Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I came to this place, like so many of my colleagues—at least those that find themselves on this side of the chamber—from a small business background. I was privileged to run a small business myself. I grew up in a household with parents who themselves ran small businesses—in the case of my father, a farming enterprise; in the case of my mother, a retail shop for some 40-plus years.

Before I go any further, Mr Speaker, I take this opportunity to congratulate you on your election to the speakership. I was speaking to the children at the Meningie Area School and the Murray Bridge High School, which you visited shortly before your election, as you toured both schools with me in your capacity as chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters. I confirmed for them that it is true that, for one to assume the speakership of this place, one needs to spend time in both those institutions. In any event, I have also had occasion to speak about your election and, indeed, your success to the Hon. Neil Andrew, a former speaker in this place. He wanted me to convey to you his sincere congratulations. He enjoyed a text he received from me outside of the chamber regarding your ruling about this time last week, where you referred to a decision of his which was included within Practice.

I was speaking about the importance of small business to this side of the House. Of course, it is embedded into the DNA of almost every one of my colleagues. Our government is committed to ensuring that Australia is the best place to start and grow a small business. The coalition understands that small business makes a vital contribution to the economy and communities—particularly regional communities, like the one I grew up in and represent. That is why, Mr Speaker, we took to the 2013 election more than 20 policy ideas to support this vital sector of our community. We are on track to fully implement these commitments. Indeed, the passing of this bill into law is a key promise that we made to extend unfair-contract term protections that are available to consumers to those that operate small businesses. With this legislation, we have met yet another of those small business promises that we took to the 2013 election.

As you know, Mr Speaker, for a very long time, consumers have been protected from unfair contract terms. However, the former government, despite its initial interest in this policy area, decided not to offer similar protection to small businesses. That was despite the fact that small businesses and consumers both suffer from inequity of power structures. I look forward to speaking further on this at another time.

Debate interrupted.

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