SUBJECTS: Creeping Acquisitions, Trade Practices Act, FuelWatch
The Assistant Treasurer, Chris Bowen, wants to help small companies who are feeling the heat from major corporations who want to take them over. Mr Bowen has put out a discussion paper on what are called 'creeping acquisitions', where a major corporation takes over a number of smaller players in individual transactions. The Minister spoke a short time ago to our chief political correspondent Lyndal Curtis.
CHRIS BOWEN:
The discussion paper that I've released today deals with two options, to deal with it. I will get feedback from retail and consumer groups to assess which option we should go with and we'll implement it as we promised to do.
LYNDAL CURTIS:
Is it possible to say whether this is a problem at the moment or it's simply a worry for people?
CHRIS BOWEN:
I think it is a worry; I think the ACCC, for example, has been concerned for some time that they are, in some cases, involved in decisions about whether a store can be acquired. Well they may as well have proper legal backing to do so and certainly it's much better all round if the law is clear and the powers of the ACCC are enhanced.
It is a particular worry for the smaller, independent grocers who feel that they don't always get a fair go when stores are up for sale.
So it's appropriate that we put these issues on the table and we get the feedback, but we will implement a creeping acquisitions law as we promised we would do.
LYNDAL CURTIS:
You say it's a worry at the moment. Isn't the bigger problem in the grocery sector not acquisitions, but a major player opening a store in a market where a smaller operator is already there and simply overwhelming them?
CHRIS BOWEN:
Well, that's why we need to have a range of policy responses. That's why today section 46 reforms for the Government will pass the House of Representatives, which make it easier for the ACCC to prove our predatory pricing case is a very important thing, which the previous Government refused to do, which the ACCC have been calling on for a long time.
So creeping acquisitions is just one of the policy mechanisms we have in place.
LYNDAL CURTIS:
You also have charge of FuelWatch - the Opposition said it wont vote for it; Independent Nick Xenophon said he wont vote for it. Is the reality you just don't have the numbers to get it through the Senate when it's put in?
CHRIS BOWEN:
Well look there's always discussion and negotiation that goes on with any legislation that goes through the Senate. I think it's remarkable that we have an election in Western Australia on Saturday where the Liberal Party is promising to keep FuelWatch and have said that they think it works and they're not proposing any changes, which shows the hypocrisy of the Federal Liberal Party.
LYNDAL CURTIS:
But if Senator Nick Xenophon won't vote for it then that means you don't have enough numbers doesn't it?
CHRIS BOWEN:
We've been talking to Senator Xenophon, he said he won't vote for it in it's current form. There's always discussions and negotiations that go on in these things, but it will be very difficult to pass FuelWatch through the Senate, there's no doubt about that, but it's a very important reform which will give consumers a lot more information and introduce transparency into the petrol market.
You've got the situation where the ACCC says we have 'as close to collusion as you can get, in the petrol market, with it still being legal' and the response of the Federal Opposition is 'that's fine, no worries. We're not going to do anything about it'. Well that's not acceptable to the Government and we'll be arguing the case vigorously.
LYNDAL CURTIS:
So where are the prospects of changing the legislation to get Senator Xenophon on board?
CHRIS BOWEN:
As I say, I've had a discussion with Senator Xenophon and I'll continue the same with Senator Fielding and I'll continue right up until it goes to a vote in the Senate I'm sure.
The Assistant Treasurer Chris Bowen speaking with our reporter Lyndal Curtis in Canberra.