All political parties agreed. It seemed an eminently sensible reform to enhance the competitive position of small business. The Dawson report, a commitment the Federal Government made to business before the 2001 election to examine how competition law was working, handed down a recommendation to streamline the process by which small business can collectively bargain and boycott in its dealing with big business.
It was little wonder the Federal Government pounced on this recommendation, one of the few ‘headline grabbers’ to emerge from this eight-month review of the Trade Practices Act (TPA). It appealed to small business—one of the Federal Government’s core constituencies that Liberal Party founder Sir Robert Menzies identified as being part of the ‘forgotten people’. Nearly half a century later, when giving the 1996 Sir Robert Menzies lecture, Prime Minister John Howard tapped the same political sentiment. ‘Menzies’ success lay in building a broadly based constituency at the heart of which were the ‘forgotten people’—Australians of the mainstream who felt excluded by the special interest elitism of the Liberals and from Labor’s trade union dominance … (They) include small business people who want to expand, invest and employ more Australians.’ In mythology, if not reality, the cornerstore owner is an integral part of the heart and soul of the conservative side of politics.
What this commitment to small business means, in words if not reality, is that the conservatives see themselves as the natural defender of a constituency that often perceives itself as being squeezed by bureaucracy, big business and, of course, trade unions. When it comes to competition law, the ‘villain’ is big business. It is Coles Myer and Woolworths versus the cornerstore.
The Federal Government did not spell it out quite like that after the Dawson report was handed down in April last year. Criticism of big business was implicit, not explicit. Treasurer Peter Costello’s press release put it succinctly: ‘Rural and regional stakeholders and small business will welcome the introduction of a notification process to facilitate collective bargaining by small businesses dealing with large businesses.’ But the Minister for Small Business and Tourism, Joe Hockey, was more effusive. In a press release titled, ‘Victory for small business’ (meaning a loss for big business?), he said: ‘In a significant rebalancing of the relationship between small business and big business, 1.1 million small businesses, including farming bodies, will be able to collectively negotiate with big business. For the first