Kim Beazley could not care less about helping Australia's small businesses.
In the Senate today, Beazley's Labor Opposition blocked a bill that would have given our competition watchdog, the ACCC, more power to take action on behalf of small business.
Labor blocked passage of the Trade Practices Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2000.
Labor changed the Bill so that unions could limit the secondary boycott provisions of the Trade Practices Act.
Labor members were all in favour of the Bill [see attached Hansard quotes]. But then the Unions put their foot down and told Kim Beazley to change his tune.
Protecting Australia's 3 million small businesses is not a Labor priority. Protecting the unions is what is important for the Australian Lazy Party.
Once again, the unions are directing what the Opposition does in Parliament.
And Australia's small businesses are the losers.
8 March 2001
Contact: Matthew Abbott, 02 62777230, 0413 076213
Labor supported the representative actions parts of the Bill in the House of Representatives.
- The ACCC already has the power to take representative actions under parts IVA and V of the act, and it makes sense to extend that to Part IV. This is a sensible amendment and both the Reid Committee and the Joint Select Committee on the Retailing Sector unanimously recommended it." -- Joel Fitzgibbon, Shadow Minister for Small Business, and Member for Hunter, 9 November 2000, [1.22pm].
- "It gives small business more reasonable powers to be able to seek redress and fairness in relation to unconscionable conduct. It is a most important bill, given the lost opportunities that the government has had since it came to power to amend and improve the Trade Practices Act. Small businesses are crying out for fairer competition laws." -- Kim Wilkie, Member for Swan, 9 November 2000, [5.08pm].
- "As I have indicated they certainly chose to support the measure that the Trade Practices Act be amended to give the ACCC the power to undertake representative actions and to seek damages on behalf of third parties under Part IV of the act - and that is great; Labor certainly supported that." --Steven Martin, Shadow Minister for Defence, Member for Cunningham 27 November 2000 [9.45pm].
- "We also see here an amendment to the legislation which will extend the ACCC's power to take representative actions under Part IV of the Trade Practices Act. For the first time this will enable the ACCC to recover damages on behalf of a small business person who has suffered as a result of a breach of Part IV of the Trade Practices Act. The ACCC currently has the power in Part IVA and Part V, so this change will help make the Act more consistent and help to protect small business people. Let me also indicate that I think these changes are very modest and that more action is needed in this area generally," -- Kelvin Thomson, Shadow Assistant Treasurer, Member for Wills, 28 November 2000 [4.51pm].
But, 21 minutes later, the Unions put their foot down and so the Opposition's Shadow Minister for Unions said:
- " .. the Labor Party do not believe that the secondary boycott provisions should be dealt with under Trade Practice law . It is out intention to move amendments to carve out the secondary boycott provisions from this bill so that it is clear that the wider, more extensive powers that the Bill affords the ACCC are not used as a backdoor method by the Government in its on going ideological campaign in the industrial relations community," -- Arch Bevis, Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, Member for Brisbane, 28 November 2000, [5.12pm].