Mr JENKINS(4.51 p.m.) —I do not believe that I am being churlish in raising this matter yet again. On two occasions where we had matters referred to the Main Committee in the last session I spoke about the need for the opportunity for the House to have a more full debate on the committee's report. I did that a couple of days after it was tabled, when only three or four of the committee members were able to debate the contents of the report. This was before the controversy surrounding the minister actually blew up. Then on 17 June—

Mr Ronaldson —Mr Deputy Speaker, I take a point of order. The comments of the honourable member for Scullin are totally unrelated to the motion moved by me or the supplementary motion moved by the Chief Government Whip. There is no reference at all in that motion that relates to the so-called fair trading inquiry. I ask you to rule that his comments are totally out of order.

Mr Leo McLeay —Mr Deputy Speaker, on the point of order: the motion before the chair is about the work of the Main Committee. I know that is a bit hard for the parliamentary secretary to understand. He persists in trying to interrupt the member for Scullin on his point. If the member for Scullin wants to make a comment to the House on the work of the Main Committee on a motion that has been moved by the Chief Government Whip to refer business to the Main Committee, I do not know what could be more in order. It might not suit the parliamentary secretary, but it is in order.

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Hon. G.H. Adams) —Order! I do not uphold the point of order.

Mr JENKINS —We now have a motion that refers the business to the Main Committee. All the parliamentary secretary's intervention has done is further muddied the waters. As I understand it, The finding of balance towards fair trading in Australia report is one of the matters that is being referred to the Main Committee by this motion. If indeed it is not, then my angst is even greater. But I understand that it is one of those committee reports that is being referred. I suggest to those who set the order of proceedings of the Main Committee that it be ensured that this report is debated tomorrow.

I do this because it is important that there is a full debate. If the government is asking that we bear with it because the three months has gone by but it wants to have full consultation, let us make sure that there is full consultation. As a member of the committee I am a bit disturbed that we have had the Property Council of Australia laying into us and saying that we have got it all wrong, we have had the Australian Retailers Association suggesting that we have got it wrong and we have the report in the Australian Financial Review of today.

One of the important recommendations of the report concerns a change to the Trade Practices Act which would prohibit unfair conduct. It has been indicated by some of the people who have been having these consultations with the Minister for Workplace Relations and Small Business (Mr Reith) that both Minister Reith and the Treasurer (Mr Costello) are opposed to mending the Trade Practices Act. We need to have that full debate. I wish to illustrate the importance of having this debate by quoting the words of a member of the committee, somebody who made a very fine and important contribution because of her small business background, the federal member for Petrie (Mrs Gambaro). She is reported as saying in the Courier Mail of 6 August—and I see the honourable member for Griffith (Mr Mcdougall), who I think may have been at this meeting:

The recommendations are very workable and the government must give small business a break.

I take it from what the Chief Government Whip, the honourable member for Wakefield (Mr Andrew), is saying that there has been some discussion amongst the coalition parties about this. I just hope that we are able to get to that discussion instead of this committee report being on the bottom of the Notice Paper up in the Main Committee. I note that it is the fifth report in this motion. I also understand that there is legislation to be discussed by the Main Committee when it starts at 10 o'clock tomorrow.

All I am asking, as I have done in this place on a couple of other occasions, is that we get to the debate. I am not even going to the fact that the honourable member for Wakefield when he was just the honourable member for Wakefield was part of an action that denied me my ability on the last day of session to debate this report. It is not about whether I get to debate it. I want the House, and especially the members of the committee who were involved in the inquiry and who have not had the opportunity to discuss the important recommendations, to get an opportunity to do so.

On the last day of the last session a number of small business people were in town and they were wanting to hear discussion on the committee's report. They recognised that there was a distraction going on because of the fate of the small business minister. That could have been solved by the events that happened two weeks subsequent happening earlier, but that is not the point. What we really want to get to is a full and frank discussion of the recommendations. As I read the picture, there are certain people on the front bench of the government who disagree with what the backbench is saying to them.

One of the things about the committee's inquiry for me was that I learned a lot as a result of the experience of some of those opposite who were on the committee and who brought their experience to the committee and indicated after full discussion, after public hearings in most major centres, that there was a need to underpin the various codes of conduct that are in place at the moment by legislation. It was the only conclusion that the committee was able to come to.

This matter is now yet again to be referred to the Main Committee, and I acknowledge that that is at least a positive step. It is better than it not being referred. But I hope that now that it is being referred it will eventually be debated. That will require that it does not become the fifth committee report on any agenda that is circulated for the Main Committee.