House of Representatives
Thursday 13 May 2021
I'll start by acknowledging all of the speakers and all their hard work. Following the member for Burt, I know how passionate he has been about this issue, as have been many speakers, because it is a pretty important issue. They say success has many fathers and failure is an orphan. Listening to this debate tonight it seems that everyone wants to claim a piece of the action. It is good to see that everyone is joining forces and supporting important local businesses in all our electorates. I want to pay special credit to the member for Fenner, who has really been the hero of this story in advocating and fighting for this. It is true that you can change things from opposition, and I am really pleased to have played a small role in this piece of legislation.
As we know, the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Motor Vehicle Service and Repair Information Sharing Scheme) Bill gives independent mechanics the right to access service and repair data at a fair commercial price. The bill is intended to 'promote competition between Australian motor vehicle repairers and establish a fair playing field' for independent operators competing with the large dealerships, so it's really the little guys versus the big players in the market. I'm really pleased to say that this parliament will be recognising some of the smaller operators, to ensure that they equally have a share in this important service to community, and supply chain issues for other businesses in the community.
Schedule 1 to the bill amends the Competition and Consumer Act 'to establish a scheme that mandates all service and repair information provided to car dealership networks and manufacturer preferred repairers be made available to independent repairers and registered training organisations to purchase.' This will, as we know, enable consumers to have those vehicles attended to by an Australian repairer of their choice who can provide efficient and safe services; encourage the provision of accessible and affordable diagnostic repair and servicing information to Australian repairers and to registered training organisations for training purposes; protect safety and security information about those vehicles to ensure the safety and security of consumers, information users and the general public; and provide a low-cost alternative dispute resolution mechanism.
During COVID, small and family businesses shouldered much of the financial burden during the pandemic and, sadly, many are still trying to find their feet. I want to make sure that the around 15,000 businesses in my electorate of Oxley know that we as a parliament—and myself, who is privileged to be their representative—will do everything we can to support small businesses. Small businesses are the backbone of the economy. Coming from a family-owned business, with my parents owning businesses for 30 or 40 years, I know how important it is government does everything it can do to make it easier for businesses to make a dollar. But it was often said in my family or within my Dad's business that earning the dollar was the easy part; keeping it was the hard part—that the dollars can come through the door but that it was important to make sure that you're spending them wisely, that your overheads are down and that there's healthy competition. That was always the case in my family's business as butchers in Brisbane.
The bill enables 23,000 independent Australian repairers to give their customers a better deal on service and repairs. As many speakers have said, it really is a win-win, because it puts money back into the pockets of car owners and brings more customers through the doors of small and medium businesses—which is particularly important now during the COVID period, when they need it most. We've all heard stories about local residents wanting to shop local, buy local, and perhaps not travel too far from where they are, and wanting to remain in their suburbs or villages across the regions, and this policy enables that to continue. So, whilst the genesis of the reports and changes that we're dealing with tonight perhaps started before the pandemic, I think the pandemic showed, more than ever, that people do want to support local businesses. They do want to support the people who support them in their local communities.
In the Oxley electorate there are 18 independent mechanical businesses. What they're telling me right now is they do need a level playing field to get the boost they so desperately need. They want access to the same technical information that car manufacturers make available to their authorised dealers and preferred repair networks. This, as we know, is an industry-specific auto dealership code. I'm delighted that the member for Macquarie has joined us in the chamber tonight, because she is a huge supporter of small business and I know has been a massive champion for her car dealers in the Blue Mountains and the Hawkesbury area. There are growing businesses right throughout that region.
I will take the chamber back to 2018, when I visited a local business in the Sumner precinct in my electorate. There is a large number of businesses and auto mechanics in the suburb of Sumner around Spine Street. It is well known that that is where you take your vehicle. There are smash repairs businesses and small businesses, and they do a great job and provide great services. I visited a business called Mr Spanner Automotive. This is a family business. Ian and his wife have run that business for many years. Back in 2018 I took the then Leader of the Opposition and then shadow Treasurer to sit down and meet with this business to hear what their difficulties were. It's a great family business in my electorate. We were able to meet with some of the mechanics: Ian, Grant, George and Luke, and some other people, and I'd like to say that this was part of that conversation that the federal opposition had. I was blown away after meeting with the delegation of mechanics in and around that area. The member for Moreton has got the large car dealers in his electorate—a huge, huge industry and development around that Rocklea precinct, which is the checkpoint before you arrive into the Oxley electorate. I know he has been a massive advocate for this policy. He has, perhaps, got the larger scale end of the matter and I have some of the smaller operators in my electorate. But with that visit to Mr Spanner Automotive I got it straight away. After meeting with those owners I understood straightaway exactly what they needed.
The only bit of negativity I want to put into this debate is that it did take a number of years—some four or five year—to make this happen. These businesses are a huge part of the economy. It's a massive contribution to the local economy, but also the broader car maintenance businesses and mechanics across Australia. So I'm really pleased to support this piece of legislation tonight.
I actually ran into one of those owners that I had the meeting with, with the organisation that was lobbying—I think Lesley Yates and her crew have done a fantastic job in advocating on behalf of their members. The AAAA organisation does amazing work in terms of representing their members. I met one of the mechanics who runs a business down in that Spine Street precinct at a Rotary Club of Jindalee meeting about two weeks ago and it reminded me that we had that meeting.
The wider sector and wider industry has welcomed this change in policy and this piece of legislation. James Voortman from the AADA, who I've had a lot to deal with over the years, has also welcomed this announcement tonight. We know that we made that commitment in 2018 to create a mandatory data sharing scheme. With the hard work of our shadow ministers, and all of the local, small mechanics and their representatives, I'm really pleased that the government has taken action.
We know that customers always go for value for money and best choice. Hopefully these changes tonight will ensure that. Congratulations to all of the local businesses, and many of them are small businesses, that have been fighting for this. It is a real win for the people who have been fighting—the little guy against the big companies—to make sure that they're getting a piece of the action, a slice of the pie so to speak, to make sure that their businesses continue to grow and thrive. This is a victory for their perseverance in fighting for their businesses. I'm looking forward to seeing a lot more businesses grow, a lot of businesses succeed and employ more mechanics and apprentices, so that they can continue to provide the wonderful service that they've done for many years.
