Jerome Laxale:
Morning, everyone. It’s great to be here at Ryde Nissan on Victoria Road, right in the heart of Bennelong – a family business run and owned and operated by the Kaplan family for 40 years. Family businesses are something I know all about. I grew up in one, ran one, and to have a government announcing a really important reform today that backs small businesses in particular is something I’m really proud about. It’s why I got into politics. It’s to help people, it’s to help businesses, it’s to help families and today the announcement by the Minister to strengthen protections for small businesses, particularly against big multinationals, is something that we as a country should all be proud about.
We need fairer operating conditions for small businesses, and announcements like today will make things easier for this family business but also all those mums and dads who take a risk, who want to get into a franchising model or get into a small business, change careers. They need the protections so that they can succeed and that we can get through and grow our economy fairly.
Minister, thank you for choosing Bennelong as your destination to announce these really important reforms. We have so many small businesses here who will benefit from them today. I’ll hand over to you to announce them.
Julie Collins:
Thanks, Jerome. It’s terrific to be here with Jerome, the local member here in Bennelong, in Ryde, and it’s terrific to also have with me Senator Deb O’Neill, who chaired a Senate Committee into franchising. As well as, of course, I do want to thank James Voortman, of course, representing all the dealers around the country, and also – who couldn’t be with us today – Matt Hobbs from the Motor Traders [sic] Association. They have been talking to us and telling us the concerns around some of the franchise arrangements when it comes to motor vehicles in Australia.
So today, I’m very pleased to announce that an Albanese Labor government will extend franchising protections even further and for all of those franchises that are covered by the Franchising Code, we will extend unfair contract terms and unfair trading practices – after consultation with them before the end of the year. This will provide certainty for businesses across the country and, importantly, for small‑ and medium‑sized businesses as they negotiate with some of the big multinationals and overseas manufacturers.
This will provide these businesses with a more level playing field. Our government has been trying to level the playing field for small‑ and medium‑sized businesses as they engage with big businesses right across the country. We did it by legislating unfair contract terms, we’re doing it with this announcement today. We’ve also done it, of course, with our changes and reforms to payment times. We are the government of small business, and we want to continue to support small and family businesses. We know that the franchising sector employs more than half a million Australians. We know that it’s a significant contributor to our economy here in Australia. We know how important this sector is, which is why we want to level the playing field, why we want to make sure that franchisees and franchisors both get a fair go, and that’s what today’s announcement is all about. I’ll hand over to Senator O’Neill to talk about the impact of this decision and some of the concerns that have been raised with her during the Senate Committee hearings.
Deborah O’Neill:
Well, thank you very much, Jerome, for the welcome to your seat here, the beautiful seat of Bennelong, and to the Minister for this very, very important announcement. In 2019 – that far back – recommendations about changes to franchising were made. They were not responded to by the previous government. But since coming into government, the Albanese government, particularly with the leadership of the Minister, has been advancing the case to make sure that small businesses – and today, franchisees – are going to get the protections that they need just to be on a fair and level playing field and get on with the job of creating jobs and servicing Australians.
Australians everywhere, whether they purchase a cup of coffee at a branded shop that’s associated with a franchise or whether they purchase a car from a larger business, uses franchising believing that these small businesses are operating fairly. Sadly, even if you’re as big as a car dealer, the power that’s impacting businesses is absolutely unequal. I’m always going to stand up, every day, for Australian businesses over the practical action of pushing them down, that we can see coming from overseas manufacturers, particularly in the car dealer sector.
Just in this sector alone, those car dealers that create a supply network right across our entire country, employ 68,000 people. There are nearly 8,000 trainees and apprentices. If those businesses fail, our networks across the country fail, jobs are decreased, and people can’t get the service where they need it. That’s why the Albanese Labor government, with this very significant announcement today, will be ensuring that all those businesses that have long needed protection from the churning, the burning, and the running them out of business, essentially, from aggressive franchisors, will be a thing of the past. I’m delighted with this announcement, and I sincerely thank the Minister for her leadership in bringing it about. Thank you.
James Voortman:
Thank you. Well, it’s great to be here at Ryde Nissan today. Ryde Nissan is one of 3,800 new car and truck dealers located in towns and cities across Australia, and every one of those dealers will be incredibly grateful due to the announcement made today. Our members are in relationships with big, multinational automotive manufacturers, and those relationships can be mutually beneficial, but we’ve seen on occasion in recent years that those relationships have resulted in disputes; the Mercedes‑Benz case, the withdrawal of General Motors from Australia, and Honda are just some examples of those.
What is being announced today by the government has listened to the concern of dealers. We will now have unfair contract term protections for all of our members, which will enable us to negotiate better dealer agreements. We will now have protections against unfair trading practices, which will limit some of the worst behaviours in our industry. I would also just like to acknowledge the action that’s been taken today on the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard and the point of compliance and thank the government.
