Tony Abbott, leader of the Australian opposition, has vowed to establish an Ombudsman for small businesses and family enterprises if he wins the coming National Elections.

The ombudsman Would support the cabinet's minister for small business and negotiate with small businesses about Coalition regulations that involve them.

The planned position would also play a role in dispute resolution and mediation, hand in hand with community consultation, Mr. Abbott announced yesterday.

The Opposition leader said it "will put small business concerns at the heart of Government consideration".

"It's a very important initiative," he said.

"Too often small business is forgotten by government and the Coalition is determined that this will never again be the case."

With Bruce Billson, Shadow Small Business Minister, Mr. Abbott disclosed intentions to expand the newly implemented unfair contracts protections, which remove unfair details and terms in standard consumer contracts, to small businesses.

The Labor-led administration originally planned to include contracts of business to business natures to its protections but backtracked when it released the Australian Consumer Law in 2009.

Last year, Craig Emerson, minister for Small Business, said: "In the context of business-to-business contracts, a general notion of unfairness that is subject to interpretation by the courts may have the effect of increasing risk and costs faced by small businesses in particular."

Abbott asserted that small businesses, like consumers, need protections when dealing with contracts in standard from with the big league players downtown.

However, the Australian Bankers' Association criticized the plan, claiming it would "backfire" against the parties it intended to help, as lenders charged higher to account for their risks.

"A fundamental principle of contract law is certainty of contract," said Steven Münchenberg, chief executive of Australian Bankers' Association.

"This principle is an essential element of all commercial transactions because it allows the parties to adequately allocate and price risk.

"This proposal for further regulation, which creates uncertainty, would need to be taken into account when banks consider lending to small businesses and could end up impacting on credit availability to the sector."