Submission to the Inquiry into the Treasury Legislation Amendment (Small Business and Unfair Contract Terms) Bill 2015

As outlined in previous submissions, the Business Council’s view is that the Bill is not the preferred way to meet the stated policy objective of giving small businesses confidence that standard contracts they enter into are fair and reasonable, and risks are allocated efficiently.

The Business Council would prefer that the government pursue light touch or non-regulatory options that are more efficient and consistent with the government’s deregulation agenda.

Notwithstanding our preference for an alternative policy approach, there is room to improve the certainty and clarity of the current Bill, and address the regulatory overreach in the current Bill, which goes beyond the government’s pre-election commitment on unfair contract terms.

This submission restates the Business Council’s recommendations for clarifying provisions of the Bill, and bringing it into better alignment with the government’s pre-election commitment.