Listening to other retailers and government

I was fortunate yesterday to participate in a small group lunch with Federal Member for Lindsey David Bradbury, the Assistant Treasurer and the Minister for Deregulation.  Also at the lunch in Sydney was a senior representative from Coles, Just Group, music retailers, toy retailers, Visa, Google, Deals Direct and EPAL (eftpos).

While the discussion was around regulation and the impact of online on high street businesses, there was also good discussion on penalty rates. Indeed, it was suggested that an EBA could fix the issue of crazy rates for casuals on a Sunday until it was explained that you could not move an employee from an award to an EBA which financially disadvantaged them.

I was interested to hear of the impact of online purchases from overseas on fashion, music and toy retailers here.  Of course those connected with online – google and Visa at the table – don’t want to see the $1,000 threshold lowered. They say Australian high street businesses need to adjust to the new conditions.

The discussion considered the bugger picture of the download business as these items don’t come through usual customs channels. The downloading of books, music and movies is cutting hundreds of millions out of taxation.  Indeed, the discussion on this exposed a a broader debate than I had considered on this topic.

I was fortunate to have a one on one discussion with the minister. We talked about newsagents and, in particular, regulation. He thought we operated under a regulatory framework for newspapers. I asked why and once he explained – that he can’t control which newsagent delivers papers to his home or office – I got to explain that this was not regulation … that it is as a result of contracts each newsagent has with their supplier.  I took him back over 1999 and reassured him that we have not been subject to or protected by regulation since then.  I asked him to pass this on to Bill Shorten.

I was impressed with David Bradbury. Him empathy for the positions of his fellow diners, his listening and the understanding he demonstrated of some of the broader structural issues the world economy is grappling with.