Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Communications) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Treasury Legislation Amendment (Small Business and Unfair Contract Terms) Bill 2015 and the amendments that have come back. I note that this has arisen today, whereas the minister issued a media release on the government supporting these provisions a week ago. I am glad we have come here today, a week after the media release was issued, and we are actually dealing with this legislation.

I point out a couple of provisions that are relevant to this matter. Firstly, I note the minister's statement on 13 October included:

The Government has worked with crossbenchers and stakeholders to secure the support of this change to enable protections for small businesses throughout Australia.

The reality is that the government voted against these amendments in the Senate. I am very happy that they have accepted the amendments and they are going to be put through, but it is imperative to recognise that, on some of the key provisions relating to matters such as the threshold levels to which the protections apply, the government voted against them.

I note that the minister liked to point out, in her answer to a question last week, the comments by COSBOA, for example, heralding this bill. I will point out an alternative point of view on that matter. It is a very intelligent one put by Robert Gottliebsen on 14 September in his column. It relates to exactly this issue and is the exact opposite analysis to that provided by the minister on this point. It is instructive to note that Mr Gottliebsen said:

Today in the Senate—

that is, on 14 September—

the ALP and the Greens signalled they would target a big section of small business at the next election. They gave the signal, with the support of most of the independents, by making a significant amendment to the government’s fair contracts legislation.

The government via Senator Mathias Cormann has signalled the Coalition will not support the amendment. In effect, Cormann has turned the government's back on a million people in the small business community.

The history of the Coalition’s betrayal of small business in Australia is very sorry one.

They are not my words, but I will happily echo them; they are the words of Robert Gottliebsen. He talks about the 'promise to extend the fair contracts protections available to consumers into the arena for small businesses'. He says:

In theory, it kept the promise by introducing fair contracts legislation.

But under pressure from the public service, big corporations and franchisers ... it capped the limit to contracts involving less than $100,000. That $100,000 meant almost no small or independent contractors will be covered by the legislation. It was a total breach of promise under the guise of honouring the undertaking.

The ALP, the Greens and most independents amended legislation in the Senate today, lifting the cap to $300,000. A cap at that level will cover most IT, engineering and other independent contractors, including those in the public service. It will also cover small owner-drivers.

I end with this quote from Mr Gottliebsen:

Tony Abbott might have the China free-trade agreement to batter the ALP with but, in the end, the Government’s complete small business betrayal at the behest of its big supporters will be a very valuable weapon in the election.

I raise these matters because they are indeed relevant to some of the issues that have been raised in the financial services inquiry response that has come out today. I note, for example, the amendments that were put forward by the Greens—I give credit where it is due—to increase the threshold from $100,000 to $300,000 for contracts up to 12 months long and from $300,000 to $1 million for contracts greater than 12 months.

I will quote Peter Strong, who is the person whom the minister quoted the other day. Peter Strong, the chief executive of the Council of Small Business Australia, said the government's support for increased thresholds is 'very encouraging'. I quote from him again. He said:

It was a surprise given it was an amendment from the Greens supported by Labor ...

It is important to recognise that, while we have these provisions—which the ALP will support here, just as we supported them in the other place—the issues were pointed out when they originally came up for discussion in the Senate.

I look to the comments of Senator Kim Carr on 14 September. He rightly points out:

Labor senators have received many representations from the business community who have noted their strong concerns about these costs—

he talks about particular costs involved—

along with other substantive issues ... They include ... the $100,000 up-front price threshold for a small business contract ...

He ends by saying:

These are matters that we believe the government has an obligation to take on board.

(Time expired)

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