ELECTION 2010: Franchising Council chief holds talks with independents to push small business interests

Franchise Council chief executive Steve Wright has held talks with the four independent MPs who will decide who forms minority government, and says the quartet have a good appreciation of the importance of a stable government for small businesses.

Wright says he held talks with Queensland independent Bob Katter, NSW MPs Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott and Greens MP Adam Bandt to ensure small business wasn’t forgotten in the current political stalemate.

“Small business and franchising are not among their seven issues of interest, but I just wanted to make the point that small business was not forgotten in all of this,” Wright told SmartCompany.

“They were all very open to chatting and said let’s talk more, but right now we are fairly pre-occupied.”

Of particular concern to Wright is a Coalition promise to re-examine franchising laws, which have been the subject of three separate parliamentary inquiries in the last few years.

Labor has promised the franchising sector the franchising laws, which changed on July 1 this year, will be left alone for three to five years, and Wright says that’s what the sector wants to see.

“The concept of re-opening the regulatory debate on franchising is not welcome,” he says

“A strong message for the independents is stability. They need to be confident that they will be giving the gong to a party that is going to be there for a three year period, not a short period during which they try to improve their electoral position.”

“Our message is that we would like to see that stability as well. When you have a political situation like we have, there is certainly nothing to be lost in making sure there is an awareness of these issues.”

Wright says Windsor and Oakeshott were particularly understanding of the role the $130 billion franchising sector plays in Australia’s small business world.

“Talking to the two NSW guys, they were very quick to say that look, we are well aware that there is a big franchise element in our business communities and it is growing.”

Wright expects he will hold further talks with the quartet in the coming weeks.