Teresa Gambaro (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak in favour of the Omnibus Repeal Day (Spring 2015) Bill 2015, the Amending Acts 1990 to 1999 Repeal Bill 2015 and the Statute Law Revision (No.3) Bill 2015. With more than 30,000 businesses in my electorate of Brisbane, I dare say there are few in Australia who would welcome this legislation more than many of the businesses in the electorate of Brisbane. It will help people in a very, very practical way. As someone who has been brought up in small business all her life, I fully understand the time that is consumed with red tape—the amount of time consumed after hours filling out forms and surveys. It is an endless complaint that many businesses have in my electorate. I have very small, diverse businesses in my electorate—from little Italian biscuit manufacturers such as Dolce Sapori in Clayfield to some of the largest law firms like Clayton Utz and Freehills in the CBD. I know that these reforms are very wide ranging and are going to have a very positive effect on the business community throughout the Brisbane electorate.

The coalition made a commitment before the last election to reduce red tape by $l billion annually. We have achieved that, with a target of $4.5 billion in red-tape savings announcements in the first two years. I thank the member for Kooyong for the wonderful work that he has done in this area.

Mr Neumann interjecting—

The member opposite may well yell out at me, but we have actually delivered on what we said we were going to do. It is all in the stats. We have repealed 3,600 spent and redundant acts. You cannot deny that. I know he is a lawyer, so he understands what legislative instruments are. We have removed 10,000 legislative instruments from the Commonwealth books. For every $1 added to the cost of regulation, the government has made decisions that have cut $11. It is there to see.

The omnibus bill is a whole-of-government initiative to amend or repeal legislation that is not the subject of any individual stand-alone bills. The omnibus bill alone will amend or repeal legislation across 14 government departments, much of which is spent or redundant or has remained on the Commonwealth's statute books long after it has fulfilled 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 redundant because WoolStock Australia Ltd was wound up. Why do we have to have something there that has been wound up and was delisted from the Australian Stock Exchange in 2001?

At a decision-making level, we have also improved processes through this legislation. For instance, all cabinet submissions are now accompanied by an analysis of the regulatory cost and benefit, and that is a fantastic thing. We have also changed the way we approach regulation so that it is not seen as a costless way to address policy issues. The federal government now has a Regulator Performance Framework for Commonwealth regulators.

While we have come a long way unshackling the businesses that I spoke about just earlier from the regulatory burden put in place by previous governments, there is still a need to expand the regulatory reform agenda. Now is the right time to update our reform agenda, because regulatory reform should do more than just reduce compliance costs. It needs to support flexibility in our economy. It needs to encourage that innovation that we talk about and the innovation of the future. It needs to do that in the best possible way. We need to be free from some of these regulatory burdens so that businesses are free to grow and innovate.

To do this, we are focusing our regulatory reforms on the following: we are putting the needs of business and the broader community first, and that should be the first goal always; we are removing the regulatory obstacles that can stifle competition and new technologies; and we are continually reviewing ongoing regulations to make sure that they stay fit for purpose. We are working with the states, territories and local government to make sure that the reform potential continues. We have already seen evidence of that, particularly in states like Queensland, with a one stop shop, and making sure that we have more of these streamlined portals for business to go to.

I congratulate the Brisbane City Council for the wonderful work they do with their innovation and digital portal. It is probably one of the most advanced portals of any local government. They have led the way in this area, and I really do want to pay tribute to the great work they are doing with businesses, making sure that businesses are connected to all those processes.

Where regulation is necessary it has to be designed in the best possible way. It has to be fit for purpose and easy to comply with. Bad regulation, as we have heard from many of the persons who have spoken before me, costs time and money. It is a drag on people's businesses and on their time. More importantly, it is a drag on the economy.

In my own electorate I see it on a daily basis, where businesses, particularly SMEs are restricted by unnecessary paperwork. They want to make decisions quickly. They do not want to be buried in paperwork. We have seen this and we have seen the difficulty of regulatory regimes in adapting to digital disruptors, like Uber for example, or the rise of online retailing. Regulatory barriers can also hinder competition and the market forces that push firms to innovate and perform at their very best.

In an age of rapid technological changes we simply cannot set and forget. When it comes to rules and regulations, that is particularly important. We have to move ahead and we have to be flexible. Brisbane technology start-up Cloud Manager, for example, is charting new territory in cloud brokerage services. It is simply not good enough to provide standards for our current technological capabilities only. For possible advancements to be made for tomorrow we have to be flexible. We must provide those policy settings that promote regulatory innovation, as much as it promotes innovation in business.

This modern approach is also being adapted in government departments, with several being given a digital makeover. This reduces the time it takes to do business with the Department of Human Services. It will also trim all of those associated costs for individual businesses and community organisations by $61.6 million.

It should come as no surprise that the new tranche of reforms have a renewed focus on innovation and on productivity. Allowing spent and redundant acts or provisions to remain in force on the Commonwealth statute books does not serve any purpose. It only makes it harder for Brisbane businesses, community organisations, families and individuals to find out about the regulations that matter to them.

To date, and subject to the passage of the legislation through the parliament, in total this government has taken decisions to repeal 10,000 legislative instruments and 2,700 acts of parliament. Through the omnibus bill and the AAR and 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 the government's responsibility to ensure that the rules the parliament agreed to in the past continue to remain fit for purpose.

One of the most omnipresent structures most constituents in my electorate face is the tax system. We are committed to streamlining this process so that businesses and individuals can focus on growing the economy. I note that the Assistant Minister for Productivity is in the chamber. More productivity will result if businesses can just focus on the things that they do best. So we will continue to develop new ways to make our tax system easier to comply with. The latest tool, myDeductions, allows individuals to record their deductions using their phone, which is another great innovation. We are enhancing the ATO online services for individuals and sole traders. Legislation is giving businesses the freedom to communicate digitally. Brisbane is the financial and commercial capital of Queensland. We are making it much easier for the many hundreds of businesses dealing in the financial services sector to communicate important information to all of their consumers. Consumer preferences are changing. We see an ever-increasing number of people making digital transactions. That is why we allow product disclosure statements to be delivered to consumers digitally, unless the consumer opts out. This will reduce the cost of printing and mailing for businesses, while preserving the choice for consumers.

It is this same agenda of business-friendly reform that we are unfolding right now across this government's policy agenda. The government has also signed three free trade agreements, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, to further reduce the burden of regulation on business. In fact, many local businesses in my electorate, like Charlton Brown, Nanny Agency and Halfbrick Studio, that are taking full advantage of our policy achievements by exploring new markets and particularly engaging in these new free trade agreements.

It is important to recognise Brisbane's current economic outlook, and indeed that of Australia. There is no question that we have enjoyed more than 20 years of growth, thanks to the commodities boom and the structural reforms in our economy. However, this was never going to last. Therefore, this government is going to remain proactive in creating a policy environment in which we will allow businesses and individuals to transition to as seamless as possible diversified economy.

Where these bills will be useful is in increasing productivity, which is absolutely vital for our economy to grow and to prosper. While significant productivity-enhancing reforms can be difficult to achieve, our track record proves that we should never discount our nation's courage to embrace reform. As long as we are open and frank about the challenges we face, we build a case for change. The lasting benefits will be there for all to see.

For the sake of Brisbane businesses, we must ensure that this legislation is passed. I commend the bill to the House.

See this speech in context