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

In continuance of the goodwill and good spirit that we have just seen in the House and the common sense and consensus, I will continue in that vein. Labor is very happy to support the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bill 2015 and the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2015.

Labor will support the bills to establish this new role. Briefly, the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bill 2015 deals with the establishment of an Australian small business and family enterprises ombudsman, its functions and powers and the relationship between Commonwealth and state laws.

The second bill, the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2015, deals principally with issues of overlap between the existing statutory office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman and any other transfer of information from the Ombudsman's office to the new ombudsman.

Additionally, the bills deal with matters relevant to the work of and information currently held by the Australian Small Business Commissioner and the transfer arrangements to the new ombudsman. The bill describes the role of the new ombudsman as having an advocacy function and an assistance function. Under the assistance function, the ombudsman may respond to a request for assistance by an operator of a small business or family enterprise. The ombudsman must transfer a request for assistance to another Commonwealth, state or territory agency if the agency could deal with the request and if it would be more effective and convenient for the agency to do so. And where the assistance requested relates to a dispute with another entity, the Ombudsman may recommend that an alternative dispute resolution process be undertaken.

The Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman is a statutory appointment with statutory powers supported by legislation. Many of its advocacy functions are not dissimilar to the current functions undertaken by the Small Business Commissioner, a role that was established by the previous Labor government. Labor believes the two key principles for defining an Ombudsman are independence and impartiality. Based on these important principles, I wish to place it on record that Labor has some concerns that there are sections in the bill that go to the oversight and advocacy roles of the Ombudsman.

One example can be found in sections 67(2)(b) and 67(2)(c) of the bill, which refer to the circumstances in which the Ombudsman is authorised to deal with a request for assistance. The bill suggests that the Ombudsman has no authorisation to deal with matters that relate to a minister of the Commonwealth, state or territory or the action of an agency of a state or territory. And section 69(1) of the bill, which refers to the circumstances in which the Ombudsman must transfer a request for assistance to another agency, implies that, if the Ombudsman believes another government department can deal with an issue, he or she must refuse assistance. I would have thought requests to the Ombudsman for assistance stemming from actions between a small business and a government agency may be quite common—and that is the very basis for having a statutory independent person to assist with such requests.

Labor considers that the Small Business Ombudsman should be a truly independent and impartial advocate for small business, and any limits placed on requests for assistance by a small business should be at an absolute minimum. Section 69 of the bill will enable the Ombudsman to refer a matter if he or she reasonably believes the request for assistance could have been made to another agency of the Commonwealth, state or territory. The last thing a small business would want when it has sought assistance from the Ombudsman on a matter between the small business and another Commonwealth agency is for the matter to be simply referred on to another government agency and not dealt with effectively or resolved. There is a view that this could compromise the independence and impartiality of the office of the Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman as a true advocate for small business. Labor would seek clarification on this from the minister.

Prior to the last election the then shadow minister for small business, who is now the Minister for Small Business, referred specifically to overhauling the role of the Small Business Commissioner as being high on his agenda and said he wanted the role to have legislative powers to resolve disputes, including to make binding decisions and to mediate disputes between business owners and the Commonwealth. Labor is concerned that sections of this bill are inconsistent with what the minister said before the election. There are some other matters of concern in the bill—notably, section 30, which deals with termination of appointment, does not include a statutory immunity clause. Labor has also noted that the Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman would be given powers to hold hearings upon referral by the minister. So there are a number of issues Labor is noting for the record. However, I wish to emphasise that we do support the bill. But, as always, Labor will watch closely the effectiveness of the new Ombudsman and we will continue to look at improvements that would strengthen and empower that office to support small businesses. It is important that the most effective oversight and advocacy services provided by the new Ombudsman role for small business are not limited or constrained by legislation where a matter in dispute may be between a small business and another Commonwealth agency.

Labor's record of support for small business speaks for itself. Let me remind the parliament and the public that it was a Labor government that gave small business an advocate in the Commonwealth government by appointing the very first Commonwealth Small Business Commissioner. It was a Labor government that appointed the first federal government small business minister, Barry Jones, in July 1987—and it was John Howard who removed the position from the cabinet in 2001. It was a Labor government, led by Julia Gillard, that restored this position to the cabinet in 2012. When Labor sought to lower the corporate tax rate for small business, in 2010, it was rejected by the Liberals in cahoots with the Greens. It was Labor who introduced significant preferential taxation assistance measures for small business—including tax loss carry-back, instant asset write-off, special depreciation for motor vehicles and the R&D tax incentive—cumulatively worth in excess of $7 billion of direct assistance to the sector. And, once again, it was a Liberal government that showed how little it understood the cash flow needs of small business by cutting these important tax assistance measures.

Labor established the Small Business Support Line and the business.gov.au website as a one-stop shop for information for small business people in a simple and accessible way. Labor also established the Small Business Advisory Services Program delivered through business enterprise centres and chambers of commerce. Labor established the Small Business Superannuation Clearing House allowing employers, including small businesses, to have one simplified location for processing employees' superannuation. Labor established the National Business Names Registry saving money and reducing red tape for small business—quite significant in terms of the direct saving for small business. It was the former federal Labor government that established the first Australian Small Business Commissioner to advocate for, and represent the interests of, small business directly to government.

On 2 January 2013, Mark Brennan, the new Small Business Commissioner, commenced his role as a high-level advocate in government representing the interests of small business and identifying opportunities to further reduce red tape. The commissioner worked in consultation with key small business stakeholders—including industry organisations, small business operators, state small business commissioners and other government agencies—to ensure that small business concerns were heard and taken into consideration across government. That work was so good the reforms continue today. Labor provided funding of $8.3 million over four years to establish the Australian Small Business Commissioner. The commissioner was not a statutory appointment and had no formal investigative or regulatory enforcement powers under any legislation. The commissioner's role is to raise awareness of existing effective services available at the Australian government and state and territory levels to assist businesses in resolving disputes. If one were to listen to the current small business minister when he talks about this new role being a 'concierge' service, one would look very closely at the similarities between the two roles.

Labor also appointed the Australian Small Business Commissioner as a result of feedback from two pieces of work conducted by the department. In 2010 the department commissioned a survey of over 2,000 small businesses across Australia to get more information on the incidence rate of small business disputes. Then, in March 2011, the former Minister for Small Business, Senator Nick Sherry, asked the department to develop an options paper to examine ways to assist small business to deal with business-to-business disputes, which was followed by the release of an options paper for public comment. Labor then called for expressions of interest for the commissioner position in June 2012, with the appointment being announced on 17 October 2012, followed by a merit based selection process run by the department. It is perhaps proper to place on the record also that the Small Business Commissioner, Mark Brennan, is doing an outstanding job advocating for small business and has done so since he commenced in the role in 2013.

As with the small business appropriation bills, Labor will support the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bill 2015. However, our concerns remain at some of the measures in the bill, and Labor is ready to work with the government to ensure that small business has access to the very best advocate from a truly independent and impartial service.

See this speech in context