Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury) 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. This bill is a one-schedule amendment to the Australian Consumer Law. It establishes a new designated complaints function by empowering the relevant minister to appoint entities as designated complainants, granting them the power to progress complaints directly to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and receive a response within 90 days. When deciding whether to approve an applicant as a designated complainant, the minister must consider a number of things: firstly, their experience and ability in representing the interests of consumers and small businesses or both in Australia in relation to a range of market issues affecting them; and secondly, the extent to which the applicant will act with integrity as a complainant. I note that the coalition will be watching very closely who the minister approves in these situations. This provision must not be used as an opportunity to reward Labor Party friends or the Albanese government's union paymasters.

If the ACCC is satisfied that a designated complainant 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 functions or powers, the ACCC may notify a designated complaint that they will act by issuing a 'further action' notice. If the ACCC is not satisfied, it must issue a 'no further action' notice. The ACCC may also issue a 'no further action' notice in other specific circumstances. Where the ACCC decides to act on a designated complainant, it must use best endeavours to commence that action as soon as practicable and within a maximum time frame of six months. Any response delivered by the ACCC must be based on the existing powers of the ACCC and functions under the act, including education, research and compliance and enforcement functions.

I now turn to what this bill does not do. This bill does not reverse the damage the Albanese government has done through its poor economic decisions since it was elected in May 2022. This bill does not promote a back-to-basics economic agenda, which would be the best way to give consumers and small businesses the best and fairest opportunities. A back-to-basics approach means knowing where government has a role to play and where it doesn't; making sure that your competition policy is right, instead of prioritising crony capitalism, as Labor has done; ending waste, rather than spending $40 million worth of taxpayer dollars on a spin unit to sell a broken promise; and sensible and flexible industrial relations laws that support hardworking Australians, not putting union officials back in charge.

The coalition believes that giving people opportunities to get ahead and realise their aspirations will in turn create opportunities for others, including jobs and investment across the Australian economy. Those opposite will want to continue to divide along class lines, fuelling the politics of envy. Instead, the coalition will continue to support aspiration, opportunity and prosperity for all Australians. We have a proven record of driving strong competition policy and supporting small businesses. The former coalition government delivered competition reforms, including the default market offer, establishing the food and grocery code of conduct, legislating to address energy market misconduct and establishing the payment times reporting framework. We also delivered significant backing for Australia's 3.7 million small and medium businesses. This included reducing the small business company tax rate, extending the instant asset write-off and establishing the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman. As the next election approaches, the coalition will go to the polls with more strong and effective competition policy aimed at delivering better consumer outcomes and boosting productivity in our economy, because the coalition believes that competition policy in this country should support small business owners and empower consumers, not empower lobbyists and big corporations.

The coalition has circulated an amendment standing in my name, to be deliberated on in the committee stage of this bill, which seeks to require an independent review to be conducted after the passage of this bill and after a two-year operation of the actual scheme. That suggestion is to be found in the submissions and contributions of the many stakeholders that made a contribution to the committee inquiry on this bill. We trust that it is uncontentious and will enjoy the support of the government and other crossbench senators when we get to it tomorrow afternoon.

Barbara Pocock (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak to the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Fair Go for Consumers and Small Business) Bill 2024. Look around us: Australia is in a cost-of-living crisis. We heard last week that affordable housing is beyond the reach of people in all of our capital cities. We've heard in the supermarket prices inquiry that 88 per cent of people in Australia are worried about the cost of food and groceries. Food and housing are essential goods. We cannot live without them. The cost-of-living crisis is pushing millions of people into poverty. It's causing untold harm and suffering in our society. It's making people homeless and causing people to be trapped in debt. Big corporations are fuelling the cost-of-living crisis. Coles and Woolies are driving up the cost of food, and banks are reaping massive profits through making people pay more and more on their home loans. Energy companies are making huge profits on higher and higher energy bills, and in this context Australians would expect their government to be actively working towards relieving pressure and directly bringing the cost of living down. Instead we get this bill that just tinkers around the edges.

Labor's plan to tackle the cost-of-living crisis is just not up to the task. What the government could be doing right now to help Australians with the cost of living is supporting the Greens' Competition and Consumer Amendment (Divestiture Powers) Bill 2024. This bill would give the ACCC powers to break up big companies like Coles and Woolworths if they're found to have misused their market power. The Greens will always back people over corporations. We need to give our courts and competition regulators the power to smash the supermarket duopoly and other price-gouging corporations across the economy.

