state WHS regulators, EPA authorities and other bodies
• Wrongful dismissal, discrimination and harassment claims made by current or former employees against the business and its managers
• Fines and penalties for breaches of laws other than WHS (where permitted by law), including environmental, trade practices and consumer protection legislation

An important point: fines imposed for WHS breaches cannot be insured in most Australian states and territories. The law specifically prohibits this. However, the legal defence costs to fight a WHS prosecution – which can run to hundreds of thousands of dollars – can be covered. For non-WHS regulatory breaches, both the fine and the defence costs can generally be insured, subject to policy terms and conditions.

Talk to Your Insurance Adviser

Because every business is different, the right level of Management Liability cover will depend on your industry, the size of your business, your regulatory environment and the personal risk profile of your directors and senior managers.

Management Liability and D&O policies vary significantly between insurers in the scope of cover they provide. It’s important to work with a professional insurance adviser who can review your specific risks, compare policy options and make sure the cover in place actually responds when you need it.

Contact your Insurance Advisernet adviser today for a review of your management liability exposure.

General Advice Warning

This communication including any weblinks or attachments is for information purposes only. It is not a recommendation or opinion, your personal or individual objectives, financial situation or needs have not been taken into account. This communication is not intended to be a constitute personal advice. We strongly recommend that you consider the suitability of this information, in respect of your own personal objectives, financial situation and needs before acting on it. This document is also not a Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) or a policy wording, nor is it a summary of a particular product’s features or terms of any insurance product. If you are interested in discussing this information or acquiring an insurance product, you should contact your insurance adviser to obtain and carefully consider any relevant PDS or policy wording before deciding whether to purchase any insurance product.

The past four years have taught us one thing: global supply chains are fragile. Geopolitical tension, extreme weather, labour strikes, port congestion and trade policy shifts have all disrupted flows. A manufacturer relying on a single supplier overseas faces real risk of extended downtime. A retailer facing supplier delay loses peak-season sales. For many small businesses, a single disruption can threaten survival. 
 

Why supply chains break

Modern supply chains are built for efficiency, not resilience. Most businesses rely on just-in-time inventory, which means you keep minimal stock and order frequently. This cuts storage costs and cash flow tied up in inventory. But it also means you have almost no buffer when a supplier fails. Add to this the complexity of global sourcing: a single component might be made by a supplier in Southeast Asia, shipped to a manufacturing hub, then delivered to you. If any link in that chain breaks, you feel the impact.

Common triggers for disruption are becoming routine. Geopolitical tension creates trade barriers and shipping delays. Extreme weather flooding a key manufacturing region can shut down production for weeks. Labour strikes or visa restrictions disrupt supply. Port congestion in major hubs like Shanghai or Singapore can strand shipments for months. Regulatory changes create compliance delays. And company-specific failures: a key supplier goes bankrupt, loses a major contract, or suffers a quality crisis.

The ripple effect is where supply chain risk becomes serious. If your supplier's supplier fails, you're affected even if your direct supplier is fine. These cascading failures are hard to predict and impossible to prevent by yourself.

The real cost of disruption

When supply gets cut, the financial impact is immediate and multi-layered. There are direct costs: you source from alternative suppliers at premium prices. You pay for expedited shipping like airfreight instead of sea freight. You incur quality assurance costs to verify emergency supplies meet your standards.

Then come the indirect costs. Your revenue drops because you can't fulfill orders. You may owe penalties to customers for late delivery. Customers may switch to competitors, representing lost sales beyond just the immediate disruption. Your staff stand idle, but salaries continue. You've still got lease costs, insurance, utilities, all running while revenue has stopped.

Consider a worked example: a small furniture manufacturer loses access to foam supplies for 60 days. They can't fill customer orders. They lose AUD 200,000 in revenue. They pay AUD 40,000 in wages for idle staff. They incur AUD 30,000 in expedited sourcing costs. Total financial hit: AUD 270,000. For a small business, that may represent 6 months of profit, or more.

