Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Finance (Senator Cormann) to a question without notice asked by Senator Whish-Wilson today relating to competition policy.

Over the last three years I have asked dozens of questions of Senator Cormann, and I have to say I have never seen him tap dance like he did today. These were fairly straightforward questions on a really important issue. Before I get into that, I have to say I was also deeply offended by his accusation that the Liberal Party was the best friend of small business, because I actually think it is the Greens. I want to spend a minute talking about that. We have led on small business issues in this parliament in the last three years. We have been out there calling for a small business tax cut, which we recently have seen. We worked with the Labor Party in the last government to get instant asset write-offs and loss carry-back provisions for small business. And of course we have been pushing to get reform to competition policy.

The Harper review has been released, and the government has been sitting on it. We are awaiting its response with bated breath, but we are not the only ones. We had a firm, clear policy going into the last election to support an amendment to section 46 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 and the introduction of an effects test. And I am not the only one; Senator Xenophon has been pushing for this for a number of years, and I understand that Minister Billson is a big fan of an effects test, and he has been out there talking to the media on this. My questions were fairly simple: could the minister update the Senate on where we are at and when they are going to bring legislation to the parliament? Fair enough—he cannot disclose exactly when that is going to be. But he did not even give an indication of whether it was going to be soon or how long the process would take. It was after the next two questions that I really felt that the minister was doing his best Fred Astaire. I asked what the impediments were to bringing in an effects test, and the minister provided no response at all.

Apart from the lack of political will on his side and the likelihood that the cabinet is split on this issue, the big impediment is that this effects test is designed to challenge a misuse of market power. It is designed to challenge the market concentration, for example, of the big supermarkets. We have all heard for years from a number of stakeholders about issues that small businesses have had, from farmers in the supply chain all the way through to contractors for distribution, and of course the effect on other retailers, especially when big supermarkets move into their area. So on one hand we have a minister standing here today saying that he is the best friend of small business, but on the other hand they are the best friend of big business too, and here we have a significant conflict of interest.

These policies are designed to help small business. We will not actually know how effective they are until they are used. Personally I do not think this effects test recommended by the Harper review goes far enough, and I am not the only one in that respect, but it is better than what we have got now. It is a good step forward. But it is obviously too much of a chasm to leap for a government that is falsely claiming to be the best friend of small business. If they were they would know that they have a unique opportunity now, unique in nearly 15 years of campaigning, for an effects test in competition policy. Because, as we have been constructive on some other issues in this parliament, if the legislation comes to the Senate and passes the House and it is a good, effective piece of legislation, the Greens will pass it. We could have in this country a new competition law, a policy for an effects test that at least gives the ACCC a much more powerful tool in the toolbox than it has now. It certainly would have an impact on small businesses across this country, at least in terms of confidence and an insurance policy.

I talked little bit about some of the stakeholders, and we have probably all seen them. They have been in the building this week. We need to be honest about these impediments. We need to have a discussion about it. I can see the political impediments being a cabinet that is split on this issue, because some have been effectively lobbied by big business. Others, like Minister Billson, are standing up for small business, but we need to have a discussion around the national interest and whether the competition policies we have now are detrimental to our economy. The Harper review, the government's own review, clearly said that it is time to bring the legislation up, and the Greens will help this government pass it for small business.

Question agreed to.