Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to sum up the debate on the second reading of the Franchising Laws Amendment (Fairness in Franchising) Bill 2020. Can I thank all the senators for participating in the debate. I acknowledge the contributions of the government members. Senator Van, thank you for your kind words about the efforts that have been made by the committee which delivered that unanimous report. I also want to acknowledge the contributions of new Senator Small from Western Australia and not-so-new Senator Brockman from Western Australia. At least they made the effort to come in here and speak on it. However, it's got to a point where the Australian people are pretty well over hearing the government come in here, bleating and moaning, with statements that begin with: 'We care. We care about what's happening to you. We understand what's happening to you.' They're the government.

Caring and understanding are the beginning of action, but what's missing from this government is action. And the sector that they're abandoning by not supporting this bill today is the small-business sector right across this country—the small-business sector that is continually told by the Liberal Party that they are the party for small business. Well, they're not the party for small business today—and they haven't been the party for small business for a very, very long time—if they do not support this piece of legislation, which I described this morning, and it was reported by Adele Ferguson in a very good piece in the Financial Review, as a finger in a dyke. There's so much work to be done in terms of franchising in this country. The government's making a very, very light-touch response on a promise. This bill actually does some grunt work and gets protection in place for small businesses that need it right now.

I want to thank Senator Whish-Wilson for his contribution not only on the committee—and I know you're no longer a member of that committee, but for the work that you did and your very kind words here. I also acknowledge the Nationals senator, Senator 'Wacka' Williams. The Nationals had a heart, a voice and a man of action when they had him in the chamber. If they really cared about what was going on in small businesses right across this country, particularly in rural and regional Australia, they would be supporting this Labor bill today. They know that this matters, because recently a very good example emerged, when General Motors just walked all over Australian businesses. We're not talking about little businesses here with regard to car dealers. These are very, very important parts of our local community. These are multigenerational small businesses that have grown, that are part of the care economy that happens in our regions across this country, that are part of a dealership network across the country so that when grey nomads, having worked a long life and paid their taxes, have enough money to get around Australia know that when they're in Townsville, Cloncurry, the Pilbara, in far western New South Wales or even down in Tasmania they will be able to get proper service and be looked after by a network of high-quality tradespeople who are operating out of these dealership networks across Australia. Well, they got totally done over. Holden dealers got done over by General Motors, an overseas company. Minister Karen Andrews, Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Michaelia Cash, in concert with them, did nothing to prevent General Motors doing over an entire sector. There was no capacity for them to have proper arbitration about General Motors deciding to leave the country. And because they left that sector hanging, there have been changes to business models for Honda, Renault and Mercedes Benz that have walked right through the door because this government hasn't got the guts to do the hard work and stand up for franchisees instead of the very wealthy franchisors and overseas companies. That's who they chose over hardworking Australian businesses. That's where we are today.

I want to thank Senator Roberts from One Nation. I want to be very clear: there are many, many things that Labor will disagree with, with all of the different political parties that are in here. But one thing I and my colleagues are committed to is the practice of democracy. When the Australian people elect people to this House, it is incumbent on all of us to work to get good outcomes for the Australian people. This bill, in my name today, a Labor bill, is a bill to protect small businesses in the absence of a Liberal government, a Liberal-National party government, that is leaving them hanging. I want to thank Senator Roberts for his kind words about the hard work of the committee. I hope that we will get support for this bill today and that it ends up in the House of Representatives and enough people will have the common sense not only to do the work that the government has proposed that they will do but to do the work now in supporting this bill, to give necessary protections urgently needed to make sure no more small businesses that are engaged in franchise structure are able to be exploited, because that cannot help us in our recovery.

I want to reiterate from my original remarks the scale of why this matters. The franchising sector accounts for seven per cent of the GDP. This is no small thing. We won't have a car dealership network standing in two years after the government watched and waited. What Australians know as a network that they rely on and support will be gone. So I urge you, senators, particularly senators on the crossbench, join with Labor in supporting small business today. I urge The Nationals: have a heart, have the guts to stand up for your local small businesses. Come in and support this bill and let's get this done as a first important step towards further reforms that the government has heralded.