Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

And we are doing this by doing the simple things. I see those opposite say that this is trivia, that this is trivial—that removing red tape and regulation is trivial. I can see now why they boasted so much when they just put legislation upon legislation upon legislation through this place and thought it was wonderful. They thought it was wonderful, just weighing down our economy. Unbelievable!

Productivity in this century is not going to be gained for businesses and individuals by applying more and more regulation, by making people work longer and harder by requiring them to do more paperwork. It is going to succeed and it is going to improve by making people work smarter and work faster. In these repeal bills, we see this writ large because here we have technology delivering the necessary productivity dividends. Here we see technology reducing the red tape and regulation. In this latest legislation, over $80 million in savings is being achieved by putting services online or making online processes simpler for all Australians.

Those opposite might consider that as trivial; we on this side do not. We on this side see this as getting government out of people's lives. We do not want government in people's lives. We want people to have the pleasure of being able to live their lives with the amount of government in their lives reduced. We are not like those opposite, who want to legislate to have government in every part of their lives. We actually want to remove government from their lives so that they can get on with doing what they want to do.

That is what this legislation is about, and that is why we have $80 million in savings by putting services online or making online processes simpler for Australians. We want to let Australians communicate with the government from home or even on their smartphones because that frees them to be able to use spare moments, where they might be twiddling their thumbs, to deal with government, rather than when they can be productive when it comes to their businesses.

The bill will implement extra power to the already successful myGov website to allow Australians to update their details online and in one place. Rather than having to visit a Centrelink or contact a government office, Australians will be able to carry out this task when they want to, any time of day or night. There will be no more dashing out during the lunch hour or stopping work for an errand. This is a simple government change to make life simpler for Australians.

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