Statutes Amendment (Small Business Commission and Retail and Commercial Leases) Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 25 September 2024.)

Ms CLANCY (Elder) (16:21): I rise today in support of the Statutes Amendment (Small Business Commission and Retail and Commercial Leases) Bill 2024, which seeks to amend a variety of legislation to support small businesses in South Australia. Small businesses are not only vital to the South Australian economy but they also strengthen our communities by providing employment and connections and support through their goods and services. Ninety-seven per cent of our state's total businesses are small businesses, employing 300,000 people, which is nearly 40 per cent of our entire workforce.

The Malinauskas Labor government understands the difficult environment that many small businesses are operating in. Global supply chain and inflationary pressures continue to increase the cost of running a business, making it more important than ever to provide robust support to our small business community. This bill, which is part of our small business support initiatives, seeks to ensure small businesses have access to the support they need to not only survive these global challenges but tackle them head-on and thrive.

To strengthen the role of the Small Business Commissioner and improve the legal framework around dispute resolution, this bill seeks to amend the Small Business Commissioner Act 2011, the Retail and Commercial Leases Act 1995, the Fair Trading Act 1987, the Farm Debt Mediation Act 2018, the Late Payment of Government Debts (Interest) Act 2013 and the Work Health and Safety Act 2012.

This bill is the first major revision of the Small Business Commissioner Act 2011 since its commencement. Such reform is essential to supporting the office's future strategic direction. These amendments seek to provide clearer guidelines around the commissioner's roles in advocacy and dispute resolution. By strengthening these functions, the bill helps the commissioner offer more effective assistance to small businesses, particularly those who are working through commercial disputes, late payment of invoices and contract disagreements.

At present, the Small Business Commissioner can mandate dispute resolution only for businesses in specific industries. A key reform included in this bill will provide consistency in the office's alternative dispute resolution services across all industries.

The bill will also extend this level of greater support to all small businesses regardless of the sector they operate in, ensuring that every small business in our state facing disputes or challenges can access the same level of support. Furthermore, this bill empowers the commissioner to require businesses to attend mediation sessions and provide relevant documents where necessary. This will be enforced by a maximum penalty of $20,000 and an expiation fee of $1,200 for noncompliance.

Another key provision of this bill is to refine the Small Business Commissioner's role to better reflect the commissioner's day-to-day functions. This bill also amends the objects section of the Small Business Commissioner Act to highlight the office's role in promoting fair and supportive business environments, facilitating independent dispute resolution, and acting as a bridge between small businesses and government agencies.

We understand there has been some confusion amongst stakeholders between the commissioner and the Office for Small and Family Business. To provide some distinction between these services, the commissioner will undergo a rebranding to become the Small Business Commission SA. This change to clarify their identity also aligns with similar structures in other jurisdictions.

Other key provisions included in this reform provide clarification on dispute resolution and streamline court processes. To provide greater certainty regarding the scope of alternative dispute resolution, the bill introduces a formal definition of 'alternative dispute resolution' that excludes arbitration and expert determination. The legislative powers available to the commission under this bill are intended to offer a structured yet flexible process for resolving disputes, including preliminary assistance from the commissioner's advisers and independent mediation facilitated by an external mediator engaged by the commission.

Another change proposed in this bill will save businesses time and costs associated with reprosecuting legal arguments in court. To streamline court processes, settlement agreements reached through the mediation facilitated by the Small Business Commissioner will be treated as minor statutory proceedings, simplifying enforcement in the Magistrates Court.

Finally, the bill introduces amendments to the Retail and Commercial Leases Act that were originally proposed by the Law Society of South Australia's Property Committee in 2018. These amendments include simplifying the process of determining whether companies are listed on foreign stock exchanges, clarifying that lease warranty exclusions apply to both renewals and extensions, specifying that preference rights do not apply where lessees have a right of renewal, and simplifying wording regarding lease termination.

Debate on this bill could not have come at a better time as we celebrate Support Small September. For the past four years—because I started even before I became the member for Elder, before I was elected to this place—I have participated in this social media trend to engage in the goods and services of a small business in my electorate every day for the month of September, and I give a shout-out to Rhiannon Newman for this excellent idea. I have continued it since she first suggested it.

