Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) the previous Labor Government introduced more than 21,000 additional regulations in five and a half years and as a consequence, Australia:

  (i) ranked 128th out of 148 countries for burden of government regulation according to the 2013 World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Index; and

  (ii) came second last in a 2012 ranking of productivity growth by the Economist Intelligence Unit;

(b) the Government has a deregulation agenda to cut $1 billion in green and red tape each year;

(c) on 26 March 2014 the Government held the first ever red tape repeal day, removing over 10,000 pieces and 50,000 pages of legislation and regulation saving over $700 million in compliance costs; and

(2) commends the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister for his effective management of the Government's deregulation agenda.

Bureaucracy and regulation: these are two words that most Australians hate as an individual, as a family or as a business owner. We hate these words, yet every one of us is responsible for either creating more unnecessary red tape and regulation or for implementing it. I am sure there are plenty of people outside this place who would question that claim, as the general belief is that it is only government that creates unnecessary bureaucracy and regulation while it is the business owners and families who are forced to deal with that burden.

The reality is that if it were only government who created unnecessary regulatory burdens, then perhaps Australia would not have come second last in the 2012 ranking of productivity growth by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Instead, as identified in the Deloitte Access Economics latest productivity report, Get out of your own way: Unleashing productivity, which was released in October last year, the cost of complying with self-imposed rules created by the private sector is double that associated with government regulations. The self-imposed rules of the private sector cost $155 billion a year, $21 billion to develop and administer and a stunning $134 billion a year in compliance costs. I do, however, note that the report went on to say that not all compliance is bad, and much of it is necessary. The issue is that many of the rules that are put in place either overcompensate or carry a heavy burden that is not justified on a reward-risk basis.

I am the first to admit that government does play a significant role in creating red tape as well, but I do highlight that, despite the public perception, this is half that of what the private sector does with an estimated 94 billion. The key difference here, though, is that this coalition government has recognised the impact of those unnecessary regulations on the economy and has introduced a systematic deregulation agenda to not only stop further burdensome practices being introduced but also remove those pieces of legislation that have already been passed by this place and the other where it is appropriate to do so. This need to remove the regulatory burden on our economy is something the coalition has recognised for many years, including the 5½ long years we were forced to look on as the former Labor government introduced 21,000 additional regulations—regulations which hinder business and hurt the hip pocket of every Australian.

Members know that the mining tax and the carbon tax were two of Labor's biggest contributors to reducing Australia's international competitiveness and two of their most monumental policy failures. Members would also know that, thanks to this coalition government, both of these onerous taxes are now gone and their burden removed from business and government. This was not just a financial burden at a grassroots level either; it was also a significant red-tape liability that constituted 29 different acts and 1,625 pages of additional burdensome regulation and legislation. While those opposite created regulation which led to this great country embarrassingly being ranked 128th out of 148 countries for burden of government regulation, according to the 2013 World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Index, this coalition government is instead doing everything we can to scrap it in the same way we scrapped the mining tax and the carbon tax.

Unlike those opposite, we have also systematically managed and implemented this policy initiative. We are not just closing our eyes and putting a cross through some legislative practices—which, dare I say, is about the level of competence those opposite showed while in government. Instead we are methodically looking at every government portfolio and are working with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel to ensure every decision is weighed and measured. I have done the weighing and I have done the measuring, fellow colleagues, and I must say that a $1 billion annual red-tape reduction target is a lot of regulatory weight to remove from government and, by extension, from business. This is a lot of weight but the coalition government is not one which shirks such tasks, which is why last year we exceeded this target by more than $1 billion, taking the total reduction in compliance costs to $2.1 billion.

I am also pleased to say that the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, Christian Porter, the member for Pearce, last week announced an additional $305 million in net red-tape reduction, putting us on track to meeting that $1 billion target again this year. I commend Mr Porter for his commitment to and effective management of the government's deregulation agenda, along with the former parliamentary secretary, Josh Frydenberg, the member for Kooyong, for implementing the first two repeal days last year. Each of these red-tape reductions is supporting businesses and supporting every individual by making their interactions with the government less complex and costly. An important example of this has been achieved through creation of myGov—a one-stop shop for a range of services, including Medicare and MyTax. I support this motion and I look forward to hearing from the other speakers.

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