Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry and Science) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in support of 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. The bills fulfil yet another of our 2013 election commitments, which is to establish an Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman. In fulfilling this commitment we have set about ensuring that it is done properly, because we are not in the business of setting up another agency or bureaucracy just for the sake of doing it. Our approach is always to simplify, to ensure that government does not get in the way or hamper the growth of small businesses. This has certainly been evidenced over the last 18 months or so by the slashing of red tape through our repeal days, and that has delivered a staggering $2.4 billion in savings. So we are certainly a government that wants to get out of the way of businesses and knows how to do it.

The fact is that the Ombudsman is all about streamlining and providing a better process of dispute resolution for small businesses and family enterprises, and that is just so important. There was a public consultation process with 53 submissions received and a discussion paper that canvassed a range of options for ensuring that the Ombudsman would be effective, would not duplicate current services and would achieve our stated objectives. This legislation is a result of that process, and I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the member for Dunkley, the Minister for Small Business, for the way he has championed the needs of small business. He has certainly been a tireless advocate and a strong voice in cabinet. This has been strongly evidenced by the Jobs and Small Business Package which was the centrepiece of the recent budget and the biggest small business initiative in Australia's history. It has been very positively received. I have spoken with many of the small businesses in my electorate of McPherson on the southern Gold Coast, and they appreciate the recognition and the assistance this package represents. It is a very clear, practical way to acknowledge the primacy of small business to our economy.

In my electorate of McPherson there are some 15,000 small businesses, and there are more than two million actively trading small businesses across the nation. Ninety-six per cent of all Australian businesses are small businesses. Many small businesses are also family enterprises, representing 70 per cent of all Australian businesses. Combined, small businesses produce more than $330 billion of total economic national output and employ over 4.5 million people.

The coalition has always believed in creating the right economic climate for small business to thrive. It is the central tenet of our policy approach: paying back debt, getting the budget back into surplus—these are all mechanisms for ensuring that we create the right conditions to allow small business to create jobs and contribute to the economic wellbeing of our local communities. We know this task is ongoing, and we know there is always more to be done, and this legislation represents yet another step in the plan.

The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman will have two primary functions: advocacy and assistance. In this way the Ombudsman will meet our commitment to establish a role that is a Commonwealth-wide advocate for small businesses and family enterprises; a concierge for dispute resolution, who will also offer an outsourced alternative dispute resolution service; and a contributor to making Commonwealth laws and regulations more small-business friendly.

As I said at the start, this is very much about making life easier for our small business owners. The Minister for Small Business has recognised and acknowledged that:

… small businesses are often treated as if they were big businesses, with all the resources of a big business. Important compliance demands faced by small businesses include the workplace relations framework, competition policy, contract law, business and tax law and business processes and communications. Big business, with their accountants and their legal departments, are better equipped to deal with such matters. For small business people, time spent on compliance demands is time away from investing in the success of their enterprise.

The minister intrinsically understands the challenges of small business—as do many on this side of the House, including me, because we have owned and operated small businesses. I know what a tough gig it is. We certainly have a lot of sympathy for, and a great understanding of, the time pressures on small businesses. Just having to comply takes them away from the day-to-day business of actually growing their business or even just making ends meet.

Not all governments have understood the needs of small businesses and family enterprises. Under the former Labor government, small businesses were pretty much left off the agenda. There was a revolving door of small business ministers, including five in the final 15 months of Labor's term in office. Sadly, over the six years of the former Labor government, 519,000 jobs were lost in small business. At the end of Labor's term, fewer small businesses were employing people than when Labor started, with the small business share of the private sector workforce falling from 52 per cent to 43 per cent of all employees. That is a really sad statistic but it is perhaps not surprising. Many representatives on the other side of the House do not have a small business background. While I acknowledge the contribution by the member for Canberra in this debate and her small business experience, that is not common on the other side of the chamber.

If you have not been in small business, you do not really understand the constraints and the issues and how hard it is to be a small business owner and operator. You do not understand the sacrifices, courage and hard work that owning and operating a small business requires. This bill is further evidence that we on this side of the House do understand small business and that we thank them for having a go. Looking through the submissions made by various stakeholders in small business groups on the establishment of the ombudsman, there were a lot of very positive submissions from representative organisations, including the Australian Association of Convenience Stores, the Australian Newsagents Federation, the Australian Sporting Goods Association, the Council of Small Business of Australia, the Franchise Council of Australia, the Housing Industry Association and so on. These are just a few of the many who contributed to the public consultation process.

