Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak further about the merits or otherwise of the 64 detailed amendments which have been provided to the House at very short notice and which appear to have the effect of substantially expanding the scope of operations of the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal and which make it clear that this is really about industrial matters and that all pretence at dealing with safety has been thrown out of the window.

One of the matters which raises very grave concerns from the point of view of public policy is the impact of these arrangements on competition. I am referring particularly to clause 37A of the amendments and of the new bill if the amendments take effect. Clause 37A is headed 'Authorisation of conduct for the purposes of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010'. Let us remind ourselves what the Competition and Consumer Act does. The Competition and Consumer Act, previously known and perhaps still better known as the Trade Practices Act, is intended to ensure that, in the conduct of business in Australia, the interests of consumers are maximised by maximising the force of competition. The whole idea is that you have companies and organisations and individuals in business competing with each other to the most vigorous extent possible with a view to delivering to customers, to end users and to ordinary Australians the lowest prices—

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