Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Totally, as the Minister for Human Services said. I would now like to turn to the matters raised by Senator Stephens in relation to the Federal Magistrates Court, particularly section 46 of the Trade Practices Act. From the evidence given to the committee, it is interesting that, in relation to these matters, there seems to be a notion, an assumption by some, including Professor Zumbo, that there are no costs associated with appearing before the Magistrates Court. This was the secondary boycotts matter we were inquiring into recently. There is a notion that you can just run off to the Federal Magistrates Court and have a duty solicitor there and it does not cost you anything—and they can do exactly what the Federal Court can do and exactly what the ACCC can do. What a load of patent nonsense! There were costs associated with all this.

In 2006 we amended the Trade Practices Act to enable the Federal Magistrates Court to consider unconscionable conduct under part 4A of the act and the contravention of industry codes under part 4B, which has obviously assisted small business in bringing these actions in court. This includes the ability of the Federal Magistrates Court to accept evidentiary findings, as permitted under section 83, in relation to matters for which it has jurisdiction. Senator Stephens also referred to creeping acquisitions. The Dawson review examined this in detail and concluded that section 50, in its current form, is adequate to enable the ACCC to consider creeping acquisitions. There is nothing in the wording of section 50 that would permit a merger acquisition of any size that would result in a substantial listing of competition in the market.

My other colleagues want to talk on this bill so I will not continue much longer. But what I will say to the Senate is that this is part of a comprehensive package of amendments to the TPA that this government is frankly quite proud of. We had the Dawson act, the Trade Practices Legislation Amendment Act (No. 1) 2006, this bill, the cartels bill, the Trade Practices Amendment (2006 Measures No. 2) Bill and the secondary boycotts bill. Of course, we have the cartel matter as well. This is a comprehensive approach to an issue that has been here for a long time. Our commitment to small business is clearly evidenced by the ministry. The last Labor government did not have a minister for small business until, from recollection, five or six years into its term. What a remarkable legacy that is.