Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] The Greens have long led on policy and new legislation to help small business in Australia. We care about small businesses and recognise their importance and how hard they work. Indeed, my wife and I have both successfully run small businesses for a number of years; my better half still does. We're small-business people. Ultimately, much of our good work here in the Senate—and I will recognise the collaborative and cooperative approach of politics over many years in regard to small business from both sides of the chamber—has been focused on tackling the power imbalance between big business and small business and indeed the abuses of market power. In a nutshell, that's what we're attempting to do today with this legislation. I concur with Labor in the speech Senator Gallagher has just given that this reporting framework is a step in the right direction.

In the 2013 election, the Greens were the first to campaign for a tax cut for small business, which I note was legislated in the Senate shortly after, in 2014. We also campaigned on increasing the instant asset write-off threshold from $6,500 to $10,000 in 2013 and proposed new loss carry-back provisions. These initiatives provided small businesses with new incentives to invest both in their businesses and in their employees. The instant asset write-off threshold was successfully increased, legislated again after the 2013 election, although I note that initially the new Abbott government tried to wind back the threshold from $6,500 to $1,500. I'd like to think that Greens leadership on this issue sent a clear signal to the Liberal Party and to small business that they had a true ally in the Senate to help get these changes through parliament.

I also introduced a bill to the Senate in 2014 called the Small Business Commissioner Bill 2013 to have a properly resourced advocate for small business with significant powers. Three years later, this resulted in the creation and appointment of an Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman.

Speaking about power imbalances and small business getting bent over a barrel, one of the Greens' most proud achievements in helping small business was leading the campaign to have a bank, or financial misconduct, royal commission to hold the big end of town, the big banks and big insurers, to account. I will note on this point that I look forward to that significant legislation being in this chamber in a few months time. I certainly hope there are no more delays to this critical reform because of COVID.

Many of the recommendations by Commissioner Hayne will help tip the balance in favour of small business, especially in areas of access to finance, insurance claims, fees for no service and financial redress. Most importantly, we pushed for years—since 2012—to get an effects test to reform competition policy in this country. In a rare political opportunity, our friends from the National Party joined the Greens to pass the long overdue and significant reform to section 46 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. I understand that was legislated in 2016. That's a very interesting story in itself.

For those who didn't follow competition policy reform, we managed to get the effects test through because the National Party supported a Greens motion and crossed the floor and voted against their Liberal colleagues on the day that Malcolm Turnbull toppled leadership in this country. It opened up a significant reform that we feel will make a big difference. We could throw in the establishment of a financial ombudsman as well—another piece of legislation initiated thanks to pressure from opposition in this place and ultimately thanks to cooperative politics.

To come back to the legislation before us today: it was a successful Greens amendment to the Treasury Legislation Amendment (Small Business and Unfair Contract Terms) Bill 2015 that ensured most small businesses would be protected from unfair terms in standard contracts. We worked very closely with a number of small-business stakeholders over many years to successfully get that legislation through the Senate. That, by the way, included franchise agreements. This amendment increased the coverage of legislation from 80 per cent of small businesses to 95 per cent of small businesses—businesses that were under that unfair contracts legislation.

I don't want to leave this chamber with the impression that the Greens have had only wins in regard to small business. We haven't seen every Greens policy legislated yet. We still continue to push for the small business entity threshold to increase from $2 million to $10 million per annum, as we've seen in many overseas countries, and an increase in the threshold for the GST registration from $75,000 to $150,000 and $150,000 to $300,000 for not-for-profit entities. That, of course, would significantly reduce the burden on many small businesses and their constant requirement for paperwork, which I know is a huge, huge burden for any operator and owner of a small business.

We support any measures that help correct the power imbalance between small business and big business—any measures that level the playing field. We will be supporting today's legislation because this is a step in the right direction. We hope that we see improvements to this legislation. A register provides transparency, but, without further developments—especially in relation to coercive powers and penalties—we remain sceptical that this will tip that power imbalance. The Greens would also like to see more detail around Labor's amendments and Senator Lambie's amendments, if she's still going ahead with her amendments, but we will wait until we get to Committee of the Whole before we will talk on those issues. The Greens will be supporting this legislation today as a step in the right direction, and we look forward to assisting Australian small business as we have done proactively and constructively together for nearly a decade.