The cash flow crisis is the real killer. Even profitable businesses collapse if they can't meet payroll or supplier invoices during extended disruption. Insurance can't restore your supply chain, but it can provide the cash to keep the business running while you find alternatives.

Building resilience beyond insurance

Insurance is the financial backstop, but it's not the only tool. Start by identifying your critical suppliers: which ones would most damage your business if they failed? For those critical suppliers, can you dual-source? Diversifying adds cost, but it buys you optionality. Even modest safety stock, 20 to 30 days of inventory, can absorb many disruptions.

Check your suppliers' health. Do you know where they get their inputs? Are they dependent on a single source for something critical? If all your suppliers are in one region, you're concentrated. Geographic diversification reduces risk. And think about what happens if your supplier goes down. Do you have a backup plan before a crisis hits?

Once you've done the practical work, insurance becomes sensible risk management. Talk to your adviser about ways to manage your risk.

General Advice Warning

This communication including any weblinks or attachments is for information purposes only. It is not a recommendation or opinion, your personal or individual objectives, financial situation or needs have not been taken into account. This communication is not intended to be a constitute personal advice. We strongly recommend that you consider the suitability of this information, in respect of your own personal objectives, financial situation and needs before acting on it. This document is also not a Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) or a policy wording, nor is it a summary of a particular product’s features or terms of any insurance product. If you are interested in discussing this information or acquiring an insurance product, you should contact your insurance adviser to obtain and carefully consider any relevant PDS or policy wording before deciding whether to purchase any insurance product.

Social engineering fraud is one of the most damaging – and most underestimated – cyber threats facing Australian businesses today.

Unlike traditional hacking, it doesn’t target your software: it targets your people.

Key Cyber Crimes against Small to Medium Businesses

Criminals impersonate executives, suppliers, government agencies or trusted colleagues to manipulate employees into transferring funds, disclosing login credentials, or providing access to sensitive systems.

It can happen via email, phone call, SMS, or even in person. And it can happen to any business, in any industry, at any size.

 The scale of the problem is significant and growing. According to the Australian Government Cyber Report - ACSC Threat Report 2024 - 2025, a cybercrime is reported in Australia every six minutes – more than 84,700 reports in a single year. 

Business Email Compromise (BEC), a primary form of social engineering, caused almost $84 million in self-reported losses in FY2023–24, with the average confirmed BEC incident costing over $55,000.

Cost to Businesses

Small and medium businesses are the hardest hit: the average cost of a cyber incident for a small business rose 14% in the most recent year to $56,600 – and 22% of SME owners reported their business was impacted by cybercrime in 2024.

Standard business insurance policies do not cover losses from social engineering fraud or Business Email Compromise.

A specialist cyber insurance policy can cover financial losses from fraud, incident response and forensic IT costs, data recovery, legal expenses, and crisis management.

Free Cyber Guides

The Australian Government’s free Cyber Health Check tool is a good starting point to assess your business’s current exposure. But don’t wait for an incident to find out you’re underinsured.

Cyber Insurance

Cyber insurance covers loss or damage to your own systems, identifying the cause of the loss and plugging the gaps, then reinstating your system. It also covers loss or damage to other people or their systems if you are found to be negligent. With the high risk of being hacked or subject to a social engineering scam, it is money well spent.

Need advice?

Talk to your Insurance Advisernet adviser today about whether your business has the right amount and type of cyber protection in place.

General Advice Warning

This communication including any weblinks or attachments is for information purposes only. It is not a recommendation or opinion, your personal or individual objectives, financial situation or needs have not been taken into account. This communication is not intended to be a constitute personal advice. We strongly recommend that you consider the suitability of this information, in respect of your own personal objectives, financial situation and needs before acting on it. This document is also not a Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) or a policy wording, nor is it a summary of a particular product’s features or terms of any insurance product. If you are interested in discussing this information or acquiring an insurance product, you should contact your insurance adviser to obtain and carefully consider any relevant PDS or policy wording before deciding whether to purchase any insurance product.