This year so far, I have visited Good Burger, which is on Goodwood Road. It is actually in the place where a fabulous cafe called Our Food Project was, but the owners decided that they wanted to mix it up a bit, move away from the morning coffee crowd, and head into the evenings more. I highly recommend Good Burger for anyone looking for an excellent burger, to be honest. They also have these fantastic hot chips that they put what might even just be Keen's curry powder through and they are so delicious. I cannot recommend it highly enough. They also do poutine, so if anybody has enjoyed a trip to Canada and has been interested in it, that is the place to go for some poutine. Just in case anyone is wondering, I will be celebrating my birthday there the night before with some dinner and I am looking forward to their tiramisu. Everyone is welcome.

I also have visited Pullman Espresso Accessories. This was actually a small business that I stumbled across. I was doorknocking one day and was chatting to the person at the door and then she started talking about the business she and her husband run. Her husband creates the most gorgeous coffee accessories.

I actually cannot make a coffee to save my life, but Josh in my office can and I know others can and will appreciate this. All the things that you need to make your coffee at home with an espresso machine, they make. They hand carve beautiful wood and it is absolutely gorgeous. I cannot recommend their stuff enough. If you have a coffee snob in your life and you need something exciting and different—I see the member for Morphett is probably writing it down—it is Pullman Espresso Accessories. I highly recommend them.

Our Boy Roy is a business in Clarence Park, on East Avenue. They are a cafe, and they hosted the member for Badcoe's baby shower a few months ago, and it was excellent. They have a lovely outdoor area at the back, a lovely garden. They are very dog friendly, so you can take your pooch there for some breakfast. I can highly recommend their chilli scramble. Instead of serving it on sourdough or toast, they serve it on roti bread and it is next level. They also fry up curry leaves and sprinkle those on top, and it is excellent.

Another business that I stumbled across while I was doorknocking—because I am always out and about, chatting to the community—is CM30 Fitness Studio. This is a great little at-home fitness studio where they help one or two people at a time with some personal training. The clients who were there when I stopped by could not speak highly enough about the support they were getting there.

Yiro Yiro is a new business on Winston Avenue. It is not far, just in the same block of shops as Beck's Bakehouse, which I am sure people are very familiar with. They are in Melrose Park. It is all in the name; it is an excellent yiros place. I am very partial to their haloumi yiros, but I also hear good things about the others as well. If you are lucky, you might turn up on a day when there are some excellent Greek desserts available too.

The CAROclub started off in a food truck, and they also have a bricks-and-mortar spot in Edwardstown on South Road. They do burgers—I know we have already spoken about Good Burger—and if you are not really into meat they also do a fried mushroom burger as well. It is not one big mushroom; it is lots of little ones, so it is extra crunchy.

There is also a place called Handmade Gifts, Homewares and Crafts, which is in Panorama. They are actually just across the road from Hark Coffee Roasters, which is another small business I have been highlighting this month, who make excellent coffees and also very good brownies. The gift shop is only open on weekends, I think, and they have different handmade gifts from a number of different people. What happened is that there were a number of women who, during COVID, realised they were spending their time making things and then ran out of people to give them to, or could not find ways of selling them to people.

So now there is this great place where you can get coasters, handmade dog treats—and what I got was a gorgeous apron, because I have discovered that I cannot keep cooking and ruining all my clothes by splashing oil on them. I cannot make coffee and apparently I cannot cook without getting myself messy, so I have a beautiful apron from there. There are also beautiful handmade baby blankets and beanies and gorgeous jewellery. There are so many great things there. You pop in there and then go grab an excellent coffee from Hark, where you can smell the coffee beans roasting.

Trezona Gluten Free Bakery is another excellent small business. They are located in Edwardstown. They actually started off in St Mary's and were a wholesaler (St Mary's is also in my electorate, which is excellent. I love that they did not move too far). They then decided to have a public-facing shop as well, so you are able to go grab a coffee and grab a gluten-free sausage roll or sweet treat. It is really great to know that there are options available to people who are coeliac or gluten intolerant.

Bebe Luxe is, I have to admit, just across the road from my electorate, but we welcome everybody into Elder. Bebe Luxe have beautiful, bright products like picnic rugs, dog leads and leashes, and bags. What I bought for my daughter is a hooded towel made of quick-dry material, which was really handy during my daughter's school swimming week, when every day she was coming home with wet things. This was something that was really quick to dry but also gave her the privacy she wanted while she was trying to get changed at the school swimming.

Friends with Florence is in Melrose Park as well. It is so cute and they have a little area for children to play. They also have a section where you can buy a second-hand book or different locally made products. I have to tell you that their hot chocolate is out of this world good. I had the one which has a house-made chili honey in it. It was incredible and I am really keen to get back there. Hopefully, I can swing by there first thing in the morning.

