Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I think we would all agree that if people are owed money, unless it is impossible for obviously issues of solvency, those contracts should be honoured. I think that would be a fairly logical approach. Looking at contractual requirements, I have a brief that tells me about unfair contract terms. I am unsure—and I'm afraid I haven't been able to ascertain—the extent to which that applies to the particular factual circumstance the senator outlined, but we've introduced legislation to make unfair contract terms illegal so that small businesses can negotiate fair agreements with larger partners. This issue has been raised over many years—the disparity in negotiating power between big business and small business. (Time expired)