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AUSTRALIA'S small business sector has won new powers to protect against predatory pricing by the major retailers and other large corporate players.
The Federal Government has also agreed to beef up fines for anti-competitive behaviour, while making it easier for small firms to band together to extract a better deal when they sell their products.
The Government announced tougher increases in the penalty for anti-competitive conduct and at the same time empowers small businesses to take further advantage of the unconscionable conduct provisions," Mr Peter Costello, the Federal the Treasurer said.
Key changes include making it easier for the courts to find big firms guilty of predatory pricing under Section 46 of the Trade Practices Act.
The Government also will expand the capacity for medium-sized firms to prove large businesses have acted unconscionably.
Currently, the law prevents such action being taken for transactions above $3 million but this has been 'more than tripled to $10 million.
The Government also has changed collective negotiation rules for small business. Small Business Minister Mr Joe Hockey said the changes would "allow small business to band together in a timely manner to negotiate better outcomes, such as a discount on bulk orders".
He said this would help retail tenants better negotiate with big landlords such as Westfield, while small grocery stores would be able to withstand competition from grocery giants, Woolworths and Coles-Myer. Mr Hockey said.