Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Birdsville will not stop pro-competitive discounting. It should not stop any company from matching a competitor’s price or from holding Christmas sales, any other clearance sales, or sales to clear old stock at the end of the trading day. The Birdsville amendment is designed to protect small business from predatory pricing over an extended period of time. It is a good amendment. It needs time to work its way out. It has the support of the small business community—a community that Labor is perhaps not listening to, as they are seeking to remove the market share test.

Moving onto the Federal Magistrates Court, the coalition does not support the proposal to allow the Federal Magistrates Court to hear section 46 cases. Existing section 86(1) confers jurisdiction on the Federal Court in respect of any civil proceeding arising under the Trade Practices Act. Existing section 86(1A) confers an additional jurisdiction on the Federal Magistrates Court under certain limited parts of the Trade Practices Act. During the Senate inquiry, submissions expressed concerns about the costs and delays associated with bringing section 46 matters, particularly for smaller businesses. If the costs associated with enforcing section 46 are prohibitively high, then it will not be effective in addressing anticompetitive conduct, no matter how well it is otherwise suited to doing so.

Section 46 cases are, by their very nature, complex and are unlikely to be beneficial to small and medium business—that section of the economy that employs up to half of all Australian workers and that the coalition stands by, supports and defends. Section 46 cases often end up in the High Court. The Federal Court is best placed to hear section 46 cases because it contains most of the expertise pertaining to the TPA.

It is unclear what this Labor government actually plan to do with the Magistrates Court. The jury is clearly out as to whether the court will remain or be subsumed. The government may abolish it, which may make the whole process completely useless. The coalition will stand up for small business. I will stand up for small business in the electorate of Fadden and for small business on the Gold Coast. The powerhouse that actually runs the economy is the small to medium enterprises. The coalition will stand up for it, and we will stand up for the Birdsville amendment. We will stand up for those hardworking men and women who, through incentive, through opportunity and through choice, go out to make a difference for their families. We will stand up for these people and will not support the government’s changes to these two elements of the TPA.

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