Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I appreciate the opportunity to speak in relation to the Omnibus Repeal Day (Autumn 2015) Bill 2015, the Amending Acts 1980 to 1999 Repeal Bill 2015 and the Statute Law Revision Bill (No. 2) 2015. In rising today, I take the opportunity to inform the House of an event which I am sure the member for Moreton is particularly interested in, being the formation of a new Australian Air Force cadet squadron in Weipa, one of the few new squadrons to be created in Australia in the past 10 years. I had the opportunity on Saturday to attend a function for the official ceremony for the launch of 112 Squadron.

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I retweeted it.

Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Moreton quite kindly did support me on social media in raising the Australian community's awareness of this particular event. In attending this function, which the member for Moreton is so enthusiastic in his support of, it was terrific to see a number of young Indigenous children being given the opportunity to participate in what is the Australian government's premier youth development organisation, being the Australian Defence Force Cadets, whether it be Army, Air Force or Navy cadets. In this case the Air Force Cadets in Weipa will have in the order of 30, perhaps 40, young members who will be taught a range of skills and will have the opportunity to work together and not only to learn the values of leadership and teamwork but also to work directly with the Australian Air Force from time to time.

That opportunity presented, again, on the weekend when the young people of the Townsville cadet unit flew to Weipa to participate and welcome their new friends to the cadet unit. It was a terrific occasion and I sincerely thank the House for this opportunity to relay to those listening just what an event was. I know the member for Moreton, a good friend of mine, is very interested in youth development, right across the board. He has been particularly supportive of the cadet units as they have been involved in his electorate but also in other parts of Australia. The cadets across Australia provide a particularly important opportunity for young people to be engaged in something other than their individual pursuits. It gives them a sense of community and a sense of the importance of being part of something greater than themselves.

As I said to the young people and their families gathered on the weekend, this is one of our nation's great cultural institutions of civil society where we may need to invest more, to give more young people that opportunity. It concerns me that organisations like our cadets—or our surf-lifesaving nippers or other sporting organisations—are not accessible to all young people of our nation. It may be for socioeconomic reasons, where they cannot afford to participate, or for cultural reasons where, perhaps, they do not feel welcomed into those organisations. It is something I am very keen to pursue, in a bipartisan manner, with those opposite, to find ways of investing in youth development that give more young people the opportunity to participate in the cultural life of Australia.

I thank the House for this opportunity and now yield to my good friend the member for Wannon, who has joined us. As he is catching his breath I would like to inform the House that the member for Wannon is running in the Melbourne Marathon on the weekend. He will join me in the marathon. It will be my 10th marathon and his first Melbourne Marathon. I think the only time I will see him will be at the start. The member for Wannon is a very athletic soul and it is terrific he has been able to run to the chamber to save me from speaking more generally on the omnibus repeal bill!

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

by leave—I rise to speak in continuation on this Omnibus Repeal Day (Autumn 2015) Bill 2015, the Amending Acts 1980 to 1989 Repeal Bill 2015 and Statute Law Revision Bill (No. 2) 2015.

I would like to comment, with indulgence, on the member for Gippsland kindly referring to the Melbourne Marathon—which will take place this Sunday—and the fact that both of us will be participating in it. I enjoy my morning runs with the member for Gippsland and I think it will be a very even contest between the two of us. He has a different training regimen from me. One might say mine is the approach of a disciplined farmer's son and his is more eclectic. We do it in our own way but I am sure we will have a very pleasing battle and will be smiling at the finish line—hopefully not being carted off on a stretcher. I thank you for that indulgence, Mr Deputy Speaker.

Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I had not offered indulgence!

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

Thank you, then, for your silence while that indulgence took place, Mr Deputy Speaker; it was very kind of you.

I am in continuation on this omnibus bill and was referring to changes that the government had been making, through this bill, to make life easier for constituents across Australia. One way the government will be doing this is through Centrelink. It is achieved through the Tell Us Once service, available on myGov. It allows Australians to access a single account and one set of credentials for myriad government services and agencies. This alone will deliver compliance savings of $5.4 million, but the savings in gained productivity will be immeasurably more.

Since it was elected the government has been ensuring that it does everything it can to ease the regulatory burden on the average Australian citizen. The target has been a reduction of $1 billion in red tape, annually, and we have done this in the first two years of office. It makes sure that we diminish regulatory burden where it matters most for Australians and businesses, and it will continue to be a priority of the coalition government.

In a world of instant and ubiquitous communications technology we take for granted the access to a mobile phones, but we must be aware of what they can provide when it comes to driving efficiencies. For small telecommunications retailers and customers of prepaid mobiles, identity checks have previously been cumbersome and lengthy. They have deterred customers and slowed down what should be a simple business. This bill will make work easier for small businesses and telecommunications retailers, in particular.

