Craig Emerson (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Finance Minister on Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Dunkley for the questions and the manner in which he has approached this consideration in detail. By way of general background on the mediation services, obviously I think we would share the view of the coalition in preferring to head off disputes rather than letting them develop into fully blown problems in the courts. This is the better approach and that is why we have sought to rationalise the mediation services that are available under the various mandatory codes of conduct.

There is an extra emphasis on that first point of contact to see if we can resolve as many issues there as we can. You can then go into a formal mediation process where, if that does not work, the more formal legal processes have to take their course. We have found through the ACCC, for example, that the mediation services for franchising are of some value. The shadow minister knows that franchising is an area that tends to attract more controversy, misunderstandings and disputes. Anything that we can do to improve our performance in that area is a very important development.

Regarding the program funding, we have got expenses totalling $533,000 in 2010-11, $498,000 in 2011-12, $503,000 in 2012-13 and another $508,000 in 2013-14. What is not absolutely clear to me from the table is the extent to which this is total net new funding or a reallocation of existing funding. I will get back to you on that. I think that is the best way of handling that. Again, it makes sense to try to centralise, or at least coordinate, the mediation services and the skills associated with it under the various mandatory codes of conduct, and that is what we are trying to do.

The business names registration exercise is one of the 27 areas of regulatory reform under the national partnership agreement of the Council of Australian Governments to deliver a seamless national economy. The purpose of the business registration program is to move from eight state and territory systems to a single national system. We have been really encouraged by the cooperation of the states and territories here. I can relate to you the sorts of conversations that were held at the Council of Australian Governments meeting in July 2008 when we accelerated a number of these reforms after having identified them in around February 2008. We compressed some timetables and I remember premiers saying to me: ‘Craig, this is ridiculous. Why would we have all of our own different systems for registering business names?’ There was a lot of cooperation, and that is continuing with the Barnett government in Western Australia, so it is not a matter of political partisanship here. Everyone recognises that we need to put an end to this kind of rail-gauge economics.

I have heard the shadow minister say in the past that some of these reforms are really for bigger businesses and not for smaller ones, but I contend that new businesses that are setting up in Australia these days very often have a strong online presence. Once you have got an online presence, unless you are the Kosciusko Cafe in Cooma, you are probably trying to sell your goods and services across state boundaries.

By the way, the reduction in fees will be dramatic. I have not got the figures in my head, but if you were operating in every state and territory you would have to pay eight sets of fees. Now you will have to pay one, and that will be a very important reduction in red tape and fees. The money that you asked about is basically the Commonwealth putting up money early to get the process underway for this single national system of registration. I will prefer to get back to you about the apportionment of money and take that one on notice, but we did provide for this in the agreement to create a seamless national economy under the national partnership agreement.

The third set of questions you asked were on AUSTRAC. I am conscious of newsagents and other small retail outlets—for example, milk bars and 7-Eleven stores—where these transfers of moneys are an ancillary part of their activity. Where they are an ancillary part of their activity, they are not really making a lot of money out of the exercise. It may be, as much as anything, a matter of trying to attract a bit more foot traffic into the store or into the newsagent so people may buy some books or groceries. I am conscious of that and of the budget measure that involves a levy of $500, and $1.06, or a little over a dollar, per transaction. Can you let me take that one on notice. I have also met, as I suspect you have, with the relevant business interests there, and we will continue to engage in discussions. On the broader issue, I support the idea of a user-pay system for AUSTRAC but, as the Minister for Small Business, Independent Contractors and the Small Economy, we need to have a careful look at these impacts.

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