THE Council of Small Business Australia (COSBOA) today congratulated the Chairman of the ACCC Rod Sims on again showing the mettle to confront the appalling behaviour of dominant businesses and taking them to court.

The ACCC has taken action against Woolworths for unconscionable conduct and the mistreatment of suppliers. This follows similar successful action taken in 2014 against Coles.

Peter Strong, CEO of COSBOA, stated: “The recent Innovation Statement from Malcolm Turnbull and Christopher Pyne will become hollow unless we as a nation can confront and defeat the enemies of innovation and the parasites of the business community, Wesfarmers and Woolworths.

“We need to give the regulator the power required to ensure this behaviour is stopped before it has time to cause greater damage and that can be achieved by strengthening Section 46 of the Competition and Consumer Act.  What is called ‘the effects test’ must be introduced with more rigor than what the Harper Report has recommended,” concluded Mr Strong.

COSBOA knows that individuals are suffering from this behaviour, people’s health is affected and ultimately Australian consumers suffer as retail diversity is removed. Due to the bullying by a very few big businesses the nation’s productivity is declining further as suppliers are inhibited from growth.

Peter Strong added: “This action shows again what COSBOA, its members and many others have said for decades, the behaviour of the duopoly is destroying businesses, people and productivity. The fact that Australia finally has an ACCC that does its job and doesn’t tug the forelock to big business is a godsend to innovation.”

Mr Strong concluded, “COSBOA will hold round table discussions on Section 46 early in the new year. We assure our members and the small business community that we will be firm, and where necessary very aggressive, to get fairness in place. We will match the bullying behaviour of these appalling companies with our own aggression and we will confront their misinformation with facts. Enough is enough.”

www.cosboa.org.au

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AUSTRALIAN retail sales grew 3.8 percent year on year to $24.6 billion in October 2015 according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, with the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) hopeful this level of growth and beyond will continue into the seasonal shopping period.

ARA Executive Director, Russell Zimmerman, said that retail sales growth is tracking at a steady pace ahead of the all-important Christmas shopping period, with October’s growth slightly higher than September’s 3.6 year on year growth.

Year on year figures provide the most accurate measure of the sector’s performance and are the figures used by most retail businesses in their own reporting. October 2015 sales rose 0.5 percent over September 2015.

“Despite the ARA being disappointed not to have seen a rate cut earlier this week by the Reserve Bank of Australia which would have provided a strong spending incentive in the lead up to Christmas, retailers are well placed to meet our Christmas growth predictions,” Mr Zimmerman said.

The ARA and Roy Morgan Research predicts Australian shoppers will spend $46.8 billion this Christmas in the six weeks from November 15 to December 24 – a record result.

Household goods and department stores were the big winners in October 2015, with growth of 5.9 percent and 4.7 percent respectively.

“The growth of household goods and department stores bodes well for Christmas. We hope this growth can be replicated in the coming weeks as Australians hit the shops to stock up on Christmas gifts.

“The start of warmer weather seen by most states in October was undoubtedly a contributor to some of this growth, while the popularity of television renovation shows continues to boost the household goods sector,” Mr Zimmerman said.

On a state basis, Tasmania showed it is small, but mighty, with an impressive 5.4 percent growth, closely followed by Victoria at 5.2 percent, and NSW, 4.2 percent

YEAR ON YEAR RETAIL GROWTH (October 2014 to October 2015 seasonally adjusted)

By category:

Food, three percent; household goods, 5.9 percent; clothing, footwear and personal accessories, 4.6 percent; department stores, 4.7 percent; other retailing, 2.7 percent; cafés, restaurants and takeaway foods, 3.6 percent.

By state:

NSW, 4.2 percent; Victoria, 5.2 percent; Queensland, 2.9 percent; South Australia, 2.8 percent; Western Australia, 2.1 percent; Tasmania, 5.4 percent; Northern Territory, 1.6 percent; and Australian Capital Territory, 2.3 percent.

About the Australian Retailers Association:

Founded in 1903, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) is the retail industry’s peak representative body representing Australia’s $284 billion sector, which employs more than 1.2 million people. The ARA works to ensure retail success by informing, protecting, advocating, educating and saving money for its 5,000 independent and national retail members throughout Australia. For more information, visit www.retail.org.au or call 1300 368 041.

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THE Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee of Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade today tabled the report for its inquiry into Government support for Australian defence industry exports.

The committee has recommended the Department of Defence recognise that elements of industry are essential to Australian Defence Force (ADF) capability and take steps to identify them, and establish long-term partnerships with industry to sustain them.

Chair of the Defence Sub-Committee, Senator David Fawcett (SA), said, “The recent First Principles Review of Defence has confirmed the Committee’s view that elements of industry essential to the ADF should be recognised as a Fundamental Input to Capability (FIC).  Defence therefore has an interest, indeed an obligation to find appropriate ways to work with industry to ensure that these capabilities can be developed and sustained. Defence exports are just one additional way that the industrial base linked to the ADF’s key capabilities can be sustained.”

The committee recommends specific areas where Defence will need to revise its approach to procurement to allow for long-term partnerships with industry, to drive innovation and maintain Australia’s sovereign capability.

Defence will need to find a new approach to identifying and managing risk to encourage the development of indigenous Intellectual Property (IP).  They need to adapt their policies to recognise that for complex capabilities that are FIC, value for money is more likely to be found through ongoing partnerships with industry, rather than through open competition. “In the past, there has been a sizeable gap between statements of policy and the experience of the defence industry. This must now change,” Senator Fawcett said.

This report’s recommendations aim to make FIC areas of industry more sustainable and more innovative. This innovation will be the basis of increased exports and more clearly define those areas where it is demonstrably in the national interest for the taxpayer to be funding support for defence exports. 

Other recommendations in the report include that the Department of Defence:

• revise the role of defence attachés;
• enhance the role for the Australian Military Sales Office;
• task ADF personnel to attend trade shows and events alongside industry;
• have active ministerial advocacy on behalf of the Australian defence industry; and
• improve processes within the Defence Export Control Office.

A copy of the report and information about the inquiry, including submissions, can be obtained from the committee’s website at www.aph.gov.au/jfadt.

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THE impact of new technologies upon society and the economy will be investigated tonight when telecommunications giant Telstra appears before the Infrastructure, Transport and Cities Committee, as part of the ongoing inquiry into the role of smart ICT in the design and planning of infrastructure.

Telstra’s submission focuses on emerging technologies and their potential benefits, such as human interface technologies, immersive communications, the Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Telstra notes that one of the most significant opportunities for the application of smart ICT is road infrastructure. The telco says that if Australia continues to build and operate roads as it does today that it’s likely to need about two and a half times more road capacity in 2050 than it has today.

The application of emerging technology—especially autonomous vehicles—means that the road capacity requirement in 2050 could be roughly equivalent to the capacity existing today.

Committee Chair, John Alexander MP (Bennelong, NSW), said that new technology was presenting exciting opportunities to make urban centres more liveable and productive and regional areas better connected than ever before.

“By exploiting the full potential of new technologies, Australia will become a more efficient, productive, connected and liveable place. The opportunities to radically improve the efficiency of transport networks in particular are there to be taken. Governments and business must grasp these opportunities to keep the nation competitive in the global environment,” Mr Alexander said.

Hearing details

Date: Tuesday, 1 December 2015
Time: 5:30 pm–7:00 pm
Witness: Telstra (Submission 14)
Venue: Committee Room 2R1, Parliament House, Canberra

The public hearing will be webcast live at http://www.aph.gov.au/live

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