Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Women) Share this | Hansard source

The government will be supporting these amendments, particularly on the basis that, in looking at the amendment, they actually respond to the Senate committee's inquiry on this bill, which recommended that the reach and intent of the bill be clarified. These items amend the proposed definition of 'responsible franchisor entity' in subsection 558A(2) of the bill to clarify that the new franchisor responsibilities only apply to an entity that has a significant degree of influence or control over the franchisee entity's affairs and that the influence or control has a material impact on the franchisee entity's compliance or ability to comply with their obligation to pay workers appropriately.

What the amendment actually does is not only respond to what the committee report has actually asked the Senate to respond to—so clarifying the reach and intent of the bill—but also seek to explicitly clarify, as I said, that franchisors may be liable under the bill where the significant influence or control they exercise over their franchisees has a material impact on the franchisee entity's compliance or ability to comply with their obligation to pay workers appropriately. The amendments also ensure that the assessment of what could reasonably be known by a franchisor about their franchisees is determined in the context of the ordinary course of business. Again, as I said, this actually does respond to an issue that the Senate committee report itself actually asked the Senate to address, so I thank Senators Leyonhjelm and Bernardi for proposing the amendment, and the government will be supporting it.