Peter Hendy (Eden-Monaro, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Productivity) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Today I am introducing the Omnibus Repeal Day (Spring 2015) Bill 2015, the Amending Acts 1990 to 1999 Repeal Bill 2015 and the Statute Law Revision Bill (No. 3) 2015.

These bills are a part of the government's efforts to clean up the Commonwealth's statute book. Collectively, these three repeal day bills will repeal over 900 Commonwealth acts, making it easier for users of Commonwealth legislation to find and access regulations.

The omnibus bill is a whole-of-government initiative to amend or repeal legislation that is not the subject of individual stand-alone bills.

This omnibus bill alone will amend or repeal legislation across 14 Commonwealth departments. Much of this legislation is either spent or redundant and has remained on the Commonwealth's statute books well after fulfilling its purpose.

For example, the omnibus bill will repeal the Wool International Act 1993 and the Wool International Privatisation Act 1999 from the Agriculture and Water Resources portfolio. These two acts are both redundant because WoolStock Australia Limited was wound up and delisted from the Australian Stock Exchange in 2001.

The omnibus bill will also abolish the Medical Training Review Panel and simplify approved provider obligations in the area of aged care within the Health portfolio.

In October 2014, members of the Medical Training Review Panel identified an overlap between their functions and those of the National Medical Training Advisory Network. Part of the advisory network's functions is to provide advice on medical workforce planning and medical training plans to inform government, employers and educators. Given this focus, it was agreed that the advisory network could pick up the panel's annual reporting obligations on medical education and training and the panel's role would cease.

We do not need two bodies to do the same job.

The omnibus bill will also simplify legislation in the Health portfolio. For example, the bill will improve the administration of residential aged care by amending provisions in the Aged Care Act 1997. Provisions within the act require approved providers to notify the Department of Health of changes in key personnel in their employment within 28 days. In cases where an employee leaves and is replaced by another, this would constitute two notifications to the department even if neither change materially affected the quality of care. Examples of unnecessary regulations can matter—the department receives in the order of 10,000 notifications from aged-care providers each year.

In spite of these amendments, the Aged Care Act 1997 will still require approved providers to notify the department of changes in circumstances that materially affects the provider's suitability to provide care.

Simple but sensible changes provide scope to reduce the unnecessary notification regime without undermining the quality of care. This will reduce compliance costs for businesses and community organisations who are approved aged-care providers. The Department of Health has estimated that this will lead to an annual saving of $1.16 million in compliance costs.

The omnibus bill will also repeal part 3 of the Fisheries Administration Act 1991, which establishes the Fishing Industry Policy Council. Why might we do this, Deputy Speaker? The fact is that the council has not convened since the legislation was enacted in 1991.

The same consultation and advice functions that the council was supposed to provide have been fulfilled by other working groups and committees. This includes fisheries management advisory committees and ad hoc representative committees, such as that formed for the reviews of the Commonwealth harvest strategy and bycatch policy.

The omnibus bill will also amend various acts in the communications and the arts portfolio to remove duplication.

The Broadcasting Services Act 1992, Interactive Gambling Act 2001, Radiocommunications Act 1992 and the Telecommunications Act 1997 will be amended to repeal duplicative provisions. There exists a range of different, if not confusing, consultation requirements in the portfolio which required rule-makers to consult before making certain legislation instruments.

Consultation is not being affected.

The provisions proposed for repeal involve a variety of inconsistent approaches to the time and method of consultation. In some cases, the consultation periods in question range from 14 to 60 days. Some of the consultation provisions in question require publication on a website; while some require publication in multiple newspapers. There is no policy rationale for this inconsistency and inflexibility.

Not only is this confusing, but the repealed consultation provisions are unnecessary. Section 17 of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003requires a rule-maker to be satisfied that appropriate and reasonably practicable consultation has been undertaken prior to making a legislative instrument.

Users of Commonwealth legislation should not have to sift through outdated, unnecessary regulations to determine whether they still apply.

The omnibus bill will also repeal a number of spent acts, such as the Statistical Bureau (Tasmania) Act 1924. The act approved an agreement between the Commonwealth and Tasmania to integrate the statistical office of Tasmania into the Commonwealth, and for the Commonwealth to compile and issue statistics specifically for Tasmania.

Integration of statistical functions is complete and these statistical services compiled by the Commonwealth are now obsolete. The act has served its purpose and can be repealed.

Similarly, the Papua and New Guinea Loan (International Bank) Act 1970is redundant. The act related to a Commonwealth guarantee on a loan made to Papua New Guinea by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development in 1973. The bank has confirmed that the loan has been repaid in full and hence the act can be repealed.

Allowing spent and redundant acts or provisions to remain in force on the Commonwealth's statute book does not serve any purpose. It only makes it harder for businesses, community organisations, families and individuals to find out about the regulations that matter to them.

To date and subject to the passage of legislation through parliament, in total this government has taken decisions to repeal over 10,000 legislative instruments and around 3,600 acts of parliament.

Through the omnibus bill, the AAR and the SLR bills, this government is continuing to demonstrate its commitment to make steady and consistent progress to reduce red tape.

Proper housekeeping is part of every government's responsibility to ensure that the rules the parliament agreed to in the past continue to remain 'fit for purpose'. I call on both Houses to show bipartisan support for the omnibus bill and its non-controversial measures. This will clear up the Commonwealth's statute book and remove the redundant and unnecessary legislation that have outlived their purpose.

I thank the Office of Parliamentary Counsel and others for the significant time and effort that went into preparing this important omnibus bill.

With this, I commend the Omnibus Repeal Day (Spring 2015) Bill 2015 to the House.

Debate adjourned.

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