Small businesses in Macarthur will now find it easier to fight anti-competitive actions by the big end of town after Labor successfully legislated to give small business support when they need to defend their rights in court.
The federal member for Macarthu8r, Dr Mike Freelander, says currently, small businesses are less likely to seek help from our court system to fight anti-competitive behaviour.
Big businesses have deep pockets and armies of lawyers, so the risk of small businesses being bankrupted by legal fees is stopping smaller players taking legal action to defend themselves.
He says Labor’s Small Business Access to Justice policy will level the playing field by allowing a small business to request a ‘no adverse costs order’ early in a court case.
If the judge decides that the case is in the public interest, the small business won’t have the risk of paying the other side’s costs if they lose.
Dr Frelander says Labor has been pushing for this change for years.
“We announced it in the 2016 election. We put it forward as a Private Senators Bill in 2017, when the Coalition voted against it. The Coalition again voted against Access to Justice in the Senate in February 2019,’’ he said.
“The Coalition finally backflipped, not because they want a fair deal for small business but because Labor won the support of the crossbench and numerous Nationals MPs.
“This is just one way that Labor is backing small business,’’ says Dr Freelander.
“We will ensure big business cannot bully smaller ones with unfair contracts.
“We will make sure that complaints about consumer rip offs are addressed and give the competition watchdog enough money to challenge wrongdoers in court,’’ he said.
