Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

As I am sure the senator is aware, the government has conducted a widespread root-and-branch review of competition policy. I think it is the first root-and-branch review of competition policy in more than 20 years. Absolutely, the government does believe that strong competition laws are extremely important to our protect small businesses.

That competition policy review, known as the Harper review, has made recommendations to protect small businesses. It has made recommendations on a number of levels, including, as the senator has referred to, in section 46, the misuse of market power provision.

The government has considered the recommendations of that report. It has released a discussion paper and a further paper on the options for that reform, including the original Harper review but other elements as well. And I think it is very important to recognise here that there is not necessarily only one option to fix this issue. The Harper review identified issues with that particular section, but there are many different ways of fixing that.

One thing that I think is very important to point out here is that while the coalition is going through an open and transparent process to deal with this issue to help small businesses, medium-sized businesses and productivity throughout our economy, the Labor Party have no suggestions on the table. They have no options on the table to fix this issue. They are completely marching to the drumbeat of big business in this country, because they do not care to protect small businesses. They have no solutions on the table to help fix an issue that has been exposed, and the government is now considering how we might deal with that issue.