I also note that one of the most common concerns expressed in the submissions was the duplication of roles between the ombudsman and various other agencies. Of course, the minister has expressly addressed this by ensuring that the ombudsman will not duplicate the functions of other officials. The ombudsman will work collaboratively with Commonwealth officials such as the Commonwealth Ombudsman and the state small business commissioners as well as other relevant officials across all jurisdictions. As part of this collaboration the ombudsman will identify systemic issues that warrant a national approach and advise the government about such matters.

To assist with our ongoing deregulation agenda the ombudsman will provide advice on proposed an existing legislation, regulations and practices. This will help ensure we can continue to have our highly successful repeal days twice a year to cut red tape and remove unnecessary legislation. The ombudsman's brief is to help ensure that, wherever possible, red-tape burdens are minimised, removed or prevented from being imposed in the first place. The small business minister will also be able to refer matters to the ombudsman for inquiry. This part of the advocacy function is similar to that available under the Productivity Commission Act, and is designed to provide a formal framework and supporting powers that allow the ombudsman to undertake a public inquiry into matters of significant interest to small businesses or family enterprises. The minister will be required to table reports of such inquiries by the ombudsman in the parliament.

The ombudsman will also fulfil an important alternative dispute resolution role, providing improved access to justice for small businesses at the Commonwealth level. The ombudsman's assistance function requires the ombudsman to give assistance in relation to relevant actions if requested to do so.

A key requirement of the Ombudsman is to not duplicate the functions of Commonwealth, state or territory officials. Instead, under the ombudsman's concierge role, small businesses and family enterprises will be referred, where appropriate, to existing agencies that can deal with their issues. The concierge role acknowledges that there are already a number of services for small business issues, complaints and disputes, but that small businesses often do not know where to turn for support. This means that, small businesses can approach the ombudsman for assistance for any dispute or complaint they may have. The ombudsman must then transfer a request for assistance to another Commonwealth, state or territory agency, if that agency could deal with the request and it would be more effective and convenient for that agency to do so. The point is that the ombudsman will be in a better position to know who the small business should go to and to provide initial advice.

The ombudsman will also provide an outsourced alternative dispute resolution service. As part of this facilitated dispute resolution function, the ombudsman may recommend that an alternative dispute resolution process be undertaken. To support the facilitation of early and cost-effective dispute resolution, the ombudsman may publicise the failure of a party to participate in a recommended alternative dispute resolution process. This approach is intended to incentivise parties to genuinely participate in an alternative dispute resolution process.

Just from the functions I have outlined so far, we can see how the Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman will work to further the interests of small business and be of genuine assistance to small businesses requiring advice, particularly in relation to dispute resolution. It is no wonder that the submissions to the public consultation process were overwhelmingly in support of the establishment of the ombudsman. For example, the Australian Newsagents Federation said in their submission:

The ANF strongly supports the introduction of the role of Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman. We believe it will be of great assistance to our members and to strengthening small businesses in Australia more broadly.

The Australasian Association of Convenience Stores wrote:

We are hopeful that the establishment of the Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, and its capacity to extend the activities of the Australian Small Business Commissioner to create a more purposeful, empowered and effective role, will support these businesses—owners and employees—into the future … the AACS supports the establishment of the Ombudsman and is positive about the outlook for small businesses in Australia.

The Housing Industry Association said:

HIA notes the Government's commitment to transform the current office of the Australian Small Business Commissioner into a Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman …

They go on:

HIA supports the Commonwealth Government's overall focus and agenda on better representing the interests of the small business community.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry noted the brief to fight red tape as a significant positive, saying:

In relation to reducing red tape, ACCI argued that the Australian Small Business Commissioner should become a "warrior to fight red tape". We are therefore encouraged by the proposal that red tape reduction will be a priority for the newly formed Ombudsman.

Overall, our submission supports the principles that underpin this policy announcement …

So I do think there is widespread support for the establishment of a federal advocacy and assistance body for small business—the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman will be a very welcome addition to the range of services currently on offer. On behalf of small businesses on the southern Gold Coast I am very pleased to express my strong support for this legislation and to commend the bill to the House.

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