Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The Greens secured amendments in the Senate to give the Treasury Legislation Amendment (Small Business and Unfair Contract Terms) Bill 2015 some teeth. It is very easy to talk big on business, but then what we find most of the time with the government is that they talk big on small business and then they vote for big business. We have seen it happen time and time again. In the same way that the Nationals come in here and talk up the country and then vote with their city counterparts, the Liberals come in here and talk up small business and then vote for big business.

The bill before the Senate was trying to sneak an election promise under the radar and turn it into a Clayton's election promise. The government was called on it by people like Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, who is a small-business owner and understands what this bill would have meant. He moved amendments in the Senate on behalf of the Greens and we managed to give this bill some teeth and put a meaningful threshold into this bill. What the government wanted to do was be seen to be delivering on an election commitment but do it in a way that would have meant not that many businesses would get the protections from these unfair contract terms. So we moved amendments to lift the threshold and we are very pleased for the Greens to have delivered a win for small business in this bill.

I hope that this House accepts the amendments and gives this bill some teeth so that the unfair contract provisions apply to a greater range of small businesses who need them. Everyone knows that, when it comes to small businesses dealing with big businesses, there is very often an imbalance—an imbalance that, in many ways, is similar to that which workers face when they try to deal with their employers. Small businesses often need some protection when dealing with those larger businesses. We have been able here to deliver some of that protection. Thanks to the Greens, we managed to give this bill the improvements that it needed so that protections will now be available to a range of small businesses across this country.

There is much more that needs to be done because, as I said, the government often talk big on small business but then vote with big business. We have seen it with this bill, which they tried to get through until we called them on it in the Senate and the Greens managed to improve the bill. We saw it when they ran away from the effects test. You talk to many small businesses around this country and they will tell you about the significant power that the supermarkets have. The government have made some noises to people to say, 'We might do something in that area,' but then, when they get the opportunity to do it, they squib on it.

I hope that these amendments are accepted. I hope the government say, 'We are prepared to work with those in the Senate,' who do a bit more than just talk rhetorically about small business but know what it would mean to have some meaningful protections for small business. I hope that this is the beginning of the government saying, 'Maybe there are a range of other protections that we can extend to small businesses as well. Maybe we need to take off the veil of always just supporting big business and actually support small business as well.' This is a set of amendments that the Greens are very proud of and I urge the House in the strongest possible terms to agree to the Senate amendments.

See this speech in context