Judi Moylan (Pearce, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

If those here wish to cast their minds back some nine months ago, they will remember how the Prime Minister rode into Canberra, supposedly as the white knight that was going to save Australia. He painted himself as a hero for everyman and someone who was going to look after the economy, especially small business. As we sit here debating changes to this act in the Trade Practices Legislation Amendment Bill 2008 and in relation to the Birdsville amendment, in a bill the coalition introduced less than a year ago, the Prime Minister seems to be living proof of the saying: ‘You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become a villain.’ Changing the Birdsville amendment will certainly make him an enemy of Australia’s small business operators.

The provisions of part IV of the Trade Practices Act, which include section 46, prohibit various trade practices that tend to prevent or lessen competition in an Australian market for goods and services. They lay down rules which, as interpreted by the courts from time to time, restrain anticompetitive behaviour and promote competition in the marketplace. Section 46 has been the subject of a number of formal inquiries and resultant amendments. As it stands, section 46(1) provides:

(1)  A corporation that has a substantial degree of power in a market shall not take advantage of that power in that or any other market for the purpose of:

(a)

eliminating or substantially damaging a competitor of the corporation …

(b)

preventing the entry of a person into that or any other market; or

(c)

deterring or preventing a person from engaging in competitive conduct in that or any other market.

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