We are making identity checks simpler and easier. This means that when someone wants to buy a prepaid mobile phone, that process is more common sense and faster. We all know, from family experience, how often mobile-phone technology is updated and how often we need to update that technology for ourselves, our kids or our partners et cetera. Once we have been through this process it is common sense that—through the checks around it—you do not have to continually fill out huge compliance forms.

This change will provide an annual compliance saving of $6.2 million. When you think of the size of the Commonwealth budget, $6.2 million is not an enormous figure, but we have seen through these regulatory repeals that every amount you can take out of the system, whether it be $6 million, $16 million or $160 million, adds up and does its little bit. It adds up for the citizens of this nation—the people we as a government are focused on delivering better outcomes to. A minute less for them in filling out a form, which is basically what this element does, is a minute more that they get to spend doing things that are of importance to them—with friends, with children et cetera.

But more than these measures, which are drops in the ocean of the regulation that we have yet to repeal in this package, we are also lifting restrictions on using personal electronic devices so travellers can use them during all phases of flights. That use of in-flight mode will mean annual compliance savings of $17.7 million. It will also mean that the member for Isaacs will not be threatened with being ejected from the plane for refusing to turn his phone off, which will no doubt be of great comfort to him. We all know that when we jump on board a plane is usually the time text messages start coming in and phones start ringing. I am sure many fellow travellers between Melbourne and Canberra will save time and be thankful for that.

We will also be improving the ATO website so that six million Australians can find relevant information more quickly. This simple idea will create annual compliance savings of $48.5 million. When you add these compliance measures up you start to see why we have been able to deliver savings of over $1 billion annually since we brought in these repeal days. Making life simpler and making government easier to deal with not only saves money but also creates productivity. Again, this is how we will deliver in this century—by harnessing technology to create productivity.

This bill also implements an easier monthly PAYG method for certain businesses. If you were to ask any small business owner in a rural or regional community what they would rather be doing, all of them would say serving clients and customers rather than doing paperwork for the government. These businesses that choose to use this new method of PAYG will only need to calculate their instalment income on a quarterly basis. With this paperwork burden gone, there will be an annual compliance saving of $2.7 million. Many of these small changes do not add up to hefty sums, as I was saying previously, but every dollar saved can be reinvested in the community to deliver even more productivity and returns for Australians.

Other measures introduced by this bill to create productivity include reforming the 457 visa program—streamlining the processing of sponsorship, nomination and visa applications to reduce the time and cost to businesses, providing annual savings of $29.9 million. We have removed the requirement for heavy vehicle operators of B-double truck combinations registered under the Federal Interstate Registration Scheme to fit additional spray suspension devices, providing annual compliance savings of $8.3 million. Students who receive government payments are now able to change their details online at a time that best suits them, without being required to contact a call centre or attend a service centre, providing annual compliance savings of $2.7 million. Certain types of low-risk animal feed for both stock and companion animals will be excluded from the need for Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority regulatory assessment to better align the registration requirements for stock and pet food with the well-understood risks associated with their ingredients and intended use patterns. This will provide annual compliance savings of $7.8 million. And a national assessment platform which will deliver the National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy, or NAPLAN, online is scheduled to be available to school staff from 2017, providing annual compliance savings of $9.7 million.

You can see, through all these measures, that this government is hell-bent on finding small, medium and large regulatory burdens so it can deal with what is occurring. This red-tape repeal day bill represents the government's continuing commitment to removing the burden of regulation from the lives of all Australians. All over Australia we are finding the remnants of a regulatory legacy, with excessive red and green tape weighing down businesses and individuals. When we came into government Commonwealth regulation was costing Australians $65 billion each and every year, which is more than the government spends on our largest welfare payment, the age pension, at $44 billion. This cost of $65 billion each year is a cost-equivalent of 4.2 per cent of our GDP to Australians and their businesses.

There is a lot more still to be done and, even though I have now given this speech across two sessions of this parliament, I re-emphasise the importance of our continuing to deregulate the economy, to unshackle the economy, to free the economy so that it can grow. We face serious challenges as a nation operating in a globalised world. We have to make sure that we can act in this globalised world in an efficient, effective and nimble manner. By reducing the regulatory burden we enable our businesses to do this. We have to ensure that we are in the top 10 when it comes to those nations that do not face a compelling regulatory burden. We are not there yet, but we as a government are determined to ensure that we will get there. This bill takes us down that path again, and I commend it to the House.

Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I acknowledge the previous speaker, the member for Wannon, and his comments. He made some very salient points. I want to start by saying that this repeal day legislation—and, as we know, this is the third one that we have had so far—is one of the most important things that we as a government are doing.

Since we have been in government we have made a lot of the Australian saying 'have a go'. In fact, we need everybody in Australia to have a go. We need them to, we will encourage them and we as a government will do everything we can to make sure that people who are having a go in a business or in a commercial sense are successful. For every business that a person has put their time and often some of their money into starting, a lot of wonderful things flow when they are successful. Obviously there are jobs created, there is commercial activity created and there is tax generated that we as a government need to redistribute, as we do. As a government, we do not create wealth; we simply redistribute it. We can redistribute that wealth to people and programs in our community, to those who need it.

So why is that important in relation to the red tape repeal day? I think if any person who has been in any level of government, whether it be local, state or federal, speaks to anyone from private enterprise in this country—big, medium or small—that person would say: 'I have too much paperwork. I have too much red tape to complete or fill out.' What does that mean? That means that the person in the company who is dealing with that red tape, especially when it is a small business that does not necessarily have a lot of resources, is taken away from being productive.

Yes, we obviously need certain red tape. There need to be protections in a whole array of areas to regulate businesses and regulate commercial activity. We are certainly not going to say we do not need regulation at all but, just anecdotally, if you were to travel around the globe and go to other countries, many people would say that Australia has unfortunately become one of the most expensive countries in the world to do business in. That is certainly not doing us any favours in this country or making us productive and competitive, because we are not operating in a vacuum. Almost regardless of what business you are in, you have if not domestic competitors then certainly international competitors. We need to remain nimble and, as I say, encourage people in this country to have a go and be successful.

We have announced that the total deregulatory saving since we were elected in September 2013 is $2.45 billion. I have quoted this figure a number of times as I have walked around my community, and the sad thing—and why this is a wonderful figure to achieve and to announce—is that people's main response to me is, 'Keep going,' because they have not noticed. That again highlights the importance of the fact that we are repealing unnecessary legislation.

Very importantly, for the first time we have a federal government that has undertaken a thorough and accurate stock take of the cost. We put a dollar amount to the regulatory burden that we are lifting. It is important that people can realise the cost of this regulation. We also have a very high degree of accuracy in publicly reporting to the parliament a downturn in the total amount and cost of federal regulation. We have a comprehensive and transparent program to reverse the growing costs of red tape and our goal, as I say, is to make things easier. One of the main things we think cutting red tape will do is help small businesses create more jobs and increase productivity, which is what they are telling us they want.

Under the former Labor government, Commonwealth regulation was costing Australians approximately $65 billion. That is about 4.2 per cent of GDP. Given that this is our third repeal day, we have made decisions to reduce the $65 billion cost burden by $2.45 billion. To date we have implemented $1.57 billion of that $2.45 billion, with $880 million still to be implemented by repeals that we have already announced. Following our third repeal day, we will have repealed more than 10,300 legislative instruments and introduced legislation to repeal over 2,700 acts of parliament. During the previous government, some 21,000 new regulations found their way into national life. So again we are reversing that trend.

As a result of our efforts in removing all this red tape, deregulation units have been established in every portfolio from existing resources to drive red-tape reduction across the Commonwealth. We are also working with the states and territories, because these red-tape costs traverse all levels of government.

As part of our commitment, we have dedicated two parliamentary sitting days as repeal days every year. The first repeal day, on 26 March 2014, announced measures that would result in gross savings in excess of $700 million in compliance costs. The second repeal day, in October 2014, resulted in net savings in excess of $2.1 billion in reduced compliance costs. As I said, the third repeal day, in March 2015, the lifts the regulatory burden by $2.45 billion in reduced compliance costs.

What are some of the key measures in this repeal day? Firstly, we are making it easier for certain businesses to pay monthly PAYG. This is going to deliver annual compliance savings of $2.7 million. We are reforming the 457 visa program by streamlining the processing of sponsorship, nomination and visa applications. We are reforming sponsorship requirements to reduce the time and cost to businesses and increasing the sponsorship approval period from 12 to 18 months for start-up businesses. We are providing greater flexibility in relation to English language testing and skill requirements. The annual compliance savings of that will be nearly $30 million.

We are also removing the requirement for heavy vehicle operators of B-double truck combinations registered under the Federal Interstate Registration Scheme to fit additional spray suppression devices. The annual compliance savings are $8.3 million.

We are also improving the ATO website so that six million Australians can find relevant information more quickly. Again, there are savings of close to $50 million.

As far as individuals go, we are implementing additional functionality for myGov users to allow customers to update their details in one place using the myGov Tell Us Once service to obtain secure and convenient access to online services with a single account and one set of credentials. Annual compliance savings there are $5 million.

