Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

That is worth contrasting with the last parliament, the 43rd, which passed half an act of parliament every single day.

Between 2007 and 2013, under the former government, some 21,000 new regulations found their way into national life. No doubt, some of these were good and necessary but some, clearly, were overkill at best. Why should a long day care centre with 15 staff and 75 places have to do paperwork, said to cost on average $140,000 a year which is $2,000 a child or nearly $10,000 a staff member? The result of this are fewer child care services and higher prices for the ones that exist.

Why should a Sydney cafe that serves alcohol and has outdoor seating be subject to 21 local, 29 state and 25 Commonwealth regulations or sets of regulations? That is 75 different hoops to jump through that mean higher costs for businesses and fewer jobs for Australians.

Why should Australian medical researchers collectively put 500 years of work into preparing grant applications of which only 20 per cent succeed? That is time not put into finding cures for disease. Likewise, why should every Australian university be required to report more than 50 sets of data to the Commonwealth Department of Education and a further 50 to other government entities? Again, this is time and money that is not directed to teaching and research.

Of course, government should be confident that standards are maintained and that taxpayers' money is accounted for, but it is too easy for officials to do their job at others' expense in the name of safety or accountability.

A reason why bricks and mortar retailing is losing out to online sales is the compliance costs that shops face, from planning regulations to product standards. A reason why our farmers find it hard to compete is that one dollar in every six of their earnings, the NFF says, is spent on compliance.

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