Fiona Scott (Lindsay, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In the theme of the chamber this afternoon after the shocking and sad loss of Phillip Hughes, I also would like to add my voice to these very, very sad times. He was a young man of nearly 26, with his birthday on Sunday, a man of so much talent in what really is the one sport that unites our entire country. We might divide on rugby league, rugby union and AFL, but cricket unites us all. We have lost a talented young batsman. When you see balls such as that that ultimately took this young life, it takes you back to the days of bodyline and Don Bradman and the bouncers that he faced. It makes you look at what cricket means to our country. I have been sitting here in the last few moments looking through Twitter at the outpouring of emotion from his cricket mates, friends and family, and it is just heartbreaking. I, too, would like to place on the record the sad loss of Phillip Joel Hughes. May he now rest in peace.

Today I rise in support of the Treasury Legislation Amendment (Repeal Day) Bill 2014. I rise today in support of all business, big and small. For too long these businesses, especially small businesses, have been burdened by unnecessary red tape which has placed heavy demands on owners as well as reduced productivity and investment, stifled job creation, generated uncertainty and sapped confidence. Today I stand here in support of the Treasury Legislation Amendment (Repeal Day) Bill 2014, which reduces compliance burdens on business owners. The bill implements a range of improvements to Australia's laws and removes costly and unnecessary red tape, a promise we made during the election and a promise we will continue to fulfil way into the future.

This year, we cut $2.1 billion worth of red tape to make life easier, help small business, strengthen our economy and create more jobs. For the first time in history, the Abbott government, to which I am proud to belong, has dedicated two days of parliament each year to removing red tape. During the spring red tape repeal day on 29 October, nearly 1,000 pieces of legislation and regulation, totalling 7,200 pages, were scrapped.

I have listened to the concerns of the people of Lindsay about the burden of red tape right across the electorate, from large manufacturing businesses in St Marys, such as Baker & Provan, a business that has been manufacturing Supercats that will join our military, to specialty businesses along high street Penrith and my regular cafes, such as Belle Saveur and Henri Marc. They are all concerned about too much paperwork. They want running their businesses to be that much easier. That can only be done by reducing unnecessary regulation.

As a result of the recent red tape reduction, nearly half a million small businesses are now exempt from pay-as-you-go requirements, and around 1.4 million myTax users will be able to use pre-populated income tax returns, saving countless hours and costs. Access to government services is now much simpler with seven services now available through the one myGov website. There is practical red tape relief across the board, from one-stop shops for environmental approvals to major projects that hire companies no longer needing to register concrete mixers as vehicles.

Local businessman and Executive Board Member of the Penrith Valley Chamber of Commerce John Capes has experienced firsthand what it is like to run his own business. He wrote to me describing his experiences and how this bill will help his printing business in Penrith. John said: 'I am a small business owner and have been so for over four years. I am an owner of a local weekly newspaper; I have a consulting business and I assist my partner in running her printing business. Prior to that I worked in the corporate sector for in excess of 20 years. Small business is the largest employer collectively in Australia but a small voice when compared to other industries. My lovely partner, Sharon, and I have four boys and are very much entrenched in the local community of Penrith. As an active member of the community, I sit on charity boards; I am an active member of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service; I sit as an executive at the Penrith Valley Chamber of Commerce, to which we are very passionate about; and we are passionate about being part of the community of Penrith.

'My experience in the corporate sector hid the challenges that small business owners face every single day in running their own businesses. Now, as a small business owner, I can fully appreciate the issues that we all face in dealing with all levels of governments and ensuring compliance with legislation and regulations. This is no more evident than dealing with the taxation laws at the ATO, which I have found my fair share of issues with. Most of us, I am sure, find taxation laws cumbersome, complex and time-consuming.'

Mr Capes went on to say: 'Unlike most corporate employers, small businesses are usually required to deal with meeting all of their reporting outside of normal trading hours as their lives continue with running their businesses. Their focus can be drawn from one thing to another as they focus on just trying to make a living. Currently, I would spend in excess of 10 hours per week on paperwork that ensures I am compliant with one or more levels of government. If the changes in taxation and superannuation under repeal day allows easy and simplified reporting for businesses, this needs to be congratulated, although more needs to be done to improve the time which small business spends on the area of taxation.'

The Penrith Valley Chamber of Commerce also commented on this bill: 'The Penrith Valley Chamber of Commerce congratulates the government on its reduction 'redpeal' day. Gina Field, President, applauded the simplifications made today in reducing particularly complex provisions and simplifying the administrative burden in the superannuation act as positive for employers and employees alike. We would urge the government to continue simplifications similar to this. Anything that makes legislation easier to understand and implement can only be viewed as positive.'

As you can see, this bill makes legislation easier and takes stress out of paperwork. In amends various laws relating to taxation, superannuation and shareholdings in certain financial sector companies to implement a range of improvements to Australia's laws. Schedule 1 of this bill amends the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 to repeal the pay slip reporting provisions. Under the Fair Work Act, employers are already required to report details of employees' superannuation entitlements that accrued during a particular pay period on an employee's pay slip. Repealing the pay slip reporting provisions will save employers from investing in major upgrades in their payment system software with minimal benefits to their employees.

Schedule 2 simplifies taxation laws by consolidating duplicated provisions from various taxation acts into a single set of provisions in the Taxation Administration Act 1953. This act also repeals redundant taxation laws such as the harsh penalty regimes and moves longstanding regulations into primary law. Cleaning up tax laws is very important in taking care of our tax system.

Schedule 3 amends the Financial Sector (Shareholdings) Act 1998 to remove the deemed shareholding applied to an associate where the associate has no actual shareholding in the company.

Schedule 4 addresses the fact that the definition of 'Australia' for taxation purposes is complex, overly detailed and expressed differently in different parts of the taxation law. Schedule 4 rewrites the definition of 'Australia' into a single location in the tax law for use across tax laws in a simple, coherent form.

It is with great pleasure that I note that the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister is, in fact, here today. He needs to be commended. We went to the last election saying $1 billion year on year, but he has delivered $2 billion, so a gold star to the member. This is fabulous legislation. This is legislation that is actually going to make life so much easier for so many small businesses right across our country. This is why it is important we get this legislation through. That is why it is important that we are out there making life easier for Australians when they deal with any interface with government, be it the tax office, Centrelink or any of the other administrative services that we work with. The work that has been done here through so many pages and pages of legislation is absolutely commended. I do absolutely thank the member for his assistance.

Those opposite left us with 21,000 new regulations. Those are regulations that burden so many Australians businesses. It put so many shackles around the necks of so many businesses right across Lindsay. Leading into the last election, it was one of those things that small business owners would come and speak to me about. They were angry about the constant regulation and changing of the rules—the shifting of the sands. They want to see a government that is there for them, making their life easier. That is what this legislation is about. That is why I stand here today again with this repeal day legislation. Every time the parliamentary secretary puts another repeal day up, I will be speaking on the great work which will be for the people of Australia.