Hanns greengrocer is in Cumberland Park on Goodwood Road, just before you get to the corner of Cross Road. It is only a small fruit and veg shop, but they have an incredible selection of really high-quality fruit and veg that is generally in season. They try to have things that are really high quality rather than ending up with having everything available but not necessarily the best. I think we have all purchased some not so great, not so great-smelling strawberries in our time. They always make sure that they have really good quality control. That is Hanns greengrocer.

Pretty and Prickle is an adorable cacti and succulent shop that is run out of someone's home in the electorate, and it is very sweet. There is a huge array of options. I bought a little something for my new office. It is a great place to pick up a gift for somebody.

I have also headed to Bake Boss, because my partner had his 50^th birthday celebration recently. It was a joint one with another friend who was turning 40, so I headed to Bake Boss and grabbed some of the number candles. Honestly, they have the biggest selection of sprinkles you could ever imagine in your life—multiple types of gold, all different colours, rainbow shapes. There are some Halloween sprinkles. If you are looking to decorate a cake anytime soon, or bake one, I highly recommend checking out Bake Boss in Clarence Gardens on South Road.

Recently, we had the pleasure of hosting a community barbecue, because one of my election commitments, an upgraded playground at Rozelle Reserve in Melrose Park, was being opened. We opened that and had a community barbecue. I have never seen sausages go as quickly as that. It was very well attended. It was excellent. People loved it, and I think part of that was that the sausages were from Cimarosti Bros in Daw Park. They have excellent meat. They are very popular, and they are also a really good community business. They support a lot of the local sports clubs, which is great.

We also have the Adelaide Detailing Garage, who did a gorgeous job on my car. I have a child I let eat in the car, so it is not an easy feat cleaning that car. Well done to them. It was lovely chatting to the ladies at Soma Skin and Beauty, especially Jackie and Alexandra, who took great care of me. They are really focused on finding out what your skin needs and providing you with the best treatment for you.

The member for Badcoe recently celebrated a birthday. Leading up to that, I went and visited Shaun C. Duncan Custom Framing and Fine Art Printing and got one of The Advertiser's newspaper articles about the member for Badcoe and her new baby Quinn framed for her birthday. It came up really well, so thank you to Shaun.

With school holidays coming up and my to-be-read pile by my bed starting to decrease, I headed to Colonel Light Books on Goodwood Road and got a selection of second-hand books for myself and my daughter. I also last week went to B Acupuncture and Body. Briony was incredible. I highly recommend heading there if you are looking to getting any sort of niggles and pains looked at.

Rice Bar, which is also in the same block of shops as Becks and Yiro Yiro serve excellent Japanese food. It is really affordable. Apparently, miso soup is very good for our gut health, so I recommend heading there for a bento box and a miso. I also have gone to Sweetlana Alterations in Mitchell Park. Lana is—actually, it is all in the name again—very sweet. I got a couple of pants altered. It was super affordable and really well done, so thank you, Lana.

On Monday, I was in Port Pirie for a Suicide Prevention Council meeting. I got home about seven and was very hungry, so I went to Bhoye Chhen on Daws Road for some excellent momos and some more food, because I love Nepalese food. We are really lucky to have a good Nepalese restaurant in our area.

Michelangelo Dial A Pizza in Clarence Gardens, another hot tip, is on a notorious intersection, but it is worth going there. Caulfield and Winston is tricky, but Michelangelo's is worth stopping at, and I recommend their veggie pizza. I have also highlighted DRIP House of Hot, a new gym in Cumberland Park where you exercise in a 35-degree heated room with infrared sauna lights on top. It is very sweaty but it is really great; you feel pretty good afterwards.

With just a few days left to go, I encourage everyone to keep an eye out for the next few small businesses that I will be sharing. After four years of participating in Support Small September, members of my community have a single place highlighting more than 100 small and family businesses in my electorate, and there are many more to go.

Meeting so many small and family business owners has given me an appreciation for the unique pressures, challenges and risk of investing your own capital and providing for your workers and the broader community. There are so many unique and powerful ways the Malinauskas Labor government is supporting small businesses in South Australia, including the reforms being debated today: whether it is our $14 million Small Business Strategy or programs like our Small Business Fundamentals Program, Women in Business Program, Mental Health and Wellbeing Program or Small Business Sustainability Support Program, just to name a few, we are providing a dynamic and expansive suite of support for small and family businesses to thrive in South Australia.

