Bernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Small Business) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

This parliament for far too long has talked about the franchising sector and done a little but not quite enough. That is both sides of this parliament over a long period of time. The opportunity is now before us for whoever is in government to actually finish the good work that has been done over the past few years. We have moved way beyond the politics for the franchising sector. It is without doubt that there is a natural majority of support for the franchise changes and amendments that have been proposed under the previous Labor government. There is support not only I think in the parliament—in fact, I know there is support in the parliament—but there is also support in the community. And there is support from the sector itself. This is not as if anyone is arguing against any of the proposed changes that came out of some very, very good work over a long period of time—much of it bipartisan if not nearly all of it—particularly now given that the sector has come to also desire the changes that are being proposed.

Labor's record in government of taking forward the vast bulk of the recommendations from the Wein review into Australia's $130 billion franchise sector speaks for itself. In contrast, it has now been 12 months since Mr Wein handed his recommendations from the review to the former Labor government on 30 April, and the coalition has now to act. That is all that is left in this long, enduring saga of introducing some new regulations in this place—but do not take that the wrong way. By introducing a little bit of good, better regulation, you get rid of lots of other bits of regulation and lots of red tape and lots of complexity and lots of uncertainty. By doing a little bit here, we actually help the sector to get rid of a mountain of red tape, bureaucracy, uncertainty and other things.

Just as one example, by us better regulating in this place we take away the uncertainty and the regulation of each and every other state, and their capacity to regulate in this area and the difficulty that not only franchisors but franchisees face in terms of dealing with a national economy on a state-by-state and territory-by-territory basis. This is unworkable. This is red tape. What is before us now is how to reduce that burden; how to make franchisees and franchisors—both sides of the equation—more competitive, have more productive capacity to get on with their daily work, rather than having to deal with different jurisdictions, different rules and regulations and different pieces of uncertainty across the sector.

The Minister for Small Business said on 6 January this year, 'The coalition is working as we speak to ensure changes are made.' The minister is supportive. I support him in that. We have had a long record on some of these matters. Again on 7 January he said, 'The coalition will act early in 2014 to maintain world-class regulatory support for a crucial part of the economy.' I say good on you but I say get on with it. That is what I am saying today: get on with it. Twelve months will be too long since the Wein review was carried out, following on from the work that Labor did in terms of the codes of conduct, in terms of bridging the gap between franchisee and franchisor, doing the very important work of building on the effective disclosure regime that everyone in the sector wants, clarifying that the government expects franchisors and franchisees to act in good faith towards one another in making a requirement under the prescribed code that I talked about. This will enhance compliance and enforcement of the code by providing additional tools to the regulator and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. This will actually reduce red tape, it will reduce costs. This is what business wants, this is what the sector wants. This is also what government wants. So I say to the government, 'I applaud you but get on with the job.'

It also clarifies the policy intent of provisions of the code which have caused in the past, before these changes come through, unintentional confusion and administrative burden without any corresponding benefit to franchisors or franchisees. So I say today, I implore the government, please move beyond the politics, move beyond the hollow, rhetorical calls for burning of empty pages of red tape and all sorts of rubbish. Do that, but if you can chew gum, walk and perhaps even breathe at the same time, do the good stuff as well. That is what the community expects of you. This is what our economy needs. So have your two minutes in the sunshine talking about regulation and red tape reduction but then come to the table and do something about it as well. This is what I am calling on the government to do. This is what the minister, Bruce Billson, said he would do. So let us see him now put that into action.

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