Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

As I was saying, the previous government's decisions imposed such a level of red tape and saw 500,000 people fewer employed as a result of those decisions. Added to that is the $1 billion a month in interest imposed by the previous government. That is a huge burden right across the economy, which is certainly felt in small business.

We have taken a very direct approach to this. We all know that bad regulation and too much regulation compromises productivity—one of the measures we have to assist this country in achieving what it needs to achieve and to improve the budget bottom line. We also know that too much regulation deters investment. As you would know well from your experience as an engineer Madam Deputy Speaker Andrews, it certainly deters investment and innovation in all fields. And it costs jobs. Productivity fell in 2013.

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