Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The coalition will be supporting the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Fair Go for Consumers and Small Business) Bill 2024. The bill is a one-schedule amendment to ACL that empowers the relevant minister to appoint entities as designated complainants, granting them the power to progress complaints directly to the ACCC and receive a response within 90 days.

In deciding whether to approve an applicant as a designated complainant, the minister must have regard to two things: firstly, the applicant's experience and ability in representing the interests of consumers or small businesses, or both, in Australia in relation to a range of market issues that affect them; and, secondly, the extent to which the applicant will act with integrity as a complainant. I note that the coalition will be watching closely who the minister approves. It must not be used as a chance to reward Labor Party friends or union paymasters, and on the other side it must be there for legitimate organisations that are representing their members who are small businesses and farmers to the extent that they have good reason to act in the interests of those members on a competition or consumer issue.

The ACCC may notify a designated complainant that they will act through a further action notice if they're satisfied that a designated complaint relates to a significant or systemic market issue that affects consumers or small businesses in Australia, or both, and relates either to a potential breach of the act or to one or more of the ACCC's powers or functions under the act. If the ACCC is not satisfied that these matters apply in relation to a designated complaint, they must issue a no-further-action notice, and they may also issue a no-further-action notice in other specific circumstances.

If the ACCC proposes to act upon a designated complaint, the ACCC must use best endeavours to commence that action as soon as practicable, within a maximum of six months. Any response must be based on the existing powers of the ACCC and functions under the act, including education, research and compliance as well as enforcement functions.

What this bill does not do is reverse the damage this government has done with bad economic decisions. What it doesn't do is champion a back-to-basics economic agenda; that is the best way to give a fair go to consumers, small businesses and farmers across this great nation, and that means getting the basics right.

We've seen a collapse in Australians' real disposable incomes of 8.6 per cent in just 18 months. We've seen a sharp increase in the price of pretty much everything. There has been an almost-10-per-cent increase in prices on average in the last 18 months, and we've seen many things go up far, far more than that. We've seen 12 interest rate increases, and we've seen a massive increase—a 27 per cent increase—in personal income taxes being paid. That means that Australians have seen a collapse in their standard of living. They're responding in many different ways: they're digging into their savings, they're taking on extra hours and they're cutting out any spending in their household budgets that's not absolutely essential. All of this is having a very big impact on Australians' standard of living.

We need, right now, an agenda that is focused on getting the basics right. However you might attempt to redistribute the pie, if the pie is not growing—if the pie is, indeed, shrinking, which is what's happening to our economic pie right now on a GDP per person basis—then Australians are always going to be worse off. Getting the basics right means knowing where government has a role to play and where it doesn't. It means making sure that your competition policy is right, not just pursuing some version of crony capitalism, as we saw last year with the Qantas issue.

A back-to-basics agenda does mean ending waste, not spending $40 million of taxpayer money on a spin unit to sell a broken promise. It means workplace laws that are sensible and flexible and that are in the interests of both bosses and employees so they can sit down together and make their workplace more competitive, more productive and, most importantly, more prosperous for both the employer and employee. That's a time honoured achievement of workplaces in this country, and that's from both sides of politics, I should say. Through the eighties and the nineties and into the noughties, we saw incredible improvement in our workplaces, and that kind of flexibility is something that workers and employers have enjoyed and benefited from, and we need to see a focus back on those basics.

We live in a country and with economy where, if you give opportunities for people to get ahead, to realise their aspirations, they create opportunities for others. This is something that is absolutely essential in thinking about what's right for Australia at a time when we are facing a cost-of-living crisis. But for Australians who are given the opportunity to get ahead, who are given incentive to get ahead, the rewards for effort create jobs and opportunities not just for themselves but for others—jobs, investment and opportunity for all.

Those opposite can continue to play class wars in industrial relations and other areas of policy, and they can continue to pursue the politics of envy, but, on this side of the House, we will continue to support aspiration, opportunity and prosperity for all. We have a strong record of supporting strong competition policy and support for small businesses and farmers across Australia. We delivered policies, including the default market offer in the energy market, and despite the fact that under our current energy manager we've seen sharp increases in prices—Australians certainly haven't seen the $275. The default market offer was a good, strong measure to support consumers in the electricity market, and it's certainly been of benefit. At the time that was brought in, we saw an eight per cent reduction in prices for consumers, a nine per cent reduction for small businesses and a 10 per cent reduction for industry.

We established the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct. It's right and proper now, having seen that in operation for some time, that we work alongside our National Party colleagues in making sure that that is right for the times—times that are obviously changing. We legislated to address energy market misconduct, and we established the payment times reporting framework. We also delivered significant support for Australia's 3.7 million small and medium sized businesses, including the small-business company tax rate reduction and extending the instant asset write-off. We've said in recent months that we would take that back to the higher level and the appropriate thresholds that were in place prior to COVID. Labor has scaled that back.

But that instant asset write-off is incredibly important for small businesses and farmers. It gives them the opportunity to make investments in capital equipment, in items that are going to make their businesses more productive, more competitive and more successful. And that is good not just for them; it's good for their communities, their employees, their suppliers and their customers. That's how the economy works. We know and we've all seen—those of us that represent electorates where small business is the backbone of the local economy—the incredible impact of accelerated depreciation on the prosperity of those local economies.

We established the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman. I'm very hopeful that that ombudsman will be one of the organisations that the minister approves as a designated complainant under this legislation so the ombudsman can do the important work it needs to do to support small business and farmers across this country. We will take further strong competition policy measures to the next election, and we will continue to focus, as we have in recent months and years, on the interests of small businesses and farmers in being able to ensure that their suppliers and customers are competitive. But that's also crucially important for customers more generally.

Competition policy matters. I'm a huge believer in it, and I have been for a very long time. Indeed, it was the focus of my postgraduate thesis. I didn't write a long tome on Paul Keating; I wrote a tome on competition policy. I have, for decades, believed that the best regulator of any industry is an empowered customer. There is no better regulator of any industry than an absolutely empowered customer who is able to say to their supplier, 'Look, I want a better deal.' I'll tell you what—it works.

We will be supporting this legislation, and I will work with the relevant minister to make sure this legislation comes through in an appropriate form. In line with the comments I have already made, I move:

That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House notes:

(1) that the former Coalition government delivered strong competition policy for consumers, including:

(a) the Default Market Offer;

(b) establishing the Food & Grocery Code of Conduct;

(c) legislating to address Energy Market Misconduct; and

(d) establishing the Payment Times Reporting Framework;

(2) that the former Coalition government delivered significant support for Australia's 3.7 million small and medium businesses, including:

(a) reducing the small business company tax rate;

(b) extending the Instant Asset Write Off; and

(c) establishing the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman;

(3) that the best way to give a fair go to consumers and small business is to manage the economy well and bring down inflation; and

(4) the government is failing on both counts, with falling productivity, stubbornly high domestic inflation, and collapsing real wages for working households".

Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the amendment seconded?

Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party, Shadow Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the amendment and reserve my right to speak.

Debate adjourned.