We are making identity checks easier for retailers and consumers when consumers purchase new prepaid mobile phones, with savings of over $6 million. Restrictions on using personal electronic devices have been lifted so travellers can use their PEDs during all phases of flights, with annual compliance savings of $17.7 million.

There are also some specific ones for students.    Students who receive government payments are now able to change their details online without being required to contact call centres or attend a service centre, with annual compliance savings of $2.7 million.

For farmers and the agricultural sector—and, as we know, this is another sector that always has to remain very competitive in a globally competitive world—there are certain types of low-risk animal feed for both stock and companion animals that are now excluded from the need for Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority regulatory assessment. This change better aligns the registration requirement for stock and pet food with the well-understood risk associated with their ingredients and intended use patterns. The annual compliance savings are nearly $8 million.

The education sector does not miss out either. We are developing an online assessment platform which will deliver the National Assessment Program—Literacy and Numeracy, NAPLAN, online, scheduled to be available from 2017, with compliance savings are nearly $10 million.

Among the major measures announced in the first years of the government's agenda on cutting red tape, obviously we repealed many taxes. There was also the government's Document Verification Service, and we introduced a one-stop shop for other approvals.

For individuals, there was also the myTax initiative and measures to make it easier for Australians to access government services, especially Centrelink. Farmers and the agricultural sector also benefited from the reform of Australia's biosecurity arrangements. The Australian economic partnership agreement and the Korean free trade agreement delivered benefits for that sector as well.

We have also streamlined grants administration processes in the health sector for the National Health and Medical Research Council and made a range of other changes, resulting in a net red-tape saving of more than $150 million.

There were also some changes made in the building and construction industry. We removed some costly and time-consuming requirements under the Australian standard AS4801 or the equivalent prior to applying for a scheme accreditation, which made things easier for them.

Going forward—and I commend the minister responsible—we will continue with this. This is a very important part of the government's legislative agenda in the sense of repealing legislation. Again, we want to encourage every person in this country who has a go and who is putting their own money and time at risk to start up a business or, in fact, to carry out private enterprise. We want to get out of their way as much as we physically can, while still maintaining standards in what they do.

Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is my pleasure to rise and speak on this omnibus bill. As at the government's third repeal day, we have made decisions designed to decrease the $65 billion regulatory cost burden by a massive $2.5 billion. To date, we have implemented $1.57 billion in red-tape savings, with another $800 million in the pipeline. What we are seeing now is that Australia has the most precise, comprehensive and transparent program to reverse the growing costs of red tape on the Australian economy.

The coalition government has now very proudly repealed more than 10,300 legislative instruments and introduced legislation to repeal over 2,700 acts of parliament. The coalition set itself a target to reduce the regulatory burden by $1 billion a year. Not only did we exceed that net target by more than double in our first year, but we are now on our way to meeting a fresh, new $1 billion target for 2015.

For the first time in Australian history, a Commonwealth government has undertaken a thorough and accurate stock take of all federal regulatory costs and is consistently measuring and reducing the cost of Commonwealth government red tape on Australian businesses, organisations, families and individuals. In the last year of the former Labor government, Commonwealth regulation was costing Australians approximately $65 billion per year, and that is a remarkable 4.2 per cent of GDP. Now, for the first time, a Commonwealth government has, with a very high degree of accuracy, publicly reported to parliament a downturn in the total amount and cost of federal regulation.

As we have heard in some of the contributions before the parliament today, some of the key measures in the autumn 2015 repeal day include implementing additional functionality for myGov users to allow customers to update their details in one place using the myGov Tell Us Once service. That will help users obtain secure and convenient access to online services with a single account and one set of credentials. I know that in the past that has been very frustrating for users, so that will really streamline things considerably and make a real difference. Identity checks will be made simpler and easier for retailers and consumers when consumers purchase new prepaid mobile phones. That is an annual compliance saving of $6.2 million.

These red-tape savings have done things like lift restrictions on using personal electronic devices so travellers can use their PEDs during all phases of flights. That is a saving of $17.7 million. There has been an improvement to the ATO website so that six million Australians can find relevant information more quickly. That saving, and that time saving, has produced an annual compliance saving of $48.5 million. It will also now be easier to implement monthly PAYG payments for certain businesses. Businesses choosing this method of payment will only need to calculate their actual instalment income on a quarterly basis. That produces an annual compliance saving of $2.7 billion.

The 457 visa program has been reformed, streamlining the processing of sponsorship nomination and visa applications to reduce the time and cost to businesses. We have also removed the requirement for heavy vehicle operators of the B-double truck combinations registered under the Federal Interstate Registration Scheme to fit additional spray suppression devices, giving annual compliance savings of $8.3 million.