Whether you own, run, work in or for a small or family business in South Australia, we thank you. Bills such as the one before the house today are just one of the many ways this state government is here to support you. I commend the bill to the house.

The Hon. B.I. BOYER (Wright—Minister for Education, Training and Skills) (16:41): I am very pleased to have the opportunity to rise to speak on this bill and offer a few words of support in my capacity as the member for Wright. One of the characteristics of the seat that I represent in the north-eastern suburbs is that it is made up of a lot of small and family businesses; I do not have a lot of what you would describe as bigger businesses in my electorate. I did when I had Salisbury South within the boundaries for one term, but that is no longer the case. I know from living in the community and the work I have done around doorknocking and meeting people that there are a lot of small and family businesses that also employ a lot of people.

We know that, as a number of speakers who have already contributed to this bill have already remarked, it is a big task running a small business and we are in an age where I think all households are probably busier than they have ever been. Certainly, one of the comments that is often passed on to me by a small business owner, and also the partner of that small business owner who may work either full-time or part-time on the business as well, is that it is harder than ever to do the work you need to do, whether it is around payroll or compliance or whatever it might be, whilst simultaneously juggling that person's other job and the pressures of having a family as well.

So I think it is really important that governments of whatever political persuasion do whatever they can to try to assist small businesses with some of the things that come up that can make their lives more difficult and to try to actually do that in a meaningful way. I commend the Minister for Small Business for the work that has been done here with this bill and the consultation that has been done as well.

I want to offer my thanks as well to South Australia's Small Business Commissioner who I know is a very active and passionate person, which is what you need to have in that role. By its very nature, the work it is often doing is trying to bring parties together who might be opposed on an issue to try to find a way through situations that can often be complex without them needing to go further in terms of needing more costly or complicated dispute resolution, and I think that is important.

Whilst we often talk around the need for our legal system to be accessible and affordable, I still think the truth—not just here in South Australia but around the world—is that for many people it is routinely not affordable or accessible, particularly when one needs to enter a courtroom or retain formal legal counsel and therefore pay for that. Often, the decision that is made by that party is that it is all too hard and they will step back. That is often done even in scenarios where they may be on very, very strong legal ground in terms of what has been done.

I think too that sometimes parties who know that they have the deeper pockets and are able to push an issue all the way potentially into one of those formal legal settings and are able to pay for their own legal counsel to represent them will do so in the knowledge that the other party eventually will have to pull out because they cannot afford to do that and it is invariably the small business operator who is on the losing end of that scenario and that is why having this model of a Small Business Commissioner in South Australia is really, really important.

I know that the minister has had, of course, a lot of feedback from parties who have used the services of the Small Business Commissioner about how useful and successful it is, but I have also had examples passed on to me, as the member for Wright, from people who have used those services and have been very, very impressed and I think that is fantastic. I think it shows that there are practical things governments can do around dispute resolution and keeping access to dispute resolution affordable so all people can use it.

One of the things I wanted to particularly touch upon here that I was talking to the minister about just before, which I think is really important and an impressive feature of the bill, is its proposal to strengthen the support the commission can offer in a dispute resolution scenario. The current arrangement is the commissioner administers a range of industry codes under the Fair Trading Act, which afford the commissioner the power to notify and compel parties in a dispute to attend or participate in alternative dispute resolution procedures, and that is a really good thing.

However, small businesses outside these prescribed industries are unable to benefit from this. To remedy this issue the bill is proposing to standardise the level of support that the commission can provide to small business owners seeking assistance with alternative dispute resolution, irrespective of what industry sector they are in. I think that is an excellent feature of this bill: to broaden essentially the remit or the breadth of those who can seek to have remediation or support from the Small Business Commissioner to those who have currently been unable to do so.

I think what that will ultimately result in is more cases where there has been a dispute arise between, for instance, a business or a small business and another party that might otherwise be a protracted case that goes for a long time unresolved, which costs potentially both parties a lot of money, which can come before the Small Business Commissioner who can use their powers to compel them to come to the table and actually reach a resolution that does not cost either party money and hopefully enables them both to move forward.

On behalf of the small business owners, particularly in the seat of Wright that I represent in this place, I wanted to acknowledge the importance of this bill and my support for it and thank the minister and her department, including the Small Business Commissioner, Ms Kilvert, on the work that has been done so far to get it to this point. We have had, I think, now a Small Business Commissioner, if I remember correctly, in South Australia since about 2011, so we are about 13 years into having that.

