Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to commend the member for Forde for his speech, in particular about small business. It's so important that we continue to be a voice for small business in this House and understand not only the opportunities but also the threats that small businesses face, and that's something I am passionate about and will continue to be while I'm in this role.

As Australia's business environment evolves and adapts to global events and technological advances, so too regulation needs to evolve. The purpose of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Modernising Business Communications and Other Measures) Bill 2022 is to maintain and improve treasury legislation to ensure it remains current and relevant. This legislation implements reforms spearheaded by the former coalition government that reduce red tape, lower the cost of doing business and support digital innovation in the delivery of core business functions. This legislation is significant because rapid digital and technological advances continue to be a feature of the business and consumer environment. However, regulation has not always kept pace. It is vital, as legislators, that we do all we can to ensure regulation keeps pace with technological advancements, to unleash economic growth and also to ensure consumers, businesses and infrastructure are safe from cyberattacks.

According to the Financial Services Council, this bill will make communication requirements technology neutral, benefiting consumers, creating faster turnaround times and improving accessibility for rural and regional businesses and communities, including businesses in my electorate of Casey. It is a great example of the importance of updating legislation to allow a digital environment to flourish for the benefit of all Australians. This makes it all the more worrying that this Labor government does not think the digital economy is important. They have decided not to have a minister responsible for it and either do not understand its significance to Australia's future or just don't care. Any business owner you talk to will tell you that the cost and burden of compliance, along with staff shortages, is their No. 1 issue and their biggest constraint. Independent research has estimated that the annual cost to the economy from red tape is $176 billion a year. Red tape's cost to the economy is more than just the direct cost. It includes businesses never started, jobs never created and the ambitions that are never fulfilled due to bureaucratic interference. I don't have to remind this side of the House that, when business—from the sole trader up to the big employers—does well, Australia does well.

What does this bill do? This legislation reintroduces measures advanced before the election to modernise AGM and other business communication rules and provides an initial response to the Australian Law Reform Commission review into financial services legislation. The bill implements law-improvement measures across four streams: technology-neutral communications in schedule 1, recommendations of the ALRC review in schedule 2, the rationalisation of ASIC instruments in schedule 3 and minor and technical amendments in schedule 4. The amendments in schedules 2 to 4 are made largely within existing policy parameters. Temporary changes, where necessary, were enacted by the government during COVID, and showed the ability of businesses to adapt and respond quickly to changing environments. These changes were around virtual meetings and the electronic execution of documents to ensure businesses could continue to operate and meet their legal obligations. These measures have now been made permanent. This is an important change, which will continue to drive efficiency for businesses, which is so crucial to our future economic success as a nation.

The amendments within schedule 1 are the most significant to most Australians. They amend the Corporations Act and other Commonwealth acts to modernise communication methods available to consumers, businesses and regulators when interacting with each other by extending the global communications regime—allowing members of certain entities to receive documents in either hard copy or electronic form and providing relief to entities that are unable to contact members under the Corporations Act—and by ensuring that regulatory bodies in the Treasury portfolio can hold hearings and examinations using technology. It also updates payment provisions in Treasury laws to allow electronic payments to be used and replaces requirements in Treasury laws that notices be published in newspapers with a requirement that notices be published in an accessible and reasonably prominent way.

The Corporations Act has almost doubled in size since 2001 and contains over 14,500 internal cross-references. Combined with the coalition's further reforms, this bill is expected to reduce the regulatory burden on businesses by more than $500 million per year. This project is no small task, with Treasury portfolio laws covering over 50 acts that contain thousands of provisions spanning corporations law; taxation, competition and consumer policy; and financial sector regulation. This needs to be the beginning, not the end, of reducing red tape and supporting deregulation.

Businesses need a government that listens to them, not one that tells them that government is at the centre of the economy. Sadly, this government's policies, its public statements and even its essays demonstrate that it isn't listening and has the wrong priorities. After promising to work with business, this government has released a wave of new regulation and a ministry whose instincts and reflexes are to stifle business. At a time of rising interest rates, high inflation and a need to support economic growth over the medium term, business needs to be supported and nurtured. Australians need a government that supports their aspirations and supports enterprise to drive innovation, create jobs and deliver prosperity.

Australia faces unique economic challenges this year. Inflation is likely to stay higher for longer than first expected, 800,000 Australian mortgage holders are due to switch from fixed to variable interest rates and the real risk of a global economic downturn exists. But businesses big and small are rightly identifying the issues and the solutions to Australia's current economic challenges. Last week Ernst & Young's chief economist, Cherelle Murphy, called for the government 'to take pressure off the economy and the RBA by delaying their own spending', and said that 'governments don't need to be adding fiscal stimulus and working at cross-purposes with the RBA'.

Legislation the government plans to pass in the next year calls for a mammoth $36.5 billion of extra borrowing for extra spending. The government insists this won't drive up demand and affect inflation. While the Treasurer says these funds will not affect the budget, the money still has to be borrowed. Its impact will still be felt across the economy and make the task of taming inflation much harder.

In the past week, the Australian Industry Group's, the Business Council of Australia's and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry's prebudget submissions have all echoed the coalition's calls since the October budget to restore the fiscal guardrails, to rein in spending and to drive productivity reforms that support business to invest, to grow our economy and to employ more Australians. The government should listen to these calls to provide relief to the challenges Australians are facing today. The government should listen to business and prioritise solutions that reduce pressure on inflation and secure Australia's economic prosperity.

Driving productivity is a crucial lever to help Australians navigate the economic challenges we face. A key driver of improved productivity, as this bill demonstrates, is through technology and embracing the digital economy. By not appointing a minister for the digital economy, it is just another example of a prime minister who doesn't understand the economy and has no plan to tackle the economic challenges we face. We know that Australia's digital activity value-add increased by 7.4 per cent in 2019-20, compared with a two per cent increase for the total Australian economy. This is a huge value-add for our economy. It is vital that we continue to build digital skills across our economy. We must help small and medium-sized businesses build their digital capability and we must continue to invest in the technologies of the future.

Supporting small business with their technological capabilities is not just about their productivity and economic growth; it's about allowing those small-business owners, those farmers and those tradies to get their work done and get home to spend more time with their families. Tradies start on the tools because they love it. They didn't join to do admin and paperwork. Technology can allow them to do what they love, build their business, support their family and spend more time with their loved ones.

The coalition have made a range of practical proposals which put aspirational Australian families and businesses at the heart of our policy agenda. Across the country, the coalition's team are meeting with small-business owners, employers and community organisations to hear their issues and concerns. In Casey I have met with many local small businesses almost every day, and they are worried. The main concerns they raise are increased demand for food relief, rising energy prices, skills shortages and engaging young people in the value of work. I listen to them, and I will fight for them, and they deserve a government that listens to them. They deserve a government that understands the opportunities and benefits to small business that a digital economy can bring. A minister for the digital economy is a vital part of maximising the digital economy, Australia's economic growth and a secure future.

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