In many cases, these are very specific changes to the regulatory burden on particular businesses or industry sectors, but they are very important to those sectors. When I talk to small businesses in my electorate of Corangamite—and, very proudly, there are about 11,800 small businesses operating in Corangamite—it is not enough to say we need to fix the red-tape burden. Businesses need to specify, with a lot of detail, what the red-tape burden is and what we as a government need to do. We understand the problem, but what is the solution? What we are seeing is a government that addresses the problem, but also specifically looks at the solution.

I should add that students who receive government payments are now able to change their details online at a time that best suits them without being required to contact a call centre or attend a service centre. That gives annual compliance savings of $2.7 million. We all know how frustrating it can be on a call centre line. Perhaps my worst frustration is dealing with the Telstra call centre. When I ran a small business it was perhaps my biggest frustration and it still drives me nuts when I have to ring Telstra. So anything that we as a government can do to streamline these processes and minimise the time that people are waiting on phone calls produces a direct benefit to those particular businesses.

The coalition's goal is to make life easier for Australians, to make it easier for businesses to invest and to create more jobs. Those are our focuses: innovation, jobs growth, opportunity. In my electorate of Corangamite, we have a very strong focus on the smart jobs of the future. It was with absolute pride—and I spoke about this in the Federation Chamber this morning—that last week I helped open the Carbon Revolution factory, which is an absolute hub of innovation, assisted by the member for Sturt, the new Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, Christopher Pyne. It is a great example of what our government is doing to drive jobs growth in our region through the Geelong Region Innovation and Investment Fund. In our region, as with all other parts of Australia, we know how important it is to drive those jobs and opportunities.

Fifteen million dollars of the Geelong Region Innovation and Investment Fund, while announced by the previous government, has been delivered by our government. It has created in excess of 700 jobs. Very disappointingly, the state Labor government committed $7.5 million to that fund. Daniel Andrews and state Labor have reneged on the promise to commit that money to the fund. That is a terrible and appalling decision by state Labor. It is another terrible broken promise which has a direct impact on jobs in our region. Again, I call on Daniel Andrews and state Labor to commit and keep the promise to deliver $7.5 million into the Geelong Region Innovation and Investment Fund. I see that the likes of the member for Corio are completely silent, not saying a word about this terrible broken promise which has a direct impact on jobs. That money is critical for our region and Daniel Andrews cannot walk away from that commitment; he cannot walk away from that promise. We are just about to announce the next round of funding under the GRIIF, as it is called, which will deliver more jobs for many businesses across our region, but, of course, another $7.5 million would make an enormous difference.

Very recently, the national $14 million Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre was announced for Geelong. That will be established at Waurn Ponds, in the wonderful Deakin University industry precinct. That is going to be a game-changer for driving innovation and smart jobs in the advanced manufacturing sector, with a very strong focus on future fibres. The work that we are doing as a city on the future of carbon fibre, underpinned by Carbon Nexus and Carbon Revolution, is quite extraordinary.

I should also add that, as part of our government's drive for jobs growth, opportunity and innovation, we have very strong focus on investing in infrastructure. Across the region that I proudly represent, we are rolling out the NBN to some 40,000 premises right across the Golden Plains, the Surf Coast and the Colac-Otway region—a region that was forgotten by the previous government. The big challenge is the NBN rollout in Geelong. I am advocating very hard to be new Minister for Communications, Senator Mitch Fifield, that this rollout must be expedited in Geelong. We are getting on with the business of rolling out that infrastructure. For country communities, no program better demonstrates our commitment than our mobile phone base station program to fix mobile black spots across the country. Now $160 million has been committed. There will be 10 new mobile base stations across Corangamite. That will make an enormous difference in places like Kawarren, Gellibrand and Dereel—right across the areas affected by bushfire risk. We know how important communications are with bushfire being such a high risk throughout the Otway region and many other parts along the Surf Coast and throughout Victoria.

We are very proudly duplicating the Princes Highway between Waurn Ponds and Colac. We are upgrading the Great Ocean Road in partnership with the Victorian government. There is a $50 million commitment, with $25 million committed by our government and $25 million committed by the previous Liberal government. This is the road that federal Labor forgot. This is the road that they campaigned against. They saw no value in investing in the Great Ocean Road. That is federal Labor for you. But this project is vital for our region. It is an iconic road—the centrepiece of more than $2 million of economic activity in our region, and we are very proud about what that is doing in Lorne and Anglesea and down at Separation Creek and Wye River.

