The Harper review recommendation to axe the role of Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's small business commissioner and deputy chairman, Dr Michael Schaper, is a bad move, says the nation's biggest small business lobby.
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In its final submission to the competition policy review, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) said it disagreed with the recommendation made by Professor Ian Harper and his panel to abolish the small business commissioner role at the competition watchdog.
Dr Schaper was previously president of the Small Enterprise Association of Australia & New Zealand.
"The role of the Small Business Commissioner is vital to maintain the existing momentum of the ACCC's small business activities," ACCI's final submission said.
ACCI and a raft of industry bodies have already provided draft submissions. In its earlier submission, ACCI said it supported the Harper review recommendation to remove restrictions on trading hours. The group suggests only having trading hour limits on Christmas Day, Good Friday and the morning of Anzac Day.
The group also agrees with Dr Harper's recommendation to change Section 46 of competition laws, which deals with the misuse of market power.
The proposed "effects test" in Harper's report would prohibit a business with substantial market power from engaging in conduct that has the purpose, effect or likely effect of substantially lessening competition. It's seen by some as being aimed at the big supermarket chains who have been criticised for the way they treat small suppliers.
But the small-business lobby group said there was a need for further legislative guidance on how the test would work in practice.
ACCI chief executive Kate Carnell said she hoped the government would be brave enough to implement Harper's proposed reforms, rather than put them in the too-hard basket.
"A new round of microeconomic reform is vital for sustainable economic growth in Australia," she said.
Her group's submission also welcomes the government's moves to extend unfair contract terms for small business contracts, but said the government needed to "reconsider the scope of the proposed legislative provisions".
The lobby group said the ACCC should also "pursue secondary boycott cases with increased vigour", saying the maximum penalties for secondary boycotts should be the same as those applying to other breaches of the competition law.
It also agreed with Harper's recommendation to create a new national competition body – known as the Australian Council for Competition Policy (ACCP) - and for the ACCC to make it easier for small business to access alternative dispute resolution schemes.
"Small businesses lack the financial and logistical resources to pursue any formal legal action on their own," the ACCI said in its submission.
The group suggests appointing a Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman. This new ombudsman should be given powers to perform investigations and refer disputes to authorities.