I remember at its inception the work that was done to set it up, but in 13 years a lot changes and it is right that this has come before the house and we look at making changes to bring it up to speed with all those things that have changed in the 13 years that have passed since it was first set up but also to look more precisely at things that can be done to strengthen the powers of the Small Business Commissioner.

I very much hope that those people in the north-eastern suburbs who run small businesses who might be in a situation where they need some kind of assistance but do not feel able, for whatever reason, to seek that through a more formal legal procedure will consider using the services of the Small Business Commissioner either now or if they were previously not able to once hopefully this bill passes this place and the other place and is enacted into law. I commend the bill to the house.

Mr FULBROOK (Playford) (16:48): I rise to speak in support of the Statutes Amendment (Small Business Commission and Retail and Commercial Leases) Bill 2024 and do so in full context and appreciation that it is tough out there. Running a small business is no walk in the park and it is usually small businesses that bear the brunt whenever economic conditions become difficult.

I choose my words in full appreciation that as we pay the price for the relief delivered through the pandemic, the pain that these companies feel through high inflation and high interest rates against large home mortgages is biting hard. Having said that, anything that can make life that little bit easier, even if it is what I call a 'one per center'—not to diminish the value of the bill—should be welcomed. I am pleased that the merits of this bill have also been recognised by the opposition.

In this context, I am pleased to lend my voice in support of this legislation, as its root and core is a driving force to make life easier for the mums and dads and everyone else who works tirelessly in their small businesses across our state. We can never forget that they are the backbone of our economy and it is vital that we enshrine a strong advocate who bats hard on their behalf.

In contrast to alternative dispute resolution services, I welcome how this bill extends the level of support offered to all small businesses regardless of the sector that they operate in. We have had the commissioner in place since 2011, which was a great initiative by the previous Labor government. This change ensures every small business can access the same level of support when they face disputes or challenges.

It is also encouraging that the powers of the commission have been broadened, giving them the ability to require businesses to attend mediation sessions and produce relevant documents when necessary. To enforce this, a maximum penalty of $20,000 and an expiation fee of $1,200 will be applied for noncompliance. Let us hope this power is not used that often, but it does provide peace of mind to the overwhelming number of small businesses within my community that strive to do the right thing. Importantly, this reform has the potential to avoid court proceedings, broadening the efficiencies and bottom line of our small business sector.

Also saving small businesses time and cost is the streamlining of court processes. Settlement agreements reached through mediation facilitated by the Small Business Commissioner will be treated as a minor statutory proceeding and therefore a welcome simplification around enforcement within the Magistrates Court.

I am sure there have been numerous businesses that have suffered as a result of ambiguity in the existing legislation. I note other important amendments include simplifying the process of determining whether companies are listed on foreign stock exchanges, clarifying that lease warranty exclusions apply to both renewals and extensions, specifying that preference rights do not apply where lessees have a right of renewal, and simplifying wording regarding lease termination in section 76 of the act.

While my electorate is surrounded by some big industry, Playford from the air looks primarily like an electorate consisting of mostly houses, schools, community groups and some amazing small businesses. We have the retail precincts in Paralowie, Parafield Gardens and, of course, Hollywood Plaza in Salisbury Downs, all of which are populated by some amazing small businesses, often run by locals themselves.

What separates us from many parts is the make-up of multicultural communities working hard to make a living and often bringing a piece of their homeland to share in the process. I want to thank them all for sharing all that they cherish. Restaurants operated by my friends Mr Jaskaran Dhillon and Jimmy from Stanleys spring to mind, and there are also a lot of brilliant Indian, Asian and even Fijian grocery stores that feature prominently on the retail landscape. We are of course the epicentre of the banh mi, and I would happily raise a bet against any other MP seeking to prove me wrong—perhaps the member for Wright or the member for Ramsay. Maybe we will have a competition in the future just to see if I am right.

I understand a lot of success in the commissioner engaging with these communities is attributed to the effort taken to translate materials into languages other than English. When 42 per cent of my community was born overseas, myself included, efforts like these go down well and clearly show that the commission is working well and really does mean business.

The other sector in my community in which small business is pivotal is based around the light industry we see around Green Fields. This includes a lot of small and medium-sized businesses, including logistics companies and the businesses that support them, but I would also be surprised if there were a space beyond this area that would sell as many caravans as you would be able to sell within my community. Noting that this bill also broadens the objects within the act, I think there are many businesses in Playford that will gain a greater understanding of the commission's purpose by highlighting the office's role in promoting a fair and supportive business environment and also facilitating independent dispute resolution and acting as a bridge between small businesses and, of course, government agencies.