I am also proud to have launched a local campaign to duplicate the rail track between the South Geelong and Waurn Ponds stations. This is a very important project for our region. We have seen the regional rail link, and about $1.5 billion towards the regional rail link was actually delivered by our government—of course, it was started by the previous Labor government. But there are big problems with the regional rail link. The new timetables have forgotten country communities, particularly Colac. The new timetable no longer allows people living in Colac to get to work on time, if they are working in Melbourne, and it is even a struggle if they are working in Geelong. So we have seen the new Polwarth candidate, Richard Riordan, commit to six additional services coming to and from Colac—six extra services per week, which is fantastic. Labor cares so much about this issue that they have not even run a candidate in Polwarth. They have completely forgotten the Polwarth electorate and the Colac Otway region. It is terrific to see that Richard Riordan, the Polwarth candidate, has tackled this issue head on, and, under the leadership of Matthew Guy, the opposition leader, has addressed what is a critical issue.

I was very proud to take Warren Truss, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development, to see this very important project. It will mean a very big difference for people commuting from Marshall and from Waurn Ponds, and right along the railway to Colac. The single line really inhibits the number of passenger train services that can operate each day. Before 8 o'clock there are some 13 services from Geelong, but from Waurn Ponds and Marshall there are about half that number. Not only are we delivering this important infrastructure to help drive jobs growth and to help small businesses, but we are also fighting for new infrastructure. That is very important.

The other critical jobs growth opportunity, not just for your region but for Australia is our free trade agreements with China, South Korea and Japan, particularly for farmers and for agriculture. I have to say that it is with great disappointment that we are seeing a reckless and irresponsible campaign against the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement. If this agreement is not ratified and the enabling legislation is not passed quickly in this parliament, agriculture will miss out on two rounds of tariff cuts and $300 million in revenue to the agriculture sector. This is an incredibly important initiative and economic reform for Corangamite, for farmers, for agriculture and for the whole of Australia.

It is my great pleasure to speak on the omnibus bill. It is my great pleasure to support the government in its very strong efforts and achievements in cutting the regulatory burden on small business. It is my great pleasure, as the member for Corangamite, to continue my fight for jobs, for infrastructure investment and for the environment.

Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Obviously the member for Corangamite is passionate about her commuters and passionate about her farmers and the opportunities for their future. I know you have a few dairy farmers down there, as I do, and you are passionate about their opportunities under the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement. But I suppose the commuters are the ones who will benefit greatly from this bill and the bills associated with it. It is very pleasing to see that the member for Corangamite is prepared to fight for the issues that are important to her electorate.

So it is a pleasure to follow the member for Corangamite in speaking on the most important Omnibus Repeal Day (Autumn 2015) Bill 2015 and cognate bills. What we as a government are trying to do is make it easier to do business and create jobs in Australia. It is as simple as that. If there is less regulation rather than more regulation—although, we are a peculiar lot in Victoria because we actually like planning regulation quite a lot. We like to actually go through the process of having important red tape in place to protect what we have in the built environment and what we will have in the future in the built environment. We do not mind if it takes a little bit longer to get it done, as long as it is done well.

That will be the same for the rail service towards Waurn Ponds, in the seat of Corangamite. If that can be achieved by the member for Corangamite she will have achieved a great lot in the early part of what I hope will be a long career for her.

In this bill we are attempting to unshackle Australian businesses, or send a message to unshackle them, so that they can innovate and grow, as the member for Corangamite mentioned, and, most important to me, it will give them the opportunity to create more jobs for young people, which means that we are able to protect our older Australians, our very young Australians and our most vulnerable Australians. If you do not have a strong economy you cannot do any of those things. Not since the Howard government have we had that sort of economy.

But this is about red tape. I want to bring to the parliament's notice a direct example of what we are up against here as far as government red tape goes, and the need to address particular issues. I just happen to have a copy of a letter sent to me by Mary Aldred, Chief Executive Officer of the Committee for Gippsland. It says:

The Committee for Gippsland welcomes the Federal Government's efforts to reduce unnecessary and costly regulation and red tape. In fact today marks the Government's third Red Tape Repeal Day since October 2014. The commitment to reduce the cost of red tape by a net $1 billion each year is to be commended. While appreciating the need for necessary compliance and regulatory requirements, the duplication and inconsistent application of red tape costs businesses in your electorate.

The Committee for Gippsland wishes to raise to your attention one example of unfair, and unnecessary red tape. RubberTough Industries in Warragul is an importer and exporter of rubber products and materials.

This is a very innovative company.

Unfairly, they are compelled to pay a fee of $125 for 'tailgate examination' when bringing goods in through the Port of Melbourne. Over multiple container loads throughout the year, this fee can run into the thousands of dollars for a business like RubberTough—

which works out of Warragul—

reducing competition between city and country businesses.

