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South Australian bill a dead weight on franchising
December 2009 - The Franchise Council of Australia has denounced a newly-introduced private member's bill as a dead weight on South Australian franchising
In a media release, the FCA suggested that the new step for South Australian franchising being proposed by SA Labor backbencher Tony Piccolo would be a step into the past, when States were happy to have differing rules from their neighbours, no matter what the impact on business and the economy.
The Executive Director of the FCA, Steve Wright, said Mr Piccolo’s suggestion of SA-only rules for franchising harked back to the days of the narrow gauge rail system.
'How can it possibly be good for business to introduce different business rules in one State when we currently have national rules across all States and Territories? The Federal Government is currently trying to do the exact opposite by harmonizing business and consumer law – and the FCA fully supports that initiative. Apparently Mr Piccolo thinks he knows better than Ministers from Canberra and around the country, who have rejected the idea'
'To suggest that such a move would increase efficiency beggars belief. On the contrary, it will directly increase compliance costs and create a clear disincentive to franchise investment in SA. I don’t know of a single franchise system in SA which is in favour of it.'
Mr Piccolo last night introduced a private member’s bill into the SA Parliament at the 11th hour of its 2009 sittings. 'Thankfully, this means it is only a small possibility that the Bill is considered before the State poll in March 2010,' Mr Wright said. 'Hopefully it will be buried with the poll and its like will never be seen again in SA, or any other State.'
And in a later letter to FCA members, he commented, 'It will have to be resubmitted to the new SA Parliament if it is to be considered by the incoming Government after the election (no matter which Party wins). For the sake of the SA franchising community and for the State’s economy as a whole, we can only hope the incoming Government has more sense. The FCA will continue its work with Government and Opposition MPs to ditch Mr Piccolo’s dead weight proposal.'
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