Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Finance, Competition Policy and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Trade Practices Legislation Amendment Bill 2008, which seeks to amend section 46 of the Trade Practices Act and includes provisions which would allow the Federal Magistrates Court to hear matters arising under section 46. I also note that the bill proposes to legislate that one of the ACCC’s deputy chairpersons have knowledge of or experience in small business matters, removes the threshold on unconscionable conduct cases under section 51AC of the Trade Practices Act, and clarifies the ACCC’s information gathering powers under section 155 of the Trade Practices Act.

Small business is the lifeblood of many small communities, both in city areas and in the bush. It also typifies what living in Australia is all about. We should be grateful that we live in a country where, if you choose to and have the motivation and commitment, you can work in a small business and determine your own destiny. It provides many opportunities and rewards for people who are prepared to work hard and believe in themselves. According to the ABS, in 2005-06 there were around 2.5 million small businesses in our country. These 2.5 million small businesses employ close to 3.8 million people, or just under half of the working population. Small businesses in that year paid $95 billion in wages, collected $840 billion in revenue and made an operating profit before tax of $108 billion. So the importance of the contribution that small business makes to the economy cannot be underestimated. Small business is indeed the engine room of our economy. Not only does the sector employ a significant portion of the work force, but it also fills many niche roles in communities in providing some of the most basic and essential requirements for everyday life, including plumbers, electricians, bakers, butchers, accountants, solicitors, doctors and chefs, to name but a few.

The strong economy that the coalition built over the last decade, under the stewardship of the former Treasurer and member for Higgins, helped to boost confidence in the small business sector, and small businesses thrived. In the 11 years that we were in government, we eliminated $96 billion of Labor debt, we prepared for the future by establishing the Future Fund to pay for the government’s unfunded superannuation liability, and we were positive and had a forward-looking approach to managing the economy. This government seems to be always looking backwards, looking for someone else to blame for the economic mess that it has caused in a relatively short period of time. When the coalition was in government, small business had confidence. It had confidence in the economy and, most importantly, it had confidence in the government. It had confidence that allowed it to invest in new capital and to employ new staff. There is no doubt that at the moment there are global factors impacting on our economy, including the US credit crunch and rising oil prices, but this government inherited an economy that was the envy of the world. We had low unemployment, low inflation and good prospects for growth. The government inherited an economy which was in great shape to withstand the current shock.

Under the coalition government, the economy withstood similar international shocks, including the September 11 attacks in 2001, the US recession, the SARS crisis and the Asian financial crisis. We endured all of those international events and yet we were still able to maintain confidence in the Australian business community. Australian business had confidence in the previous government to deal with those most difficult of international issues as well as issues and difficulties that arose in the domestic economy. Business as a whole, and small business in particular, has lost confidence in this government. It has lost confidence to move forward and make investment decisions and employ staff. Instead, we are seeing redundancies and workers put off, and casuals, particularly in the retail sector, are having their hours wound back.

Consider for a moment a few statistics. In the National Australia Bank monthly business survey, confidence remained steady at negative nine points in July, to be at its lowest level since September 2001. The measure has fallen 24 points since last June and 15 points since November 2007. In the NAB quarterly business confidence survey in the June quarter it fell four points to negative eight; this is the lowest reading since early 1991. The measure has fallen 18.9 points since last June and 13.8 points since December 2007. But perhaps the most damning indication of small business’s lack of confidence in the economy and in this government are the figures in the quarterly Sensis Business index. The August 2008 index just released shows that confidence amongst small and medium businesses fell to its lowest level since the inception of the index over 15 years ago. The business confidence indicator currently sits at a pathetic 24 per cent, which is less than half the level recorded this time last year. That demonstrates what this government has done in a very short period of time to business confidence in this country. And small business’s lack of confidence in this government has flowed through to consumers—hardly surprising, given that small business is such an important part of our community.