For those who are listening, my electorate is 95 per cent geographically rural.

Taking goods past Dandenong is considered to be taking them to a 'country area' by the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service.

That was right 50 years ago; it is no longer right today because the South Gippsland Highway and the Princes Highway used to start at Dandenong, and that was considered Gippsland. Of course, it is not now. You are out at Pakenham before you see West Gippsland now.

The fee imposed is supposed to cover an AQUIS inspection, intended to prevent any pests being brought in to country areas where biosecurity protection of agricultural land is important. A copy of an invoice imposing this fee is attached.

The letter goes on:

In effect, this creates a two-tied system where importers gain an unfair advantage if they are not in a designated country area, against those who are. Furthermore, importers in country areas can in theory pay around $600 to put their products on a flat bed truck at Dandenong, and then truck them to a country area, without paying the tailgate fee, and therefore voiding any intended biosecurity protections.

In addition, many businesses like RubberTough are based in industrial zones, and their transport doesn't drive past any farms. This measure also doesn't take into account that containers should be properly inspected when docked at port, regardless of their destination after that.

This compliance fee is unfair, and discriminates against businesses in country areas. In reality, it doesn't provide any better biosecurity protections, and is costing businesses for no gain.

We urge the Federal Government to actively consider removing this costly and unnecessary example of excessive red tape.

Yours sincerely

Mary Aldred

Chief Executive Officer

I raise this letter with you because it has a direct effect on doing business in my electorate for a very innovative company, RubberTough, who have done amazing things and have amazing creations, with amazing opportunities for local sales and export sales. As a government and as a nation, we need to be supporting those innovative businesses that are doing wonderful work right across their part of the world and in the industries that they have made so important.

I commend this bill to the parliament. It is about cutting red tape, smaller government, saving businesses money and budget savings. We as a government are continuing to repeal outdated and unnecessary legislation and policies, which will mean that time and effort spent by businesses will be far better generated, meaning the jobs, opportunities and profits, of course, that go to making this country great. I thank the House.

Bruce Billson (Dunkley, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

From another vantage point, I am thrilled to be able to make a contribution to the Omnibus Repeal Day (Autumn 2015) Bill 2015 and support the government's ongoing work in this crucial area of right-sizing the regulatory and compliance impost that government inflicts on our community, whether it be businesses big and small, individual citizens or, as the member for McMillan pointed out, enterprises right across this country just wanting to do the right thing and take advantage of the opportunities that are available in this modern world.

The motive is pretty clear: we want to make it easier for people to meet their requirements by making sure the government thinks harder and more thoughtfully about the impositions that it inflicts on citizens and on businesses. There is good reason for that. You have heard colleagues talk about the compliance cost in the economy—$65 billion in annual costs to meet the Commonwealth's regulatory compliance burden, let alone that imposed by other levels of government and some that industry even inflicts. We did a lot of work in the agricultural industry trying to make it easy for primary producers to meet requirements and found that, in many cases, it was actually industry itself creating compliance burdens. So we have to be alert that these burdens aggregate across all of the demands placed on men and women in going about their private business but also on small businesses and larger businesses. They act as a drag on what people want to achieve and have as their goals for their lives. That is why the government is about getting its act in order, so that it can support and not needlessly make it more difficult for individuals and businesses to achieve their ambitions for the future.

This is another instalment—this is not a single event; this is another instalment in an ongoing conviction that we have to get that compliance and regulatory burden right. There are reasons for that. The World Economic Forum analysed the compliance cost to our economy and compared us to other nations that are also trying to win new market opportunities, for instance, made possible through the North Asian free trade agreements. When the Howard government left office, we were 68th in the world, according to the World Economic Forum. That was mid-table—not that flash; not too shabby; mid-table. Since that time and prior to the election of the coalition government, from 68th in the world we became 128th at the time that Labor was voted out and a new coalition government was elected. That means there are 127 economies less gummed up than ours, as we go out to contest and try to win markets in the international environment, and also as domestic businesses try to meet those challenges of others wanting to be a part of our economy. So the motive is clear: we need to be more agile and more innovative. I have talked about that for years and years. This is one way of getting rid of the entanglement that is excessive compliance costs and regulatory burden.