On a slight segue, recently my office visited many businesses, one by one, and explained to them the state government's grant scheme to lower the costs of energy consumption as part of Round 2 of the Economic Recovery Fund. Energy efficiency grants of $50,000 will certainly be welcome and not just deliver efficiencies but, again, lower the costs of operating in a competitive environment. I am hopeful that many local operators pursue a grant application, as I know the reward will be tangible and welcomed deeply. And, of course, when they win, this also gives them room to take on more employees. Given that small businesses equate to 97 per cent of the state's total businesses and employ 300,000 people, or nearly 40 per cent of the workforce, collectively they are too big to fail and we must do whatever we can to ensure their success.

While I have painted what I think is a positive picture of small businesses within my community, we cannot ignore that even in the best of times it is tough and the sacrifices are deep and real in order to succeed. This bill rightfully acknowledges the difficult business environment that they operate within. Arguably, for the first time in recent memory, rising costs, including wages and rent, do not seem to be on the wane and reinforce the importance now, more than ever, to provide a robust and supportive network, and I feel it succeeds by ensuring small businesses have access to the help that they may need.

While I like this bill and feel it is worthwhile, I think it is also down to the commissioner herself. She is often seen in and around the City of Salisbury explaining her role to the community. I am sure she spends a lot of time also behind a desk, but I feel the current commissioner, Nerissa Kilvert, should be commended for all the fieldwork that she does and it is certainly noticed by a lot of the business operators in my community and absolutely appreciated.

I will say also from the perspective of the local MP that I have found her nothing but approachable and hard working. It is lovely to be able to say just these few words and put it down on the record how much of an asset she is to our community. It also bears mentioning some of the work of the other commissioners as well in the past. I do remember working alongside John Chaplin when things first got set up and he was also exemplary in the role. But getting back to Nerissa, I do think it is fantastic that she and her team connect with their grassroots, and I am sure other members will attest to how active she is within their communities.

With this in mind, I feel they should be rewarded, not just with the powers that they need to get the job done but also the time of this parliament in recognition of the hard work that we all see. We cannot and should not ignore the difficulties linked to running a small business, be it in the sacrifice of time needed to succeed, the huge risks associated with getting set up and running, compliance, insurance, rising costs, and just the difficulties of luring customers through the front door. Anything that makes life easier for those out there, we should welcome, and with this in mind I am very, very happy to commend this bill to the house.

The Hon. D.G. PISONI (Unley) (16:58): I would like to take this opportunity to speak about the bill particularly by praising the work of small business operators and owners in South Australia, and particularly in my electorate. I have had a very long history of firsthand experience, second-hand experience and everyday experience with small businesses in the electorate of Unley. It was where I started my small business career, and it is where we have seen a lot of resilience in small business and a lot of change in small business. It was in 1984 that I started my 22-year career in small business. At that time it was in the furniture manufacturing industry. Finishing an apprenticeship, I saw an opportunity to perhaps go out and do something myself, and I think that says a lot about the accessibility that a country like Australia has for people who want to have a go at their own small business.

There are some people who think that people who are in business are born into business, or they are given a business, or they have lots of money and that is why they are in business, and they cannot possibly be in business because they do not have the connections, they do not have the family money and they were born on the wrong side of the street. The fact is that small business works for anybody who wants to give it a go. But there are massive risks in small business. Half of small businesses do not get to 12 months and of those that do get to 12 months, half of them again do not get to five years.

I think that is something that we need to remember: when people take that risk and decide to have a go for themselves, if their business fails it does not mean that they have failed. Australia has a funny culture about people who have a go and fail; we tend to write them off. In places like America, Israel and other countries that are very focused on entrepreneurship, people will see that as another notch on the stick that has moved you closer to your goal of being an entrepreneur and having a successful business.

It is commendable that we are seeing a lot of people of my children's age moving into taking control of their own lives and working as a contractor with the skills that they have learned at university or as apprentices in the building industry or the IT industry. They have learned that they have a skill that is in demand and they have learned what it is worth, and consequently they have been given that opportunity. It was unusual for someone in their early 20s to start their own business back 40-odd years ago; however, now it is quite common, and it is terrific to see.

People who may move into a contracting role or being ABN-registered for GST can even then decide to become a proprietary limited and grow their business enterprise without employing a single person. There are thousands of small businesses in South Australia that are successful and that have shareholdings, usually family members, and one or two directors—again, usually family members—and these are the small businesses that drive the South Australian economy. These are small businesses that are available to anybody.

