❓ A parliamentary question regarding the progress of the Fair Trading Amendment Bill 2018, its benefits for WA small businesses, and the reasons for delays in its implementation. The Minister's response includes political accusations and justifications for the bill.
AnsweredQoN 755Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
FAIR TRADING AMENDMENT
BILL — PROGRESS
755. Mrs L.M. O'MALLEY to the Minister for Commerce
and Industrial Relations:
I refer to the Fair Trading
Amendment Bill 2018. Can the minister please update the house on the progress
of the bill, the benefits it will bring to Western Australian small businesses
and why it has taken so long to bring these reforms to WA?
BILL — PROGRESS
755. Mrs L.M. O'MALLEY to the Minister for Commerce
and Industrial Relations:
I refer to the Fair Trading
Amendment Bill 2018. Can the minister please update the house on the progress
of the bill, the benefits it will bring to Western Australian small businesses
and why it has taken so long to bring these reforms to WA?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question.
I appreciate the opportunity to update the house on the progress of the bill.
The Fair Trading Amendment Bill 2018 will bring Western Australia's
fair trading regime up to date. The Fair Trading Act has not been amended since
it was introduced and brought into law in 2013, so in Western Australia our
fair trading system has missed out on a number of amendments that have been
introduced in the federal system. The federal system provides additional
protections for small business in dealing with other businesses, so unfair
terms in contracts of up to $300 000. I know that the member for Bateman, who
used to represent big businesses when he worked for the ANZ bank, which has
been shown to be criminally involved in stealing money from small businesses in
this country, does not like it when the Labor Party advocates on behalf of
small business.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Get back to the
question, minister.
Mr D.C. Nalder : You used to
like me to take you to the football. You loved the box.
The SPEAKER : Member for Bateman, I said do not bite.
Mr D.C. Nalder : He shouldn't
talk about me in the past.
The SPEAKER : I will talk
about you and I will call you to order for the first time. I gave you an
opportunity.
Mr D.C. Nalder : He's
out of order.
The SPEAKER : I call you to
order for the second time.
Mr W.J. JOHNSTON : Thank you
very much, Mr Speaker.
What has happened here is that
because of the inefficiency and incompetence of the former government, it never
updated Western Australia's Fair Trading Act to bring these benefits to
small businesses into this state. One of the decisions of our government was to
bring in the Fair Trading Amendment Bill 2018 to update our law so that small
businesses can be given these protections under state law that are available to
other businesses under federal law. That legislation is currently before the
upper house. It is with the Standing Committee on Uniform Legislation and
Statutes Review, and we look forward to the chair of that committee reporting,
because he was the minister who did not implement the law when he was in power
and failed to protect small businesses in this state.
We look forward to that legislation
coming back from that committee and having a rapid and speedy passage through
the other house so that we can deal with it in this house and bring those
protections to small businesses. As I outlined in this chamber on Tuesday, the
Labor Party is very interested in supporting small business. I know, indeed, as
the Premier said a moment ago, every day in this Parliament the Labor
government is trying to protect small business from the attitudes of the member
for Vasse, who says that we need to tilt the playing field in favour of big
business at the expense of small business, with her idea of having
24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week trading by large companies—that is,
24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week trading for the large supermarket retailers in
this state protected, which is the protected time available to small business.
But the member for Vasse wants those small businesses to have that unfair
competition at those special times that are currently available just to small
businesses. She wants to wreck the small businesses of this state, as does her
friend the member for Riverton.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members!
I appreciate the opportunity to update the house on the progress of the bill.
The Fair Trading Amendment Bill 2018 will bring Western Australia's
fair trading regime up to date. The Fair Trading Act has not been amended since
it was introduced and brought into law in 2013, so in Western Australia our
fair trading system has missed out on a number of amendments that have been
introduced in the federal system. The federal system provides additional
protections for small business in dealing with other businesses, so unfair
terms in contracts of up to $300 000. I know that the member for Bateman, who
used to represent big businesses when he worked for the ANZ bank, which has
been shown to be criminally involved in stealing money from small businesses in
this country, does not like it when the Labor Party advocates on behalf of
small business.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Get back to the
question, minister.
Mr D.C. Nalder : You used to
like me to take you to the football. You loved the box.
The SPEAKER : Member for Bateman, I said do not bite.
Mr D.C. Nalder : He shouldn't
talk about me in the past.
The SPEAKER : I will talk
about you and I will call you to order for the first time. I gave you an
opportunity.
Mr D.C. Nalder : He's
out of order.
The SPEAKER : I call you to
order for the second time.
Mr W.J. JOHNSTON : Thank you
very much, Mr Speaker.
What has happened here is that
because of the inefficiency and incompetence of the former government, it never
updated Western Australia's Fair Trading Act to bring these benefits to
small businesses into this state. One of the decisions of our government was to
bring in the Fair Trading Amendment Bill 2018 to update our law so that small
businesses can be given these protections under state law that are available to
other businesses under federal law. That legislation is currently before the
upper house. It is with the Standing Committee on Uniform Legislation and
Statutes Review, and we look forward to the chair of that committee reporting,
because he was the minister who did not implement the law when he was in power
and failed to protect small businesses in this state.
We look forward to that legislation
coming back from that committee and having a rapid and speedy passage through
the other house so that we can deal with it in this house and bring those
protections to small businesses. As I outlined in this chamber on Tuesday, the
Labor Party is very interested in supporting small business. I know, indeed, as
the Premier said a moment ago, every day in this Parliament the Labor
government is trying to protect small business from the attitudes of the member
for Vasse, who says that we need to tilt the playing field in favour of big
business at the expense of small business, with her idea of having
24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week trading by large companies—that is,
24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week trading for the large supermarket retailers in
this state protected, which is the protected time available to small business.
But the member for Vasse wants those small businesses to have that unfair
competition at those special times that are currently available just to small
businesses. She wants to wreck the small businesses of this state, as does her
friend the member for Riverton.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members!
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