Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

It is equally delightful to be asked that question by the honourable member, who as a small business minister was such a champion for small business, radiating enthusiasm. One of the honourable member's great objectives as small business minister was to recommend that the government adopt the recommendations of Professor Ian Harper's review into competition law and, in particular, the one relating to section 46, on the misuse of market power.

Today, the work of the honourable member as small business minister and that of many, many members on our side of politics has been fulfilled, because we are adopting the recommendations of the Harper review. We are adopting the effects test. What this will do is ensure that section 46 is pro competition. It will be in language that is calculated to ensure that misuse of market power cannot be undertaken, and it will protect competition. As the ACCC chairman, Rod Sims, has said today, 'The changes that the government has announced will be pro competition, will help improve national productivity and will see lower prices for consumers.' This is good news for Australian families.

Small business is the engine room of the Australian economy. It is the most innovative. It is the most agile. It is vitally important, employing 4.7 million Australians, and always providing the greatest level of innovation and competition and productivity. We are backing small business by improving and reforming competition policy, just as we are backing small investors as drivers of innovation through our national innovation and science agenda, which helps to bring great Australian ideas to market, gives tax incentives to those who invest in start-ups so they can survive and thrive, and helps to prepare our children for the jobs of the future by boosting participation in science, computing and maths.

The difference between our approach and the Labor Party's could not be more stark. Labor opposes better competition policy, it does not want to level the playing field for small business, it does not want to have a misuse of market power provision, a section 46, which is clearly focused on protecting the competitive process; it wants to hammer the housing market, as I described a moment ago, through its very ill-thought-out so-called housing affordability policy which will restrict the freedom of Australians to negative gear, to invest into any asset class except new residential housing; and, in addition to that, Labor is proposing to increase capital gains tax by 50 per cent. (Time expired)

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