Bob Day (SA, Family First Party) Share this | Hansard source

I was not always a big business; I was a very small business; I started off as a trade contractor. So I know both sides of this argument. I accept and acknowledge the sincere view of the government and its advisers that a $100,000 limit is about right. But, with all due respect, I think I would lean towards the balance in judgement—I think that was the minister's phrase: that it was a matter of balance in judgement—and I would be more inclined towards the judgement of those who are actual practitioners in this field and independent contractors rather than the government's view.

At the moment, there is not a threshold. Somewhere around $100,000 has been the figure that the government has landed on. It has been suggested that it should be at least $1 million, or in fact some would suggest that there should be no limit at all to the availability of access to contracts that are deemed to have unfair provisions. I for one am a great believer in law of contract. I think the sanctity of contracts is absolutely essential in a modern economy. The terms are what they are. When you sign a contract, 'You pays your money and you takes your chances,' as we used to say. As to so-called 'unfair contracts', I really do not like that term; it is an oxymoron or a contradiction in terms. But when we get these 'unfair terms' or 'non-contract terms' within a contract that say, for example, that one of the terms is that one party can just change its mind unilaterally, change numbers or change dates, then that is not a contract. All right—both might sign to say that. But I think that particular issue does need to be addressed.

Minister, $100,000 in a contract is not very much these days. A lot of contracts go for a lot higher than that. I have seen many, many small businesses—even employers or organisations with more than 20 employees—sign contracts that are much, much higher than that, and then they are subjected to all sorts of terms and conditions which really do not belong in any self-respecting contract.

So, as much as it might disappoint some in the independent contractor world who would like no limit or at least $1 million, I will be moving an amendment that increases the threshold limit from $100,000 to $500,000, and I ask the government to please, for once, consider and listen to those who have actually been doing these sorts of things for many, many years and to listen to those who have to live with these contracts in the independent contractor world.