Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am very happy to comply with the relevant standing orders, unlike members opposite. This amendment bill is extremely important. It is not a charade. It is not a sham. It is not a pretend bill. This is a real bill amending all of the different statutes which require a reduction in red tape in our society—and there are many. We heard from the previous government they did this as a matter of course. We have heard, from many speakers, that they did it secretly in many cases: 'This was just an ordinary day in the office for us—we came into parliament, we moved a bill and we changed spellings and deregulated by stealth.' It was so effective you never even saw it! That was the problem. It was so effective you never did see deregulation from the previous government. You never did hear about it; it was deregulation by stealth, the opposition would have us believe.

We know, of course, there is no such thing as deregulation by stealth. The previous government added enormous amounts of statutes and regulations to the bill—20,000 new acts and repeals—and that was a great addition to the burden of red tape on the Australian people. We do not accept the deregulation by stealth argument the opposition has put forward. We do not accept that this deregulation and removal of red tape is unnecessary in Australia today, because when you talk to businesses or people in the community, they are calling for many of the things that are in this amendment. They are saying: 'These are the things that are delaying our days, when we trying to get business done, when we are trying to employ people and trying to expand our business and its impact on the community.' These are the sorts of things that are taking up their time.

There are many good features you will find in this particular bill. In fact, this particular spring session is the second. I think the Manager of Opposition Business is about to pull a very big tactic because he is so frightened of deregulation. What have you got to hide, as an opposition, about deregulation? (Quorum formed) I am grateful to the Manager of Opposition Business for bringing in such an illustrious audience to hear about why the Abbott government is doing so much to cut red tape and cut regulations off Commonwealth statutes. I know that the members who have joined us are great advocates of deregulation and the government's deregulation agenda. Really, if the Manager of Opposition Business would spend as much time drafting questions—there is something coming up called question time—as he has mucking around tactically here, calling a brilliant House quorum on me, you might have a better standard of questions in question time. It is just a thought—not that I am trying to help over there. More time drafting questions is probably needed.

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