There was a terrific story about Rupert Murdoch and his beginnings on Australian Story just the other week about how he turned a single ailing inheritance, The News and the Sunday Mail, into a multinational business. That is how multinational businesses are built. Ironically, many of the businesses that support the retirement incomes of so many employees and others now in Australia started off as family businesses and are now multinational publicly listed businesses.

Banks and large retailers—whether it be Coles or Woolworths, who are getting a bit of a hammering at the moment—their profits are providing income-generating and profit-generating streams for industry super funds, the Public Service super fund and private super funds. People's retirements are benefiting from these once small family businesses that have become public companies and are now the subject of shareholdings and superannuation funds.

It always amuses me when I hear those on the Left, particularly—whether it be the Greens, whether it be the ACTU—whingeing about the profits that companies make. What they do not realise is that if those companies were not making profits their members would have to work longer before they could retire because their superannuation balances would be smaller, and they would be smaller because these publicly-listed companies were not making profits.

This is the beauty of the free enterprise system, that it works for everybody. It works for all those who participate in it and even those who do not participate in it benefit from it. We know the social experiment of the Soviet Union lasted only 70 years; an economy without any supply and demand mechanism, without any private sector, was simply not sustainable.

Small business has become a lot more complicated since I started, and I certainly feel for people who may not have a business background, who may not have an MBA or a finance degree, but who might just be very good plumbers or carpenters or bakers, for example. There is a lot more compliance they must meet these days and there is a lot more risk to getting paid.

One of the things I learnt very early in my small business career was to make sure you get paid. That was key advice from someone I was introduced to who had been running a kitchen manufacturing firm for many years. They said, 'Make sure you get paid. You deserve to get paid. You've done the work, and make sure you get paid.' It was very good advice, and I certainly made that a number one priority, because when you do not get paid in small business it is not just you that suffers but also your staff and your creditors as well.

We are seeing that with what is happening in Whyalla at the moment with GFG not paying their bills. We see that flowing down through the whole small business community in Whyalla, and it is affecting employees of those businesses, who are either having their hours cut, if they are able to work, or are being laid off. Small businesses are not spending money, either discretionary money out of their incomes or money investing in their businesses locally, whether that be upgrading the business or getting new equipment, training staff. It has a spiralling effect.

I remember when I walked into what I think was called the Small Business Centre on the corner of South Terrace and Walker Street. It was old white Victorian building—which I think is still there—where I got advice around what I might need to do to start my own business, as a 21-year-old who just finished an apprenticeship. Compare the services that were being provided at that very early entry point—and if I had not had that available to me, without anybody in my family or anybody I knew being in business, I do not know if I would have taken the step to start my own business—to the complexities of small business now, needing to elevate it to a Small Business Commissioner, and giving that commissioner additional powers and services to provide to small business, which are really focused around litigation and fairness and a much more established level for business.

I would like to see more support for aspiring young entrepreneurs, people who have got to a stage in their life where they might want to give it a go. They have established themselves in their profession or their field and they are in a phase of their life where they are no longer paying off debt. They are debt-free and they can take a risk or two that they were not prepared to take when they had a mortgage to pay, and they might decide to do something completely different.

We do see this. How often do you hear a story of someone who has left the public sector in their early fifties to buy a caravan park or a newsagent?

It is great to see, and people should be encouraged and, of course, there should be support for them to move into that process so that their business is successful. Just because you have bought a successful business, it does not mean that your running of that business is going to be successful if you are not ready for it, if you are not prepared for it.

I always find it slightly amusing that, when somebody buys a successful business and they are paying a substantial amount of money for the goodwill of that business, the first thing they do is put a sign at the front saying, 'Under new management'. All of a sudden, you are telling people who have been loyal to that business, you are giving them an excuse, to not come anymore because it is not the old owners anymore, even though they may never have met them or did not know who they are.

I understand if you bought a business that does not have a very good reputation and you bought it at a bargain and you want to let people know that things are changing and it is getting better, but if you buy a business that is very successful because of its reputation and people are automatically going there because of its reputation, and you put a sign up saying, 'Something might change here. Maybe you want to think twice about spending your money here,' I always find that extraordinary.

I know people might be very excited about the fact they have a new business and they want people to know about it, but my advice would be that if you have bought a business because it has a massively good reputation, then do not sell it. It is a bit like Beaumont Tiles who successfully did a deal with Bunnings, but the family are still very much seen as being part of the business. That is the successful way to run a business.

