Craig Laundy (Reid, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

That was quite an interesting tirade by the member for Parramatta. I will pay it the relevance it deserves. I rise in support of the member for Forde—I know the work he does in his electorate—and in support of the minister. Small business does have a real and passionate voice now, and it is around the cabinet table. The way that the Minister for Small Business and the cabinet run this process has been, to me as a new member, revealing and so pleasing because it is consultative. As much as the member for Parramatta would like to tell you that small business does not have a voice at the table, our job as local members is to be the voice talking to the minister—we are their voice. So it is a pleasure to rise to speak here.

I would probably change the wording of the motion just slightly from that of the member for Forde: they are not only essential, they are the backbone of our economy. We have an employment problem right now that will not be solved by government, that will not be solved by big business or unions. It will be solved by this vital part. What the member for Parramatta—who claims that we have had six months and that we are a government of talk and no action—failed to mention at any time is that her government's results are there for all to see. Under the previous Labor government—I note she did not address this at all—412,000 jobs were lost in this sector. Our job is to listen and plug in.

I would like to add to the words of the member for Forde about the role in all of this of the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Ministers and our role, which is to feed in to him. I will not reiterate all of his wonderful points. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister has been given the role of reducing red tape and regulation. I note that the member for Parramatta conveniently made reference to 26 March, which is our first omnibus repeal—our regulation abolition day, if you like. The 8,000 pieces that we will abolish that day are not enough. In fact, they are nearly one-third of the 21,000 regulations that the Labor government put in during the previous six years.

Today, my role as a backbencher is, as it should always be, to challenge the ministers of the day, the ministers of this government, to do more. It is one thing to talk about red tape; it is another thing to demonstrate what it actually is. I am going to tell you a story about the day that rolled oats became a dangerous chemical. The chemicals in this country come under three jurisdictions: the Therapeutic Goods Administration, the TGA; the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority, the APVMA; and the National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme, the NICNAS. This crosses the ministries of health, agriculture and small business. If we are to be serious as a government about reducing red tape, we need to look at the role that departments and cross-ministerial borders play. Cost-recovery models, such as those we see in the TGA, APVMA and NICNAS, do not sit on budgets; they recover the costs. It is an impost passed onto small business. My challenge today to the ministers of this government is to work together across borders, to consolidate these departments, to have them working consultatively with business. I will give you the best example. A chemical brought into Australia, if it comes from the US or the UK, has to go through a process which costs around $100,000, when it has already gone through this process in a jurisdiction that, I am sure you would admit, is like our own. This same thing happened with NICNAS. A cosmetic company wanted to put out a pack for kids, which included a packet of rolled oats. In this jurisdiction, if cosmetic companies are putting out a pack they have to put everything through NICNAS. NICNAS did not have a classification for this and wrote the following: 'Thank you for your letter regarding the proposed introduction of steamed rolled oats in a children's activity cosmetic toy kit. NICNAS considers that steamed rolled oats does not meet the definition of naturally occurring chemical. Steamed rolled oats will therefore meet the definition of a new industrial chemical.' Thus ruling out and sending the company elsewhere to try and gain approval. This is an example of how silly red tape and regulation is.

Through the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, reporting directly to the Prime Minister and the wonderful ministers of the Crown, this government stands committed to getting behind small business. I know they will. It is an honour to rise again in support of this motion and stand for small business.

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