Craig Emerson (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Service Economy, Small Business and Independent Contractors) Share this | Hansard source

That is right. Why won’t the government do this? It says it will now, but we probably have only two, three or maybe four weeks of parliamentary sittings remaining and this recommendation was made in 2003. I do not support jail terms for a range of other offences under the Trade Practices Act. One of the many reasons for that is that the ACCC will find it very hard to get a conviction because the courts will not want to send company directors or executives to jail. But you need to be able to respond to serious cartel behaviour with jail terms, and that is why we are recommending it.

With regard to enforcement powers, we want to make sure that the ACCC can continue gathering evidence after an injunction has been sought. We want to ensure less expensive justice for small businesses and medium enterprises. Our amendments would allow them to go through the relatively less expensive Federal Magistrates Court. We want the deputy chair to have a small business background. Most of these recommendations have the support of the ACCC, they are pro-competition and they will ensure that Labor can deliver lower prices over time because we will ensure that the open competitive economy, fashioned by Hawke and Keating, remains open and is not closed through the sloth of this government through its meagre amendments to the Trade Practices Act.

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