Craig Laundy (Reid, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise, like my good friend and colleague the member for Eden-Monaro, to speak in favour of the Treasury Legislation Amendment (Small Business and Unfair Contract Terms) Bill 2015 and to commend the Minister for Small Business. I do not know whether it is rare or not, but I can remember the precise moment that I decided that I wanted to run for federal parliament. I was driving in my car, while working for my father in our family business, and I was listening to question time—probably some sort of a sign that I needed to get a life! I heard the then opposition leader, now Prime Minister, ask Prime Minister Gillard a question on the carbon tax. He asked how businesses were supposed to compete with the resultant price increases that would come from increased electricity fees. Standing at the dispatch box, Prime Minister Gillard said: 'We have compensated consumers. They should merely put up their prices.' I do not think I have ever heard better defined the misunderstanding by those on the other side of parliament, the Labor side, of how business actually operates.

At the same dispatch box today, the Treasurer said, 'It is not government that creates jobs; it is business.' I used that same line in my maiden speech—almost to a word. I rise again to talk about the role that not only small and family business plays but this government is playing in enabling small and family business to succeed. Whilst everyone else has spoken about the detail of this legislation, which I will get to, tonight I thought I would tell a couple of yarns, because it is what I like doing—and I know the member for Chifley always enjoys it when I tell him a yarn or two.

In the winter break I managed to lock myself out of my home. My wife and children were away on holidays. The last sitting week of parliament overlapped with the first week of the school holidays, so Susie and the kids had gone away. I was the only one with a key to the place, and it is fair to say the security at my place is first-rate, because I was locked out and there was no way I could get in. So I rang the local locksmith, who said, 'We subbie out our premises work to a young guy that lives in the area.' He gave me the number, and I rang Peter. As I spoke on the phone, in true publican/politician style, I said: 'Hello Peter. My name is Craig Laundy. I've locked myself out of the house.' At the other end, I heard a voice say, 'Craig!'—as if I had known Peter all my life. I of course did not have a clue who Peter was over the phone. But Peter, I am sure, over the next 30 seconds, thought I had known him since life. I ordered Peter to come over.

Peter came over in his own little van. He works himself. He would be in his early 20s. He spent an hour with me trying to help me get into the house, which he ultimately did. In the middle of that hour, he said: 'I'm going to be running late for the next appointment. I've got to do a school at North Strathfield. I've won a tender on the locks, but I had to meet the principal there at a very specific time,' which was 1.15, and this was about 12.45. I said, 'Mate, you go.' But I had another complication—I had to get to a funeral of a local identity and I was not in a suit, so I was in all sorts of trouble. Peter knew that and he stayed with me. He rang the school to tell them and ask whether he could make the appointment later. The school, which had been let down many times apparently by local locksmiths, was, I think it is fair to say, none too impressed.

I was quite disturbed. I said, 'Peter, how long have you been doing this?' He said: 'I started out about 12 months ago. I was working as an apprentice. I did my time. I worked with a business. But I've decided to take this step and go out on my own.' North Strathfield Catholic school is a new school that we launched earlier in the year. It was at that moment that I picked up the phone and said, 'Mate, I'm going to ring that school and explain that I'm absolutely the reason you're running late,' because I thought: 'There's a contract for a young guy who works by himself. He's handling the phone in between drilling in the lock on my front door, trying to get ahead.' He still lives at home. The reason that Peter answered the phone so familiarly is that I had actually doorknocked his parents' home during the election campaign, run into him and his mum and dad, had a cup of coffee with them and spoken about what the area needed, not knowing that some two years later I would run into Peter when I needed him.

I picked up the phone and I rang North Strathfield. I spoke to Sinead, who is the right hand for the principal there, and I threw myself on the sword, because I thought it was only fit. I said: 'Sinead, it's Craig Laundy. I met you at the opening of the school a few months ago. You've just received a phone call from Peter. I am the reason Peter is late, and I want to apologise. I really hope you can reorganise a time that would suit, because this young bloke is starting out in his own business, and the last thing I want to do is something that would in any way hinder his progression.' Sinead said, 'Craig, I completely understand.' I have not followed up with Peter, but I will, and I hope that that contract has gone well for him.

The moral of the story is that today's apprentice or tradie is tomorrow's small business owner. Here is a young guy, Peter, starting out answering phones and doing everything. What we speak about today is that, as these young guys and girls work their way through their trade or through whatever course they take in their education, and they take that momentous step to go from employee to employer, in their infancy we must protect them. The sobering fact is that between 1 January 2011 and 31 December 2014 there were 1,375 small businesses that contacted the ACCC to complain about unfair contracts. I would be lost as a young guy, because I do not have a legal background. Neither does Peter. Neither do many of these people that are taking this momentous step.

So what has this government decided to do about it? It has decided to launch this bill, which will help new entrants to the small business market. There are three categories. The contract has to fall between the prescribed thresholds of $100,000 and $250,000, or one party has to have fewer than 20 employees. It is very important that in their infancy these businesses, if they enter into a contract—as 1,375 did in the four years, or 350-odd per year between 2011 and 2014—are given some protection for what could ultimately be an honest mistake but, more importantly, could ultimately lead to the end of a small business in its embryonic stages.

Who is to know where Peter will end up in 10 years time? Knowing him as I do now, I would not be surprised if that one van becomes 10, and if instead of him answering the phone there is someone at the office answering the phone—perhaps multiple people. In those 10 vans will be, I hope, 10 employees of Peter's and 10 apprentices, and those employees and those apprentices at some stage in the future may be the next generation of small businesses—of locksmiths—within the Inner West of Sydney.

It is not just this measure tonight, proposed by the Minister for Small Business, that is a sign of the changes we have made in this space. There is of course the tax cut; there is of course the instant asset write-off. I have spoken in the chamber about the instant asset write-off of a business, a hospitality venue on Henley Marine Drive at Drummoyne, that has been closed for years. Not long after the budget I saw a lease sign; it has been leased. Because it has been empty for so long, I made a point of ringing the real estate agent and finding out who had taken the plunge and taken a lease on the place. It was very pleasing to hear that the person has decided that because there was a plan in place pre-budget to open it up as a hospitality facility, a function centre—it was going to be staged over a three- to four-year period, with capital investment made and employment resulting from that investment—that he would bring forward that expenditure and that resulting employment. He is not far away from opening up. He has decided to bring forward that expenditure because of the decisions that were made by this government in the budget.

From that day—sitting in the car, listening to the answer given by then Prime Minister Gillard, with no understanding that business cannot just put up prices to combat increased expenses when they compete in both export and import markets against companies and businesses that do not face the same infrastructure—I know I will stand with this government all day, every day, in whatever time the people of Reid give me, to fight for small and family businesses, not only within Reid but throughout Australia. Why? Because there are—back of the envelope—11.7 million people employed in Australia at the moment. Around two million of those are public servants. That leaves a ballpark figure of 10 million. Of that, 4.7 million are employed by small business—50 per cent, the same as medium-size business and large business combined. That is how important this sector of our economy is to our economy. That is something I am proud of as a member of the Abbott government and that I understand not only through working with people like the Hon. Bruce Billson and my other colleagues but through my family involvement and history in employing people. I have great honour and pride in supporting this bill, and I commend it to the House.

See this speech in context