Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Small Business) Share this | Hansard source

I appreciate hearing those on the other side are supportive of the Treasury Laws Amendment (More Competition, Better Prices) Bill 2022, because, of course, we know small business owners more often than not do not have the deep pockets and the bargaining power to effectively review and negotiate terms in standard form contracts.

I am perplexed why the former government over there didn't actually deal with, given they were in government for nine years. I appreciate the former minister's spin on the fact that it was nine years of reform on this, but they did have nine years in office to deliver this.

I'm pleased and want to congratulate the assistant minister, Dr Andrew Leigh, for his diligent hard work on getting this legislation into the parliament and introducing it so early in our term. This is Labor delivering on our election commitment. We know existing laws haven't stopped the use of unfair terms, and, under almost a decade of neglect from the former government, the use of unfair contract terms against small business is widespread. Just this year, the Federal Court decided in favour of small businesses, bringing an end to an unfair contract terms battle waged for eight years.

Since November 2016, Fujifilm had entered into or renewed around 34,000 contracts, the vast majority of which were made using the standard form contracts at issue in the case. As of August this year, many of those contracts were still in force. We can't access the data on how many of these contracts were with small businesses, but the ACCC says it's likely they made up a substantial number. Speaking on the case, the ACCC said:

We continue to strongly advocate for law reform to prohibit unfair contract terms and enable the Court to impose penalties in cases where such terms are imposed and enforced against small businesses …

So I'm very pleased that our government, the Albanese Labor government, is introducing this legislation to strengthen unfair contract term protections for small businesses and consumers. As I said, I'm pleased to hear those opposite will be supporting it.

We're also increasing the number of small business contracts that will be afforded protection under this legislation. We're increasing the small business eligibility threshold for the protections from less than 20 employees up to less than 100 employees. And we're also introducing an annual turnover threshold of less than $10 million as an alternative threshold for determining eligibility under this legislation. We know this will go to helping improve small business confidence and allow our small business community to grow with confidence, because, unlike the previous government, the Albanese Labor government is serious about delivering on our better deal for small businesses. These reforms are a critical part of our plans to help small businesses. These changes will help improve the long-term resilience of Australia's small businesses and help them bounce back following significant challenges in recent years.

This is just the latest measure that the Albanese Labor government is taking to support small businesses. Of course, last night in the budget the Treasurer announced that we'll be providing more than $15 million to small business owners across Australia to access free mental health and financial counselling support, while $10.9 million in funding will go to the NewAccess for Small Business Owners program and $4 million to the Small Business Debt Helpline. The Albanese Labor government will also deliver energy efficiency grants to eligible small and medium businesses to help address rising costs. This new funding will build on measures put in place already by the Albanese government, including $18.6 million to help small businesses adapt and build resilience through digital technology.

Small businesses will also have access to new tax incentives to train and upskill employees and to improve their digital and tech capacity. That will be legislated by the Albanese government. Worth more than $1.5 billion, the technology investment boost and the skills and training boost will be backdated to 29 March so small business owners can receive the full benefits of this measure. We've updated the Commonwealth Procurement Rules, which means small businesses will get a bigger slice of the $70 billion in contracts that the Australian government spends every year. These measures sit alongside the Albanese government's wider agenda that will benefit small businesses.

We all know, of course, about the skills shortages. Australia's small businesses will benefit from an increase in the migration program to help address some of these shortages. We'll also deliver $36 million in additional funding to accelerate visa processing and help resolve some of the visa backlog. We'll provide one-off credit to older Australians, to give them the option to work and keep more of their money, immediately boosting the number of people in the workforce. And we'll accelerate the delivery of 465,000 additional fee-free TAFE places, with 180,000 to be delivered in 2023, to help get more skilled workers into the job market more quickly.

We've done this because we are the government that supports small business. Small businesses employ millions of Australians. They contribute more than $430 billion to our nation's economy each and every year. They were at the heart of our discussions at the Jobs and Skills Summit and in the roundtables in the weeks leading up to it. We know small businesses have been doing it tough, that they've stared down years of floods—and of course some of them are facing floods yet again—fires, a global pandemic and now a tight labour market and rising inflation. They need support that only a Labor government can and will deliver. The Albanese government knows small businesses are vital to Australia. They're at the centre of our communities right across the country and they'll always be at the centre of our government's decision-making. I commend the bill to the House.

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