There was a stage when the big breweries were buying the small craft breweries and then absorbing them into their own businesses and rebadging them, and then wondering why they did not work. About five or six years ago, they moved the process of buying those breweries, not making any announcement about the purchase and letting those who used to own them run them under the same brand. They have been very successful in their transition because they have capitalised on the goodwill that that business had developed or worked up over the years.

This government is certainly not doing enough for entrepreneurial culture, embracing and supporting entrepreneurial culture. It is very disappointing that we do not have the entrepreneurial high school concept anymore. It was a project that we got off the ground very early, an entrepreneurial curriculum. I was so impressed when I visited those schools as the Minister for Innovation and sat there and heard pitches for products or services that had been developed by year 9 students who were talking about profit and explaining how they needed that profit in order to expand their business and achieve the outcomes they wanted.

Many of those outcomes were community-based outcomes. The kids were talking about profit for charities they were raising money for. They worked out very quickly that unless they were making a profit on the products, on the work that they were doing, they were not able to do the good work that they hoped they would be able to do by running this business. They recognised that they were valuable, that they were adding value to the business, and that value needed to be rewarded in order for them to do the work they wanted to with that money.

One of things that businesses tend to forget is that they tend to undervalue what they do. I have seen that time and time again. I know that I certainly did, although those who were buying my furniture at the time at the price they paid might not agree. People tend to undervalue the work they do when they work for themselves. They should not because the work they do should be valued and rewarded. I think it is a bit like those in the creative industries. Again, many small business operators in the creative industries are notorious for undervaluing the work they are offering to the community and their customers. People learn that it is important that they put a value on what they do for the survival of the business, for the success of the business, for their ability to employ more staff and for the business to grow.

Regarding the state of small business in South Australia today, I do fear for those people who have been running small businesses for a number of years and have got to an age where they are considering retirement and they are expected to use the goodwill of that business to sell on to somebody else, whether it be a butcher shop, a fruit and veg shop or a newsagent.

Up until recently, up until the Albanese government changed the Fair Work Act, if they had fewer than 15 staff they were exempt from redundancy payments when the business was sold or if they needed to close the business to retire. But the cruelness of this change in policy, unannounced and retrospective, is that for a small business that might only be worth $200,000 or $300,000 for the goodwill—you could be taking over the lease of a butcher shop, for example—that money now will be discounted from the price that the new owner will pay because they are taking on a liability that was not there before the Albanese government came to office—the liability of redundancies that they automatically inherit when they buy that company.

The other alternative, of course, is that it might be a condition for the new owner that they get all their own staff, so redundancies then have to be funded from the existing owner, which eats up just about all of the sale price that he or she is expecting for the business. It is not just butchers; it would be hairdressers and beauticians. You see these lining the streets wherever you see strip shopping, whether it be Semaphore Road, whether it be Unley Road, whether it be The Parade.

You see these small businesses that have been there for many, many years. You see the owners of these businesses who are looking as though they are in their senior years. They are still as enthusiastic as ever, but they are looking for options to retire or semiretire and do something else for the last decade or so of their working life. Now they are hit with this massive burden of unplanned and unexpected redundancy costs that will be forced on them when they sell that business to a new owner.

Consequently, you could argue it is the socialisation of the profit, if you like, of that business person when those staff who took on those jobs were well aware that there was no redundancy application working for a small business like that. People who work for small businesses tend to have a preference for working for small business because there is a completely different attitude, a completely different feel, a different environment than working for a big business. It is really a family environment with lots of flexibility. It is a friendly environment.

To wrap up, what we have seen from the new amendments to this bill are a reflection of how more complicated it is to do business in the modern world.

The Hon. A. MICHAELS (Enfield—Minister for Small and Family Business, Minister for Consumer and Business Affairs, Minister for Arts) (17:18): I want to thank all the members for their support of this bill, including the members for Heysen and Unley from the opposition and the members for Adelaide, Dunstan, King, Hurtle Vale, Giles, Light, Elder, Wright and Playford. I want to acknowledge the incredible work of the Small Business Commissioner and I got the opportunity to talk about that in question time today in respect of her response to the Whyalla situation. I want to thank her for that and for her office's work in putting together all the work behind this bill. I commend the bill to the house.

Bill read a second time.

Third Reading

The Hon. A. MICHAELS (Enfield—Minister for Small and Family Business, Minister for Consumer and Business Affairs, Minister for Arts) (17:20): I move:

That this bill be now read a third time.

Bill read a third time and passed.

Sitting extended beyond 18:00 on motion of Hon. S.E. Close.