Page 19 - MTAA 2019 Federal Election Requirements FINAL MST

▪ The Australian Bureau of Statistics, Tax Office, Fair Work Australia,
Regulators such as ASIC and ACCC and other portfolios all work to
differing definitions which MTAA argues increases Red Tape.

▪ This has been further complicated with definitions within
definitions to meet further legislative requirements. Traditional
Small to Medium Enterprises (SME) definitions have been
supplemented with descriptors such Micro Businesses, Family
Enterprises, and as

▪ As outlined in Background Paper 12 of the Royal Commission into
Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services
Industry ‘one common legislative approach used in
Commonwealth legislation is to define businesses that employ less
than a certain number of employees as small businesses. However,
this definition is not consistent across all purposes for which small
businesses are defined in legislation’. ‘There are almost no
legislative references in Commonwealth legislation to ‘medium-
sized businesses,’ which indicates that the Parliament has not
granted differential treatment or special protections to medium-
sized businesses’.

▪ MTAA is a representative on several Government Department
consultation forums and has raised the small business definition
issue and need to consolidate to reduce Red Tape.

▪ MTAA recommends the creation of a Government and peak
industry Task Force with Terms of Reference to identify and
reduce and harmonise application of reduced small business
definitions across Commonwealth and State and Territory
jurisdictions.

UNFAIR CONTRACT TERMS AND CONDITIONS

▪ Implement all recommendations of the review into Unfair
Contract Terms and Conditions delivered in March 2019 including:
- Redefining small business for the purposes of the protections;
- Including penalties;
- Broadening the coverage of small business contracts by
removing the value threshold.

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