I’d like to thank the Small Business Minister, Julie Collins. I want to thank Senator Deborah O’Neill for her tireless advocacy on behalf of all franchisees and new car dealers over a long period of time. And I want to thank the local member, Jerome Laxale. So, thank you very much.
Collins:
Importantly, as part of our announcement today, we’re also providing the ACCC with more than $7 million to further enforce the Franchising Code. This is the Franchising Code that we updated and will be enforced from 1 April 2025. These changes were recommended, of course, from the review from Dr Michael Schaper, and I’m pleased to say that we’ll be providing the ACCC with the funds and the ability to enforce the new Franchising Code.
Journalist:
While you’re there, what’s gone wrong? Why have you needed to put these positions in place?
Collins:
Well, what we’ve seen, of course, is some large multinationals use the power imbalance to make it harder for small and family businesses to stay in the sector. It’s made it harder for them to support their local communities, to employ locals, and to provide services and products to locals. That’s what it has done.
We want to level the playing field here. We want to make sure that those small, family and medium‑sized enterprises have the ability to engage with some of the large overseas manufacturers, particularly in the case of car dealerships, on a level playing field.
What we’re announcing today, of course, won’t impact those that are already doing the right thing – and there are manufacturers doing the right thing – but unfortunately there are also some doing the wrong thing, and this is about making sure we level the playing field.
Journalist:
You keep saying ‘level the playing field’. Can you describe – what does that actually mean?
Collins:
Well, what it means is those big businesses who want to deal in Australia understand they have to do it, and they have to do it fairly. We want every Australian to have a fair go. We want the small business owner to have a fair go and we want the manufacturer to have a fair go. At the moment, that fair go is not equal in some cases, because some people are using their position of power in an unfair way. We want to make sure everybody gets a fair go.
Journalist:
Just on a couple of other issues while you’re there – childcare. Obviously, since last night’s Four Corners report, what’s the government’s response?
Collins:
I think every Australian will be very disturbed by what they saw last night, when it comes to some practices of some people in the childcare industry, last night. Our government, of course, is working with states and territories, and we’ll continue to do so, and we’ll do what is required to make sure that we clean up any of these types of practices that are happening in the childcare sector. It is appalling, what we saw last night, and I’m sure that all Australians are very concerned about some of the evidence and some of the footage that we saw.
Journalist:
So, what can the government actually do? How do we clean it up?
Collins:
Well, obviously, we need to work with state and territories, who regulate the industry. We obviously are a major funder of the industry in terms of the ChildCare Benefit that goes direct to parents, but it is regulated primarily by state and territory governments. We want to work with them to make sure that, of course, our children are safe. Every Australian wants our children to be safe.
Journalist:
Prue Car this morning said it was a federal government issue more because of the fact that you have the recommendation, or you actually have the rules in place, and you also are the biggest funder of a lot of these centres?
Collins:
Well, I think I’ve just said that we’ll work together with states and territories. We want to make sure that our children are safe and, as a federal government, we’ll do everything we can to keep our children safe.
Journalist:
A few other little issues – Peter Dutton’s call for a referendum on dual citizen terrorists?
Collins:
I think this is the second referendum that Peter Dutton’s called for. You know, last year, he wanted to have an election on tax cuts, now he’s saying we have to have a Budget before there’s an election. I mean, really, he is all over the place when it comes to his thought bubbles. I’ll leave Peter Dutton to explain his own thought bubbles.
Journalist:
With another one there, is he hypocritical on – the words here – ‘smashing’ the government on the cost of the Voice?
Collins:
Sorry, I missed that end of the question?
Journalist:
The cost of the Voice, the Voice Referendum.
Collins:
Well, as I said, Peter Dutton’s now called for 2 referendums. He seems to be all over the place when it comes to issues like this. I’ll really leave it up to him to explain his call for another referendum.
Journalist:
Simple. The last one I’ve got here is fruit and vegetables – what’s the cost Cyclone Alfred had and how will the government help there?
Collins:
Yeah, well, obviously, the Treasurer was out yesterday, talking about around a $1.2 billion cost to our GDP when it comes to Cyclone Alfred. When it comes to the impact on our primary producers, they’re still assessing some of the damage. We know, for instance, that it has impacted some sugar cane. We know that it has impacted some of our horticulture, so some of our fruit and vegetables. We also know that there may be some impact when it comes to dairy, so we’ve been keeping a close eye on that. Importantly, of course, our government – on the advice of the New South Wales government – we have jointly released some support for primary producers and small businesses. We’ll continue to monitor the situation, but we know, of course, that some of the food supply can be impacted by natural disasters.