27 March 2014

Interview with Ross Greenwood, 2GB Money News

Note

Subjects: Parliamentary standards, question time, red tape and the competition review

ROSS GREENWOOD:

We were told we were going to get better parliamentary standards, particularly around question time but today was not the best example of what was hoped for.

BRUCE BILLSON:

It was an ugly day – no question about it and it seemed as though Labor went into question time today with the specific and singular tactic to be as disruptive as they could be. Speaker Bishop tried to ensure the standing orders were upheld today but there was plenty of squeals and screams like banshees, and shrill objection from the other side. Really, it’s a matter of paying respect to the standing orders, recognising the Speaker has a difficult role and getting on with the important business of governing the nation, creating jobs and improving opportunities.

But there was none of that today, especially after Tony Burke went and backgrounded and briefed journalists and said its game on and hunting season for the Speaker. He then came up with this ‘spontaneous’ motion of no confidence and guess what? There was a fully prepared speech which was good to go. It was completely contrived, completely ridiculous and a misuse of the Commonwealth’s resources.

ROSS GREENWOOD:

I want to go to one thing, the red-tape repeal, which has occurred this week and is clearly in the interests of Australia. It should at least be applauded and supported by both houses and parties inside our parliament. Yet the real difficulty since the last federal election is that your government has had a genuine problem in being able to pass any legislation through both houses because you’ve been really obstructed in the Senate, almost at every turn.

It may change from 1 July, but really if you can’t get some genuine changes through including the mining tax, the repeal of the carbon tax then it’s going to make it almost impossible to be able to govern, given the current situation.

BRUCE BILLSON:

There seems to be this default position of obstruction and opposition, particularly in the Senate where Labor and the Greens, that marriage that did so much damage to Australia in the last parliament, is back together again. They are opposing measures that were clear policy commitments that we took to the electorate and were well embraced by the community.

We are trying to reduce red-tape, especially for the small business community, who are time poor and are drowning under a sea of compliance burdens and red tape costs. Even simple measures like removing the pay clerk role for the paid parental leave scheme, which Labor during the election campaign acknowledged was not justified for business to be managing this process, they are now opposing the repeal of that obligation and therefore denying $44 million of regulatory cost savings. There is just no logic to it. It seems to be the goal of the Labor party and the minor party alliances, to be as disruptive as they can be, hoping that will bring discredit to the government when it is really damaging our nation, our efforts to create jobs and our prospects for the future.

ROSS GREENWOOD:

I think that’s where people do get frustrated. If government has been elected in and has fairly been elected in, then ultimately you would have to think that they would be able to govern, no matter whether you agree with what they are doing or not. You’d have to imagine that is the way it should be. I want to go to something else today and that is you’ve named today a competition review panel to try and look at competition law.

There are all sorts of issues. I spent about four hours in court this week, as the two big supermarket chains Woolworths and Coles and the ACCC slugged it out over petrol offers. I know this is one of the key area’s you will look at and that is looking at key markets including but not limited to groceries, utilities and automotive fuel and whether changes to the scope of the competition commission and related laws are necessary to enhance consumer, producer, supplier and retailer opportunities in those markets and their broader value chains. The whole point about this is also whether this new competition review panel is really going to be the one that can create and change competition and regulation in this country.

BRUCE BILLSON:

You and I have spoken about this before and your listeners on many occasions have phoned into the station, pointing to areas of concern where there seems to be very dominant players in the market, able to throw their weight around. In some cases taking out very efficient small businesses, not by merit but by muscle. There are areas in the economy that have changed quite dramatically yet the laws, the toolkit that’s available to support fair competition, was conceived a generation ago. Yet you and your listeners would be the first to recognise the economy has changed markedly over that time.

There is new technology in place, there’s new dominant players in certain sectors of the market place and the law itself, as you were probably drawing conclusions about it in the court cases this week, in some cases hasn’t lived up to the promise and the usefulness that the Parliament anticipated.

We’ve got to learn from that experience, recognise the economy and marketplace is changing and make sure we have a toolkit which supports efficient businesses, big and small, being able to thrive and prosper to create the jobs, productivity, competitiveness and the opportunities we need for the economy we have today and the one that’s coming. That’s why this work is important as it can contribute so many benefits to your listeners and the economy more broadly.

ROSS GREENWOOD:

Well I tell you what Bruce, the interesting thing here with the competition review panel is that blind Freddy can see there are many businesses that are drowning in red tape and really drowning in the fact that they can’t get a leg up and really create a prosperous business that will pay taxes, and also employ people in Australia, which is what you want your businesses to be easily able to do.

Now this committee you have put up, Professor Ian Harper we know him very well on the program from Deloitte Access Economics and also the inaugural chair of the Australian Fair Pay Commission. So he knows his way around.

Su McCluskey, the current CEO of Regional Australia Institute and a beef cattle farmer. There is Michael O’Bryan, Barrister at Victorian Law and a partner at Minter Ellison the law firm. Plus Peter Anderson, we know him very well here as he recently stepped down as the Chief Executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. So you’ve got a group who understand business at the coalface and they can give you, hopefully, the blueprint so you can create new legislation. As I say Bruce, you can do all of this but if you can’t get it through the parliament, then it begs the question do we need another election to try and clear the air?

BRUCE BILLSON:

Well that is always a possibility, but right now our focus is on getting on with the job of strengthening the economy, getting the budget back under control, getting rid of the carbon tax which is a dead weight on our businesses and a contributing cost to household budget pressures and getting on with the micro economic reform work we need so that our economy is geared up and ready to make the most of the opportunities we have to create more jobs and a stronger, more vibrant marketplace for consumers and the businesses working in it.

This team brings together great expertise. We will be putting out a discussion paper where your listeners, businesses big and small, consumer groups and advocacy organisations can make their case about where the law needs to be improved. We are also after input on whether we are addressing the right constraints, examples of anti-competitive behaviour and choke points in the economy.