Julian Simmonds (Ryan, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to rise in the chamber to support the substantive Treasury Laws Amendment (2020 Measures No. 4) Bill 2020 today. Unfortunately, the Labor Party's attitude to this bill speaks volumes about why they have become so disconnected from Australians and particularly from Australian business.

This bill should be a no-brainer. It's a very simple package of amendments that we are making to provide certainty and to make important changes to provide more security for small businesses and medium businesses. Why? So that these businesses can create jobs. At the end of the day, we want to create more jobs coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. We want to create more job opportunities for Australians, and who is going to do that? Not government, but the private sector. Properly supported and with enough certainty, the private sector can make the investments in their people which they need to. That's part of what this bill provides.

By standing and speaking against it, Labor MP after Labor MP has shown that they don't get what it takes to make an investment as a small or medium business to employ somebody. They don't get what it takes to provide the certainty from government to allow small and medium businesses to invest. I'm very proud that the changes provided in this substantive bill today will help to do just that. That's because, regardless of the pandemic and especially in the case of what we've been through with the COVID-19 recession, a good government, like the Morrison government is, will always be looking for ways to streamline processes and to improve them to achieve better outcomes for Australians and Australian businesses, to help to provide them with that certainty. No change is too small, in my mind. Everything that we can do to make the lives of small and medium businesses better potentially means an extra job and an opportunity for an Australian family.

The measures outlined in this bill help provide some of that certainty to a number of industries and bodies as we move forward. I just want to take this opportunity to support those directly in the House. The most important part of the bill amends the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 to make refunds of large-scale generation shortfall changes nonassessable and non-exempt income. To give some context of what we're talking about to the House: one large-scale generation certificate is equal to about one megawatt-hour of eligible renewable electricity. As has always been the case with the Renewable Energy Target scheme, energy retailers and other liable entities are required to surrender large-scale generation certificates or pay a shortfall charge. If the business later surrenders outstanding certificates within the allowable time frame, the business will receive a refund of that shortfall charge. This bill will now provide the certainty to energy retailers that they need, that they will not be charged for the amount of the shortfall that will be refunded. Again, that certainty in the energy market is exactly the type of change that we're looking to make, and it's important. Importantly, we have gone about this in consultation with industry. This amendment supports a submission received from the Australian Energy Council. Again, for those Labor members opposite, that's what good governments do: they consult with industry, they take a considered view and then they act and see those changes shepherded through this House.

I'm a very passionate spokesman when it comes to renewable energy in this place, particularly for my electorate of Ryan. I'm very proud to stand here as a member of the Morrison government who is committed to meeting our targets—targets that we have already met in relation to Kyoto and that we are on track to meet and beat for our Paris targets. Only yesterday, I was speaking about the importance of how we get there as much as when we get there. The importance of how we get there makes a difference to these industries. It provides certainty and it makes a difference to people's lives—whether their jobs are going to be there. Our approach has, and will continue to be, about technology not taxes. I know that's one that the Labor MPs turn their noses up at, because they like the more ideological approach of targets without properly explaining to the Australian people how they're going to achieve those targets. The concept and importance of achieving those targets, as this government is doing through technology not taxes, I think has really brought it home to me in the work that we are doing right here in the Ryan electorate, which I have the pleasure of representing. For example, the CSIRO in Pullenvale is doing some extraordinary work that I've had the pleasure of seeing. They're developing hydrogen as a renewable energy source. They're doing the work not just on stabilising hydrogen as a clean energy source but also on stabilising it to be exported. Here is an opportunity for us not just to meet our own targets but to export clean energy to the world to help them meet their targets.