The Australian economy lacks competition, and the problem is getting worse. Nowhere is the issue of lack of competition more stark than in the supermarket sector, with Coles and Woolworths engaged in a duopoly that holds a massive 65 per cent of the market share. According to former ACCC chair Professor Allan Fels, Australia's grocery sector is amongst the most concentrated in the world. It's more concentrated than in comparable countries, including the UK, Germany and the US. It's clear that greater competition reduces supermarket profits. At its most recent full-year results, Coles posted $1.1 billion as its full-year profit, while Woolworths lifted its annual profit to $1.6 billion. Professor Fels has found that high market concentration has resulted in supermarket profits that are higher than they would be in a competitive market.

Market concentration impedes competition and is a massive drain on the economy as a whole. It reduces productivity growth, it slows innovation, it impacts on the quality of products available and it leads to higher inflation through excessive prices. Monopolies and oligopolies are bad for consumers, they're bad for workers, they're bad for suppliers and they're bad for the economy more broadly.

When a corporation has an excessive share of the market, they can abuse their power in four different ways. Firstly, they can hike prices for consumers well above what they need to cover costs. Secondly, they can force suppliers to reduce their prices but pocket the difference instead of passing it on to consumers. Thirdly, they can squeeze shop floor workers with increasingly poor wages and conditions while executives and major shareholders line their pockets with excessive profits. Fourthly, they can stifle innovation through their ability to acquire emerging startups or competitors or by blocking or frustrating their entry into a market.

Increased mark-ups and price gouging represent billions more profits in the hands of massive corporations while everyday people increasingly struggle to afford to pay for essential products and services like food, rent and health care. Every day this parliament refuses to act to rein in the power of big corporations with too much market power, more and more people skip meals, fall behind in their rent and mortgage payments and delay vital medical appointments. The Greens are listening to Australian consumers. We listened to them last weekend in the seat of Dunstan.

Consumers are reducing the amount of groceries they are buying. They are buying less fruit and vegetables, and some are going without essentials and skipping meals. In my home state of South Australia, the situation is dire. Adelaide has recorded the nation's biggest jump in food prices, with prices increasing by 16.4 per cent between 2021 and 2023. This is higher than in any other Australian capital city. In South Australia Foodbank has recorded a 57 per cent increase in families visiting their food hubs. Over half the people who visit Foodbank are people in paid employment—what we call the working poor: people who are working every day but simply cannot afford to pay the steep price of groceries. These issues underline the Select Committee on Grocery Pricing in South Australia, a committee chaired by my South Australian Greens colleague the Hon. Rob Simms. The Greens know that these big supermarket corporations are ripping off consumers, and we are holding them to account.

The system is broken for workers too. Take Coles, for example. While the Coles CEO rakes in millions each year, Coles workers can't even afford to shop at their own workplace, with staff skipping meals and shopping elsewhere. Without meaningful pay rises, workers are living in a situation described as close to modern poverty. Frontline supermarket workers are increasingly subject to abuse and to poor wages and working conditions, while the executives and major shareholders line their pockets with millions in excess profit.

The Senate Select Committee on Supermarket Prices, chaired by my colleague Senator McKim, has heard devastating evidence about the effects of the supermarket duopoly and their pricing and market power and the impacts on our farmers. One fruitgrower told the committee that family farms will be gone in 10 years because of supermarket practices. Several industry veterans have bravely stepped forward to voice their concerns. Xavier Martin, the President of the NSW Farmers Association, has rightly said that the food retailing market is not functioning properly and that we need to break up Coles and Woolies if they won't behave. There is a widening gap between wholesale and shelf prices, with consumers paying more at the checkout, and none of it flowing onto our farmers. Farmers are paid too little and shoppers are charged too much. Consumers, farmers and workers are at breaking point, and the government needs to take urgent action. It's clear that greater competition reduces supermarket profits and brings down prices for consumers.

The Australian Greens have introduced a bill in the Senate to give the ACCC the power to break up supermarkets. The giant supermarket corporations have had it their way for too long, and it's time that the interests of people took precedence over the profits of corporations. We need to stop supermarket corporations ruthlessly using their market power to gouge prices while raking in billions of dollars in profit. Giving our courts and competition regulators the power to affect the supermarket duopoly will help reign them in. It will have a powerful effect on the way they operate. The proposed powers in our bill could be used to require the sale of specific Coles or Woolworths owned supermarkets or liquor outlets or their supermarket home product lines to a local or international competitor.

The Prime Minister has dismissed divestiture powers as a Soviet Union policy, but this is not a controversial or a radical idea. The US has had divestiture powers for over 130 years since 1890, which have been used effectively to reduce the market power of companies in a range of industries, including the breakup of the AT&T Telephone monopoly in the 1980s. Former ACCC Chair Allan Fels says a divestiture power should be part of the toolkit for all competition laws everywhere in the world. Low-income households in particular are being harmed by this lack of competition and resulting higher food prices. Cost of living is one of the largest issues we know facing Australians right now. It was a top issue in the election in South Australia in the seat of Dunstan last Saturday.

