Steven Ciobo (Moncrieff, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Small Business, Independent Contractors, Tourism and the Arts) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, it is great to have the opportunity to raise the plight of Australia’s 2.4 million small businesses that employ around 3.8 million Australians because if there is a group of Australians who are doing it particularly tough in these economic times, it is the small business sector. We know that the small business sector is, as many people have stated, the engine room of the Australian economy. These things become often quoted because they are so profoundly true. As I have been moving around Australia, working with so many members on the coalition side, talking with local small businesses, participating in the Jobs for Australia forum, I have been hearing a number of messages very loud and clear from those people who put their houses on the line, who take a risk in respect of their income and who take the chance to succeed in small business and to also risk the failure of small business. The message I have received, and I know other people on this side of the chamber have received it too, is that this Labor government does not understand small business; it does not understand what motivates small business. And most importantly, and most distressingly, the Australian Labor Party is a party that questions the motives of small business. That is what concerns us so fundamentally.

I just noticed then that the minister who is charged with the responsibility of looking after small business, the member for Rankin, was looking puzzled and curious when I said that the Labor Party questions the motives of small business owners. This is the minister who on radio said that the reason that small businesses should have to comply with unfair dismissal is because the owner might come in one day in a bad mood and fire a good staff member. That is what the minister said, that is the reason why the Australian Labor Party is lumbering the small business sector with compliance through the fair dismissal code.

But it is not only in this area that the Australian Labor Party has such poor form. It has been a longstanding principle that the Australian Labor Party has not pretended to be a party of small business. In fact, those words were said by a former leader of the Australian Labor Party, the former member for Brand, Kim Beazley. He said that the Australian Labor Party is not a party for small business and has never pretended to be. Not a lot has changed, except that these days those opposite run around trying to pretend to be a party of small business. That is about all that has changed when it comes to small business policy by the Australian Labor Party. But when we look at what the Australian Labor Party has actually done for small business, when we look at what the minister at the table and the Prime Minister have actually done for small business, I can say that the answer is not very much at all. And that is the reason why the MPI is up for debate today. There are a number of issues that have been on the policy radar for some time, a number of issues that I and members of the coalition have been agitating for and pleading with the Labor Party to take advice on, to listen to small business and to act in accordance with what small business needs to promote their interests.

There are two very important issues. The first of these is the modern awards process. Under the modern awards process the Australian Labor Party is putting at direct risk thousands of small businesses, their viability and their profits. Most concerning of all, by putting the viability of these small businesses at risk, they are threatening tens of thousands of jobs. The Australian Labor Party likes to make out that it is the friend of the workers. How many times have we seen the Prime Minister and others say, ‘We’re about working people’? Well there are a lot fewer of them these days, that’s for sure! And the Australian Labor Party’s policy with respect to modern awards is only going to make the problem so much worse.

I have made it part of my focus and part of the coalition’s policy commitment to make sure that small business has a voice in this parliament, to make sure that the coalition stands up for the rights of small business owners and for the fact that they are willing to employ around 3.8 million Australians. When I talk to small business owners about the modern awards process that the Australian Labor Party is ramming down the throats of small business owners, they make it very clear what the actual impact will be on their businesses. Take, for example, the owner of South Bank Beach News and Souvenirs, Tony Philbrick. He wrote sometime ago to the Prime Minister. He outlined to the Prime Minister the impact of Labor’s proposed modern awards on his business. He said:

Based on information we have received, we calculate that the Modern Award (to come into effect 1st January, 2010) will force a 14% increase to our weekly wage bill. To protect our family business we will have to reduce expenses to continue to remain cash flow positive.

Do you know how they intend to reduce expenses? Like so many newsagents in this country, they will reduce expenses by cutting staff. He said:

Due to the specific treatment the proposed Modern Award applies to dramatically increasing weekend penalty rates, the first expense—

and the minister should listen closely—

we will have to consider is reducing the wages of our weekend staff.

There is the concrete evidence from someone in the Prime Minister’s electorate about the impact. Lance Barrett, from the Coolum Village News and Casket Agency, also wrote to the Prime Minister, and he said:

Dear Prime Minister,

You might recall late last year whilst attending a function at the Hyatt Regency Coolum, that you came into my beachside shop one Sunday afternoon and chatted with my staff, a delightful 17 year old girl named Emma. Emma, this year her School Captain, is working weekends in order to fund a future university education.

I have to say, Mr Deputy Speaker, she is the kind of girl who is willing to roll her sleeves up and work for her future. What does Lance Barrett say about Labor’s modern award process and the impact on his small business? In his letter, he said:

However, with the prospect of wage increases and penalty rate hikes amounting to around 30% of my gross wages, I have no alternative other than to drastically cut back on casual staff hours. This week I have had to tell Emma, and also Melissa, Michelle, Shannen, Georgia and Jess that unless the government of the country sees common sense, their casual hours with us will cease to exist, my shops will be closed every Sunday, and their chance of a good financial footing when they leave school or university will have evaporated.

That is another example of the feedback that this side of the House not only receives but, in contrast to the government, listens to with respect to the modern awards process. There are so many letters. The member for Canning, Don Randall, who I know stands up for those members in his electorate, received a letter from Lynda Jacobs from the Kelmscott IGA. She said:

The Federal Government has spent the last eighteen months working towards reforming Workplace Relation laws, which include the introduction of a new General Retail Industry Award. If this Award becomes operative it will have a serious damaging effect on our business. We provide an important service to our local community but we may be unable to do that in the future if we are required to pay these large increases.

