Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

Order! The honourable member for Canning will restrain.

There is a lot of sensitivity from the other side of the chamber because the member for Canning knows very well, Deputy Speaker, that the former government simply failed to act on most of the major problems that arose in this sector, and I would point to what the former Minister for Small Business did, which was to wait until the last full year of the former government, 2006, before she commissioned what was to be called the Matthews review. She commissioned that in June 2006. It was quite a prompt piece of work by Graeme Matthews, because he reported to the government in October 2006. We had to wait a few months before the Minister for Small Business got around to responding. She responded in February 2007 because she wanted to be seen to be taking action, it would seem, in the election year. But even that response was not acted on in the form of amendments to the franchising code until August 2007 and, demonstrating the speed with which the former government thought it appropriate to act in this area, were not to come into effect until 1 March 2008.

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