Giant supermarket corporations have had their way for far too long, and Australians know that this must change. This is clear from the sheer number of inquiries and reviews into the supermarket sector at both the state and federal level. This Labor government needs to be more ambitious and willing to tackle the problem head on, but this bill we're considering tonight does not do that. The Greens do support this bill's creation of a new designated complaints function for consumer and small business groups to raise complaints with the ACCC relating to systemic market issues. However, it's just another example of the Labor government tinkering around the edges instead of taking the real, significant, meaningful action we need to address this problem. We call on the Labor government to take the side of the Australian people and join with the Australian Greens to support the creation of divestiture powers to break up the supermarket duopoly.

Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Fair Go for Consumers and Small Business) Bill 2024. The bill improves competition in the economy and supports consumers and small businesses. It leverages the success and powers of the ACCC, our world-leading regulator. This bill will establish a designated complaints mechanism for consumer groups and small-business advocates that are designated by the minister. It allows those groups—groups that see firsthand the significant and systemic market issues that consumers and small businesses face—to raise those issues faster and with priority to the ACCC. Importantly, the bill sets out that the ACCC must respond to complaints within 90 days. This is a fantastic change. It will result in better outcomes for consumers and small businesses. It will mean that the ACCC can be aware of issues and take action sooner, when action is required, so it is a very welcome change.

The Senate Economics Legislation Committee conducted an inquiry into the bill, and the support for this bill was overwhelming. Consumer groups overwhelmingly supported the bill, including the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, Choice, the Consumer Action Law Centre, the Consumers Federation of Australia, the Consumer Policy Research Centre, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, Super Consumers Australia and Energy Consumers Australia. They described it as a missing piece of the regulatory puzzle in addressing systemic and significant market issues. The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry supported the bill too. They described it as a much-needed mechanism, noting that there is no existing process for small businesses or consumers to lodge a complaint with the ACCC and have a response be required. The Australian Food and Grocery Council commented that the bill would be well received in the food, beverage and grocery manufacturing sector. Similarly, the Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia noted that this would provide an important channel for members and customers to bring attention to important issues that they face. The Western Australian Small Business Development Corporation said that this bill would empower small-business advocates to expedite assessments of issues and fast-track recommendations for action.

This is an important piece of the puzzle, as I said, but it is just one example of the fantastic work the government is doing to support consumers and address competition issues in our country. We've also increased penalties for corporations engaging in anticompetitive behaviour from $10 million to $50 million to deter unfair activity. We have strengthened protections against unfair contract terms to ensure that there's a level playing field for both small businesses and consumers. Dr Craig Emerson has been appointed to lead the review of the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct to ensure that the supermarket sector is working as it should. We have also established a competition taskforce within Treasury that is made up of competition experts to produce practical policies to boost competition and fuel wage growth in this country. This bill is just one piece of the puzzle in terms of improving competition and consumer protection settings in Australia and making sure that consumers and small businesses get a fair go.

In conclusion, it's great that the parliament will be supporting this bill.

Kerrynne Liddle (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Child Protection and the Prevention of Family Violence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The intent of the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Fair Go for Consumers and Small Business) Bill 2024 is to improve the ACCC complaints process. It is a one-schedule amendment to establish a new designated complaints function. That amendment gives the relevant minister the power to appoint entities as 'designated complainants' whose designated complaints must be assessed and responded to by the ACCC within 90 days. The ACCC may take further action in relation to a designated complaint if the complaint relates to significant or systemic market issues that affect consumers or small businesses. It's far from perfect. The coalition is supportive, though, of policy that can have a positive impact.

The bill has the potential to increase efficiency in the complaints process. Those of us who have actually run a business and had customers and clients know the value of certainty and a timely response. As businesses suffer during the Albanese government's management of the economy through a cost-of-living crisis, this is a necessary measure. When deciding if an applicant shall be regarded as a designated complainant, the minister must take into account two key considerations. The first is the applicant's experience and ability in representing the interests of consumers or small businesses or both in relation to a range of market issues that affect them. The second is the extent to which the applicant will act with integrity. That's a good thing. However, it is reliant on fair and reasonable use of ministerial power.