The August Roy Morgan consumer confidence rating is 90.1, the lowest since December 1991, down 1.9 points from July 2008 and 35.1 points lower than in August 2007. The August 2008 Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment index is currently at 86.2 per cent, a recovery from the July result of 79, which was the lowest level since July 1992. However, the index is below 100, therefore showing negative sentiment, and is 22.4 points below the figure for August 2007. It has fallen by 24.3 percentage points since the last election in November 2007. The June 2008 Sensis Consumer report showed a net balance of 35 per cent of Australians reporting confidence in their financial prospects for the year ahead—about one in three Australians. That, for this government, is a shameful statistic. It is a fall of nine percentage points from last quarter, bringing confidence to the lowest point recorded since the start of the Sensis Consumer report in May 2004. Over the past six months, confidence levels amongst consumers have fallen by 26 percentage points. Only 22 per cent of Australian households believe that they are better off now compared to a year ago, down three percentage points in the past quarter. That is the lowest level recorded in the history of the Sensis Consumer report. Nearly 80 per cent of Australian households believe that they are no better off now than they were a year ago.

The reality is that this is a government that, in nine short months, has been able to turn around consumer and business confidence to a point where we are now at crisis level. We have businesses which are putting off young and older Australians—particularly those who are working in part-time or casual employment. Hours are being slashed and people are being made redundant. This is an unsustainable position for the Australian economy to be in. The fundamentals of this economy are strong. As I said earlier, we have demonstrated that because we paid down the $96 billion Labor debt. Imagine, in the current global crisis, if this government were weighing into the money market to fund that $96 billion government debt; it would be a shameful position to be in. Had the Labor Party, when they were in opposition over the last 11 years, been given their way when they voted against each of our measures to reduce that debt, then today they would themselves be saddled with a figure probably in excess of $96 billion.

So when this government goes around suggesting that the coalition opposition is irresponsible in relation to some measures which are before the other place at the moment, those claims ring completely hollow. They are completely hollow because we were the government of surplus budgets. Why did we have surplus budgets? We had surplus budgets to create excess funds to pay down that $96 billion Labor debt. We paid down that debt by 2006. Our position has always been, and remains to this day, that once the government has met its demands, once we have provided services to the constituents around this country, once we have been able to service all of our responsibilities, then surplus moneys should be given back to the Australian people because they represent an excess in what should have been collected from people in the first place.

This is a fundamental difference between this side of the House and the Labor government in this country. This is an opposition which believes in no new net taxes. This is a government which believes in new taxes; this is a government which introduced new taxes in the last budget in May this year. They introduced taxes which they did not have a mandate for but which they decided to introduce nonetheless. Some were introduced for ideological reasons and some were introduced because they were particularly concerned about where this economy was headed. They have demonstrated to the Australian people—particularly to a younger generation, who have never seen Labor manage the Australian economy before—in nine short months that this is a government, and that Labor are a party, that is incapable of managing this $1 trillion economy.

We as a coalition want to continue to provide support for small business because we believe that small business is the engine room of the Australian economy. Small business employs young people. Small business continues—mum and dad operations, microbusinesses, small businesses that are running local shops and cafes. They are what this Australian economy is about, and, if you have got a government that is out there slugging them at every opportunity, that is a bad outcome not just for them and for their families but for the Australian economy as well. It is why we took the position we did in relation to this particular bill before the House.

An amendment to this bill has been circulated in my name. We believe very strongly in continuing to support small business, which is doing it tough at the moment. Therefore, I move:

That all words after “That” be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:“while not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House recognises the impact on small business of the Government’s proposed changes to the ‘Birdsville Amendment’, and recognises that the Federal Court is the more appropriate Court to hear cases under section 46 of the Trade Practices Act, and the House calls on the Government to abandon its proposed changes to the ‘Birdsville Amendment’ and to similarly abandon its plans to allow the Federal Magistrates Court to hear section 46 cases”.

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