           …         …         …

As concerned employers, we do not want to reduce staff, but we fear that this may be one of the inevitable consequences of the introduction of this new Award.

Andrew Laming, the member for Bowman, received a letter from Toscani’s talking about the impact that would see his labour costs increase by some 20 per cent. The owner said:

This additional cost will make my business marginal. In particular Sunday trading (which will incur in the new arrangements a 175% penalty) will not be viable and I will have to look at applying a penalty or closing in Sunday.

The member for McEwen received a letter from KoalaCountry saying the same story—increased costs, reduced employment. The member for Macarthur received a letter from the Outback Steakhouse again stating that there will be increased costs and reduced employment. The member for Forrest, Nola Marino, received a letter from Busselton Fresh IGA stating that there will be increased costs and reduced employment. River Fresh IGA stated the same story. The member for Dickson received the same story from a small business owner of seven years.

In every single example, we see a message that Labor just does not get. Labor just does not understand small business. It does not understand that there is a link between the costs of operating a business and the employment opportunities that they provide to their staff and to the profitability of that business. I have news for the Australian Labor Party: not every small business owner is rolling in cash; the vast bulk of them basically live from week to week earning a meagre salary. I tell the members of the Labor Party that they do it by putting their family’s future on the line and by putting their homes on the line, and they deserve the support of a government that is willing to stand up for small business—not to increase their costs, not to reduce employment opportunities for young Australians but a serious ‘ridgy-didge’ government, to use the Prime Minister’s language. They deserve a government that is willing to actually do something to help small business. That is what we need and that is part of the reason this side of politics condemns the Australian Labor Party for its exceptionally lacklustre performance in supporting Australia’s small businesses.

In addition, we have another example of where the Australian Labor Party has been particularly impotent in helping small business. When you look at the franchising sector, you have to wonder what the Minister for Small Business, Independent Contractors and the Service Economy, who is at the table, has been doing. There are about 1,100 business format franchise systems that operate in Australia. The total sales turnover of this sector of the economy is about $61 billion as at 2007. There are around 413,500 people that are employed in franchises through Australia.

I know, through working closely with people like the member for Gilmore, the member for Canning, the member for Swan and the member for Hinkler—they are just a few people on this side of the House who are committed to franchisees—that they have been concerned about a couple of aspects that are causing great distress to a number of franchisees. On 24 October 2007, the minister at the table said:

Good faith bargaining was rejected by the Coalition but we are embracing it.

He highlighted it as part of his comments then that the Labor Party policy would be to enact a good faith bargaining principle in the franchise code. On the 23 May 2008, the Small Business Ministerial Council communiqué highlighted that the Australian government will:

… consistent with its pre-election commitment, consider the introduction of a well defined obligation for parties to bargain and negotiate in “good faith” as part of the franchising code of conduct.

So there are hundreds of thousands of people out there who have spoken with me and other members on this side of the chamber and who were waiting for the Australian Labor Party to introduce its good faith bargaining proposition. This is a principle that those on this side of the House support as well, contrary to the assertions by the Minister for Small Business, Independent Contractors and the Service Economy.

We waited for the Australian Labor Party to carry through with its pre-election promise, and nothing happened. Nothing occurred and we were left waiting. So when I saw the Joint Standing Committee on Corporations and Financial Services move to have an inquiry into the Franchising Code of Conduct and related matters on 25 June last year, I thought, ‘This will be the opportunity—this will be the excuse the minister will be using as to why he has not acted for so long and maybe this will be the reason that something will happen.’

The committee provided its report on 1 December last year. On 26 February, some three months later, we still had not heard anything. I was still waiting. People were calling me and saying: ‘What’s going on? You’re the shadow minister. You must know what the minister for small business is up to. Give us some direction.’ I kept saying, ‘It has been three months. I am sure that at some stage the government will respond.’ After all, by this stage it had been 18 months since the Australian Labor Party was elected and you would have thought that they would have had the opportunity to implement the policy by then, but no—there was still nothing.

So I put a question in writing to the minister. The minister said in his response to me that the government was ‘considering the report’ and would ‘respond in due course’. I put the question in on 26 February and received a response on 4 June, and, interestingly, on 31 May—just four days before—the minister, out of nowhere, issued a press release where he said, ‘We will consult on franchise reforms.’ So that was the big announcement! That was the only big announcement that we have had about franchising after 20 months of the Australian Labor Party. That is the full extent of this minister’s response to franchising—to put out one lousy press release.

I plead on behalf of all of those people in the franchising sector for this minister and this government to start doing something. Eleven recommendations came from the committee, and I put it to the minister that, in the main, all 11 recommendations are relatively non-controversial. This minister and this government need to act. Stop stalling—people’s lives are potentially being destroyed as a result of this government’s inaction, and it is time that they did something.

Small business in this country will lead us out of this recession. It will lead Australia’s economic revival. But it needs a government that is focused on making it easier for it to do that. The worst thing that this government can do is to continue putting up the costs of small business, thereby driving up unemployment as small businesses are forced to pay higher costs and reduce their employment. It is time that the minister and this government stopped sitting on their hands and actually did something to help small business. (Time expired)

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