The much anticipated parliamentary report into the franchising
sector was released on March 14, 2019. The report is the
culmination of more than a year of written submissions, public
hearings and intense media coverage of the inquiry and associated
scandals.
The report makes several stark observations on the sufficiency
of the current regulatory regime, and how current laws have failed
to curtail unscrupulous activity by some franchisors. The report
points to major structural and cultural issues in the sector, and
contends that substantive reform is required to alleviate industry
issues which are painted as systemic and pervasive. Whilst the
majority of franchise systems would not identify with this
characterisation of our sector, one thing is clear, the whole
sector has been tarnished by the revelations in the inquiry and the
franchise community needs to be part of the solution.
