Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister to the Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Normally we get the dorothy dixers from this side of the chamber, but I will happily accept this one from the member for Fenner. I welcome his late conversion to the issue of access to information for independent repairers. As I said in a speech on 4 May, a number of weeks before the member for Fenner belatedly made a non-news announcement, the government has announced that we are progressing a package to ensure that there is mandatory access to information for independent repairers. Why is it important to put the politics aside? It's important because we know that, as a consumer, as an owner of a vehicle, if you have a mechanic or a repairer that you know and you trust—someone perhaps who has repaired your cars for a number of years, someone who you implicitly know is going to do a good job, treat you fairly and do the job in a way that you're happy with—you want to be able to continue having your cars and future vehicles (perhaps new vehicles that you purchase) serviced or repaired by that individual. We know the issue at present is that, particularly with technological advances in the automotive industry, often there are barriers to those independent repairers being able to repair those cars due to the lack of information that is now often provided by overseas manufacturers. So the government has been working very closely with the Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association, and it was at their conference on 4 May in front of many hundreds of individuals that I announced the government's view on this. We've had a working group working towards this mandatory scheme for some time.

I must say, when the member for Fenner made his announcement some weeks later, I was getting perplexed text messages from a number of the many hundreds of people that were in that audience saying: didn't the government announce this a number of weeks ago? Of course, they were correct. However, we very much welcome the member for Fenner's late conversion on this issue. I'm very pleased that, when the government progresses this package, he will enthusiastically support it—for that, I'm very grateful. This is going to be another initiative of this government that, sadly, the member for Fenner, while he was a member of a former government, was unable to address in six years. We're very pleased that we're on the same page on that.

Throughout the space of not only the independent repairers but automotive dealers, this government is working on a number of ways to ensure that Australians who are involved in sales or distribution—particularly overseas manufactured vehicles—Australians and businesses that employ Australians, and businesses who support the sale of those vehicles in Australia are treated fairly by overseas manufacturers. In the end, it's those businesses—those dealers, those repairers, those mechanics and those panelbeaters—who are the Australian small business owners who are paying taxes and employing Australians. They deserve to have a level playing field and to be able to service their customers in a way that's most advantageous for customers. That is consistent with this government's approach of putting consumers first and, of course, ensuring that our plan for a stronger economy, more economic growth and increased jobs and increased wages is supported in every single decision we make. Whether it is in the space that the member for Fenner raised in relation to independent repairers, small business taxes or personal income taxes, it is about: how do we ensure the strength of our economy? How do we ensure opportunities are created for young Australians to get ahead? In the end we know that, if we create that environment, Australians have the ingenuity, the entrepreneurialism, the capacity and, dare I say, the aspiration to do that. When they do, as a government, we have everything we need resources-wise to provide them with the services they've rightly come to expect—and not just to give them the services that they expect but to go above and beyond and provide even more to make our country the best possible place to live.

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