We've spoken before in this place about how, with our percentage of global emissions, we alone are not going to be able to achieve the real action on climate change that we want and are ambitious to achieve in the world, but we can be proactive partners with the rest of the world and some of the world's largest emitters, in terms of reducing their emissions, by leveraging our significant know-how when it comes to technology and our significant research capability, like what is being undertaken in the Ryan electorate. In this case, I am very optimistic of the confidence that those who are undertaking this research are showing that, in the not too future, we will be able to undertake significant exportation of clean energy hydrogen to not only meet our own targets but also help others around the world to meet theirs. I have digressed, so I will bring myself back, but I am very passionate about that work that we are doing and that some of the smartest minds in the Ryan electorate are doing to shape our future.

Another part of this bill that I'd like to draw to the House's attention is the amendment to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. It speaks to what we are doing to bring fairness to our franchising sector. Like the previous Liberal speaker on this bill, the member for Mackellar, I too have heard from the motor dealers in my electorate who have spoken about the problems that they have had as franchisees in dealing with large multinational companies based overseas and the difficulties that they have with very restrictive contracting and with large costs that are imposed on them. This has been something that I, and the member for Mackellar, the member for Longman and other backbenchers in the government, have been speaking about repeatedly—about the need to provide more fairness to those motor dealers and to franchisees in particular.

I really want to commend the work Minister Sukkar and Minister Cash have done on the franchising sector to make it more fair, more effective and more accountable, particularly to address some of the power imbalances that we have seen present in it. Not every franchise business will succeed, and we know that, but, where people take risks to take on a franchise—they give it a go and they put in their sweat, tears and significant funds to achieve it—we don't want to see them weighed down by unfair franchise practices. Those franchisees make an incredible contribution to the Australian economy and, importantly, to supporting jobs right across Australia. They are mum-and-dad businesses. They employ locally, as do a lot of the car dealerships that I've spoken to. They employ local people, give local people an opportunity and are willing to invest more, if given the opportunity, to employ more Australians. As the Prime Minister has often said, we on this side of the chamber unashamedly will stand in support of Australian businesses. With these amendments, we back Australian franchise businesses by finding the right balance between the franchisees and the franchisors to ensure continued development and success of the sector.

We're committed to a number of amendments in the franchising code. This is in response to the Fairness in franchising parliamentary report. A particular amendment contained in this bill will increase the maximum penalty amount for breaches of provisions across the industry codes, because, as well as reducing red tape, we really want to make it clear that doing the wrong thing is not acceptable by these small businesses and these mum-and-dad businesses in Australia and that the penalties for those who choose to do the wrong thing will be significant. They'll be so significant that they won't be able to be dismissed as the cost of doing business for these multinationals, particularly these overseas multinationals. They will be significant and they will impact the bottom lines of these franchisors if they do the wrong thing by the mum-and-dad franchisees. If they wilfully breach the franchising code, the penalty will not be small. It will be felt. It will be a strong deterrent.

During the COVID pandemic the Morrison government has acted quickly and decisively to respond to a situation that is rapidly changing. I think Australians, particularly Australian businesses in my electorate of Ryan, now recognise that Australia and Australians have done an extraordinary job in responding to the COVID pandemic and the COVID-19 recession. We are the envy of the world, and quite rightly so. The fact that we've been able to take our time to get the vaccine rollout right is testament to the fact that we have been able to keep the number of cases of COVID-19 down and have been able to keep businesses open as a result. Because we've been able to keep businesses open as a result we've been able to see the economy bounce back to the point where there are now more jobs than there were prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Just like this bill, that is great news for Australian businesses.

I think Australian businesses are pleased that the Morrison government, having facilitated that economic recovery and having facilitated that outstanding response of all Australians to the COVID-19 pandemic, is now turning its mind to these kinds of important changes. As I said at the beginning, these important changes are giving businesses certainty and confidence to invest in their businesses, to create more jobs and to create more opportunities for Australian families so that they in turn can create opportunities for their kids. That is why it has been so important to act swiftly and put in place vital support measures for COVID-19. It's so important that this bill now pass the chamber so that we can continue to support small businesses. I know that small- and medium-sized businesses in the Ryan electorate know that the Morrison government is always there to support them. It has their backs now during COVID and going forward.

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