Bill
Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Amendment (Supporting Small Businesses To Be Paid On Time) Bill 2026
before parliament, as at 2026-06-22.
- Sponsor
- Allegra Spender
- Portfolio
- Not recorded
Recorded stages
- introduced — 2026-06-22
- second reading — 2026-06-22
Divisions
No divisions recorded. Most questions are decided on the voices; this does not establish that a bill was unopposed.
Plain-language summary
Written by a model from the explanatory memorandum; not the record, as at 2026-06-22.
The bill would make a large business's history of paying its small suppliers a factor in whether it can win Australian government contracts.
It would amend the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 to define a 'restricted payer' as a business that fails to meet a payment performance standard over three consecutive reporting periods.
A business would be ineligible for Commonwealth contracts above a prescribed threshold if its average payment time exceeds a set number of calendar days in each of three straight reporting cycles.
- The bill links eligibility for Commonwealth procurement to a business's payment times record.
- It creates a standalone test in the PGPA Act to determine restricted payer status.
- It sets a standard based on demonstrated payment performance rather than a maximum payment time.
Large businesses that bid for Commonwealth contracts above a prescribed threshold and their small business suppliers.
Sources
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