The opposition will not be providing the government with unfettered powers. The bill must not be used as a chance for the government to reward its union paymasters or its favourites. The critical unknown is who the Albanese government will appoint to these positions. It will demonstrate how much integrity this Labor government has in its election promise to protect and empower the interests of small business. Even the National Farmers' Federation, the peak national body representing farmers and more broadly agriculture across Australia, is calling for transparency on such appointments as well as greater public guidance. As much progress as this bill could potentially make, I'm doubtful the Albanese Labor government will be able to maximise and make the appropriate use of it. Like a painful repeat cycle, over promising and under delivering is the hallmark of this government.

This bill does not reverse the impact of this government's bad economic decisions nor does it claw back a solid, sensible economic agenda, and, as a consequence, Australians will continue to suffer. The best way to give a fair go to customers and small business is to reduce the costs of goods such as input costs, freight, importation costs and utilities. Since the Albanese government came into government with the help of the Australian Greens, the cost of mortgages has gone up. The cost of food has gone up by nine per cent, housing by 12 per cent, insurance by 22 per cent, and gas is also up by 27 per cent.

Electricity is one of the main increasing costs. I'm not sure what communities or people you talk to when you claim electricity prices are going down. In who's world is the price of electricity going down? Well, it's not in South Australia and it's not in households, it's not in the business community and it is not in industries. This government likes to speak volumes, but jetting into Darwin while avoiding the issues in Alice Springs indicates a characteristic of avoiding exposure to those who are likely to tell you what you do not want to hear.

So how can there be trust that Labor will progress the issues based on what is fair rather than what suits its agenda and that Labor will use that ministerial discretion to maximum effect without fear or favour? The backbone of our economy are the small and family businesses, which are undeniably in a worse position since the Albanese government came to power. Australian small businesses employ more than one million people and add $500 billion to the national GDP. Small and family businesses are employers of Australians. They are hurting right now and the people they employ are also hurting.

We know Australians are paying more tax than when Labor won the 2022 election. We know Australians have paid more for just about everything since then. Fast efficient progression of complaints, if done right, of course will have a beneficial impact. Lifeline told me just last week the number of calls to their crisis phone and text lines has gone up due to issues of family and domestic violence, substance misuse. Australians, more and more of them, as consumers and customers, are struggling with the cost of living and they are on the end of Lifeline's phone and text lines. Appointments for financial services are in extraordinary demand. People need complaints dealt with more efficiently because they are the beneficiaries when it is done right. Australians need competition policy responses that empower consumers, whether they are wholesale or retail consumers, wherever they connect in the supply chain. This government doesn't understand that, when it increases the cost of doing business, it is always going to hurt more and more people.

More government intervention is the hallmark of Labor governments. Rolling out more red tape is not economic good management; it just adds more cost to doing business and it is the consumer that pays. While Australians are counting their dollars and cents to make ends meet, my colleague Angus Taylor in the lower house has discovered the Albanese government has added $209 billion in spending since it came to power. That is more than $20,000 of extra spending for every single household. There has not been an increase in real wages. Australians know that. They know that because their dollar does not buy more; it buys less.

This Albanese government is proving what we were saying before they were elected with the support of the Australian Greens—that is, when Labor runs out of money, they come after yours. Labor tells you every single taxpayer is better off by $15 under its tax reform backflip, but bracket creep and cost of living means this simply isn't true. It's impossible to be true under Labor's economic mismanagement.

It was never going to be easy under Prime Minister Albanese, and here we are. Everything is harder, more uncertain and more expensive under this Albanese government. Australians know it is the coalition that is better at delivering good consumer outcomes, supporting strong competition policy, supporting small and family businesses and, in turn, encouraging hardworking, aspirational Australians. The coalition will always advocate for lower, simpler, fairer taxes and will always and unashamedly fight for hardworking Australians through fiscal policy that provides aspiration, opportunity and prosperity for all Australians.

In the federal seat of Boothby, in my home state of South Australia, just this month there was yet another story of pain from the people running businesses that put money into the pockets of Australians and into government coffers. Boothby businesses are desperate. An industrial workshop in Boothby shared that it is worried it can't survive with the increasing cost of doing business. The owner is exasperated. His dreams, hopes and aspirations are being killed by this Albanese government's handiwork, with no policy relief in sight.

While those opposite focused on their failed $400 million Voice referendum, made big announcements with delayed delivery and broke promise after promise, hardworking Australians, including nearly four million businesses and many millions of Australians who rely on small and family businesses for their jobs, saw and heard that the Labor Party was not focused on them. While they waited for you to turn your attention to them, their cost of living and of doing business went up and up and up.

