Andrew Leigh (Fraser, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Unfortunately the member for Longman made no attempt to answer the question—which I asked him under 66A—as to how his constituents would benefit from the removal of the hyphen in the word 'e-mail'. He made no attempt to answer that question—and he is now scurrying from the chamber—because the answer is that it does not help his constituents at all. Instead, he engaged in another orgy of Canberra bashing, which those on the other side of the House are so fond of doing.

On breakfast TV, the Treasurer was happy to joke about how the election of a Liberal government would drive down house prices in Canberra. Those on the other side of the House so often seem to think that the residents of Canberra are their punching bag to be used in their political stunts, rather than good, honest men and women in a great city who are working hard, just as the people in Longman are. To recognise the decency of Canberrans is something that I think all members of this House should be able to do, given that all members of this House are residents of or guests in this great city.

Regulation per se should never be the enemy. Regulation ensures that our balconies do not fall down, that the wheels stay on our cars and that we know the food we buy at the local shop is safe. Regulation ensures that we get to lead safe, decent and productive lives. The member for Longman referred—as many members opposite have done—to one of their favourite talking points: 21,000 new or amended pieces of legislation under the Labor government. What they will never tell you is that, of those 21,000, 3,400 were air safety directives. Do those members opposite really believe that those 3,400 air safety directives should not have been passed? If so, let them go to their constituents and explain why they believe that air safety directives are not appropriate.

Also, of the 21,000, 4,200 were tariff concession orders—tariff concession orders specifically requested by business to save them money. Do those opposite believe that those 4,200 tariff concession orders should not have been granted—that the government should have said to business: 'No, we are not going to do it. It involves a regulation which will help you, but because we are so antiregulation we will not have it.'

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