Labor's new changes to creeping acquisitions are yet another classic example of how they describe to Australians all the wonderful things that await them in New Zealand, but you are only allowed to get there by swimming.

In reading the Financial Review, Monday 1st September 2008, it was extremely concerning to find that one of the options outlined in the new discussion paper "would add a new prohibition in section 50 of the TPA to stymie any single purchase by a company" now that sounds good, but here comes the trick "that already has a substantial degree of market power".

Of course proving "market power" is virtually impossible. We know that from the High Court’s decision in the Boral case in 2003. But the small business community is not involved in trade practices law on a daily basis so they do not realise this. This is Mr Bowen and Mr Rudd once more making you feel exceptionally elated about something that you are never going to get.

I would love Labor to show that they are fair dinkum by changing only one thing – "market power" to "market share". Market share can be proved and does give people access to remedies that are currently causing dysfunctionality in so many areas in our economy from fertiliser prices to retail market concentration. But "market power" is that cunning little trick they use to exclude you from all the promises they offer.

Let’s make no mistake. Creeping acquisitions are bad for competition and consumers. Creeping acquisitions are small scale acquisitions over a period of time that individually are allowed to occur, but collectively reduce competition and are detrimental to competition and consumers. Creeping acquisitions need to be outlawed in the strongest possible terms if we are serious about preserving competition for the benefit of consumers.

Maybe Labor should look to Barack Obama in his acceptance speech when he stated "Change means a tax code that doesn't reward the lobbyists who wrote it, but the American workers and small businesses who deserve it." when sighting our changes to Trade Practices reform. That is Australia should be standing up for small business and consumers rather than the large corporate lobbyists who, understandably enough for their own purposes, want the weakest possible competition laws.

It is the big commercial lobbyists in this one that are instructing Labor how to trick the Australian people and the Labor party are happy to go along with the cunning little trick.