In Boothby I'm talking about a business that survived Labor's 1990s so-called 'recession we had to have', a business that survived COVID shutdowns, a business that's been going since the 1960s, a business now unlikely to survive this Albanese government. In the business owner's own words: 'Everything is out of control. Everything costs more money. The rising cost of power is through the roof. I will have to close.' It is devastating to hear those words from somebody who built a business based on aspiration and expected a reward for hard work. It's not a business that can be dismissed as one with a bad business plan; this is a business that likely won't survive the Albanese government's bad economic plan.

Another Boothby example is a local food-processing company trying to look after its customers without passing on costs, but it's becoming increasingly difficult to do that. In another example, a homewares and fashion business owner is now working on the register at Brighton even when ill to ensure the doors stay open, but she told me that that's unsustainable. She should be working on the business, not in it, but, because of the Albanese government's economic plan, she can't. She told us that, where previously she spent thousands at wholesale markets, she now can't do that without cash flow, nor can she hold stock while her customers are mostly looking for sale items. That's the reality of running a business under this Labor government.

I know most of you on the other side of this chamber have a lifetime of working with unions, in parliament or both, but those of us who have established and run businesses know that businesses exist to make profit. There has to be reward for hard work and reward for responsibility; otherwise, why would you do it?

Increasing power bills are a frequent conversation in South Australia because in South Australia the average wholesale price in 2023 was amongst the highest in Australia. South Australians know it. Australians too know they are paying more for power. SA Power Networks, the single power distribution network for my entire home state, has seen a $696 cumulative increase in power bills under this government. That's a more than 33 per cent increase. For a Prime Minister that promised 97 times during the election campaign to cut every Australian's power bills by $275, there are many millions of Australians who didn't see that happen. Customer complaints have risen by 42 per cent over the same period, but you don't need a complaints mechanism to tell you something is very wrong. Just get on with fixing it.

Since the last election, power bills have risen by a cumulative $1,288 for small businesses. So what has the Albanese government done? The evidence is clear. It's not much, and it's certainly not fast enough. People are struggling now. Business is struggling now. Industry is struggling right now. Talk of hydrogen plants and more windfarms does nothing for the here and now. As I acknowledge this bill—it makes amendments to establish a new designated complaints function—I have low expectations for the capability to actually deliver. We know how you honour your promises: you just don't. We know that you are big on announcements but abysmal on delivery. The only shining light in this bill is that it will have minimal financial impact—or so you tell us.

Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Fair Go for Consumers and Small Business) Bill 2024. As my colleagues have indicated, including Senator Liddle, we will be supporting the bill, with some amendments. In short, this bill introduces a single scheduled amendment to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, enabling the minister to designate entities as designated complainants, allowing them to escalate complaints to the ACCC and receive a response within 90 days. Naturally, the coalition will be closely watching to see who the minister approves. This must not be used as another chance for the government to simply appoint and reward Labor Party friends or union paymasters. I note, in the designated complaints consultation phase of the bill, that the National Farmers Federation made a submission. In part, the NFF said:

The NFF supports the introduction of a clear complaints mechanism that enables designated small business advocates to submit a complaint to the ACCC where they have evidence of a significant or systemic market issue that affects consumers or small businesses in Australia.

They go on to say:

The proposed scheme contains positive elements that should encourage greater use of the designated complaints process.

The Farmers Federation also supports the proposed transparency and reporting requirements of the proposed scheme. We've got to get the basics right though.

Consumer and small-business advocates have also emphasised the necessity of a consumer complaints framework. I'm glad to see this government is finally listening to the small-business community. It has taken them a while. They need to listen a lot more, but it's good to see that they're at least showing some willingness to listen.

Up until now, all the government has done is show a deaf ear when it comes to listening to the concerns of small businesses. We saw that on full display with the latest industrial relations changes and reforms. It is evident right throughout their leadership of the economy since being elected that they are not giving due consideration to small businesses. As I said, this was most evident in Labor's new industrial relations laws, which will see trade unions having unfettered access to small businesses, a space that many small businesses, certainly those that have only been in business for the last couple of decades or so, have not seen. If you were in business in the seventies, or you saw it, and you're still around in business, you're seeing what was very strong and evident back then now return here in the business landscape across Australia.

When I visit small businesses, which I try to do as often as I can when I'm back, not here in this place—we get on the ground where the real people are—we see that these businesses are doing it tough. Whether it's getting access to reliable supply chains, getting access to staff or the willingness of people turning up to work or finding people with the skills that are necessary to do the jobs, small businesses are finding it incredibly tough. They are. We're seeing that this government is tying them up time and time again in red tape and overburdensome compliance, and it's demonstrating that it's not really in touch with small businesses' needs. So, when we come back to this debate, I look forward to raising these issues further and ensuring that we have a proper debate.

Debate interrupted.