This bill does that in a number of key areas, as colleagues have talked about, including tidying up institutional structures and organisational arrangements in the Landcare space and getting rid of redundant legislative provisions in the environment sector. This is not about getting rid of regulation just for the heck of it. No; it is about getting rid of what serves no good purpose, has no place and adds nothing to the peace, order and good government of the Commonwealth. We see that right across the range of measures that are in this bill. It recognises that the farming community needs support, not greater burden—not lead in the saddlebag as it tries to compete and win those export markets. It is also about making sure that people know what is required of them. Clarity around those regulatory impositions can very much help in meeting them as seamlessly and as effortlessly as possible. Here we also have some measures looking at how new technology can be better embraced, with the Digital Transformation Office and its work in making sure that new technology can be a part of people's day-to-day interactions with government and that we get our act in order to facilitate that ease of communication.

It was an area that I focused on particularly in my time as the Minister for Small Business, because time-poor small businesses spend most of their weekends meeting compliance burdens if they are not chasing markets or reflecting on what else they can do to support the success of their enterprise. Small businesses spend too much time on paperwork. We made some good progress, and there are further steps in this package that support that ongoing effort.

A particular area we need to focus on is around tax regulation. You talk to small businesses and you share with them, as I did when we owned our small business, the joy of filling out a BAS return. At the time that system was introduced, we had a BAS return with many more fields that needed be completed than the essential ingredients to establish what needed to be advised to the tax office in order to establish tax liabilities. We think there is scope. I am sure the government thinks there is scope. Certainly, I thought there was scope as the small business minister at the time to try and streamline those arrangements. It is interesting when you look across the ditch over at New Zealand. They have about five key fields in order for New Zealand businesses to meet their goods and services tax requirement. We have many more than that, and that adds to the cost and compliance complexity of meeting those obligations.

There is scope, I think to reduce the number of fields that are reported as part of the BAS down to about five key fields—the essential fields. There are fields in there that we ask people to complete—whether things are export and whether they are broadly exempt or partially exempt. These all add great cost and complexity to a small business. I once met with an exercise therapist—I think that was the term—who helped people in a rehabilitation mode. He explained to me that who was paying for his service had an enormous impact on what the tax burden was, and at the end of the month he hoped he got it right. That was interesting to hear a highly skilled, knowledgeable professional in the service economy talking about how one of the greatest challenges he faced was knowing whether he was doing the right thing or not.

What was pointed to by MYOB in a roundtable that I participated in, and reinforced in their submission to the tax white paper process, is that we can do better than reduce the number of fields that are there. When we probe more deeply to find out why the BAS has so many more fields in our economy than in other comparable economies, often the argument that you get is that those extra data fields are actually being harvested to help with compliance and cross-matching so that there is certain material that is available and is sought at the time the BAS is returned, and then you can use that data in other ways just to make sure that there is no noncompliance in other aspects of tax reporting. That is an understandable objective, but the cost of that is very substantial, and I think it is justified for us to call for a benefit-cost analysis as part of the tax white paper process. What risk to revenue is the additional compliance cost of all these extra fields negating? Is it actually a cost-benefit analysis conclusion that we should maintain an ongoing requirement for all these businesses to keep providing all this extra data in extra fields on the off-chance that it might illuminate some bleeding of revenue somewhere else in the system? I think that cost-benefit analysis would probably find that the known cost of the additional burden imposed by these additional fields is in the billions of dollars—and I will not quote MYOB's estimates, but it is very substantial—yet we are not quite sure that that is the amount of revenue we are actually capturing that would otherwise escape the tax system. With digitisation—as I mentioned earlier, the Digital Transformation Office—and what is happening with prepopulated software packages, whether it be MYOB's own products or Xero's product, these are all examples where we are getting prepopulated reports coming into the tax office that can be quite readily verified. In fact, it represents a new order of seamless compliance that we should be embracing as part of our effort to reduce the compliance cost and regulatory burden.

So these days are very important. It is the government making it clear that this is a conviction running through the veins of the coalition: that to get regulatory impositions right you have to be absolutely convinced that it is the best public policy response to whatever the known problem is that you are seeking to address, that you have canvassed other options, that it is proportionate, and above all that it is right-sized.

One of the great concerns I have—and I will continue to focus my energy on it—is just how easy it is for government to consult with big business, big unions and big interest groups, because they are organised and they easy to contact, yet in the area of tax compliance, for instance, there are more than two million respondents to the architecture that is set up, and they are small businesses and their voice needs to be heard. It is not much good coming up with interventions and regulatory requirements in compliance systems that have been workshopped with big businesses with two dozen people in the compliance department but that are absolutely overwhelming for a small business or self-employed or independent contractor, who may find it difficult to navigate what is required of them. So we need to make sure right-sizing is a part of that work.

We have done some good work, and there is more work to be done, even in tax regulation. We are able to relieve around 447,000 small businesses who could benefit from changes to entry thresholds for PAYG instalments, reducing the compliance cost in that one area by $67 million a year. Forty-five thousand small businesses that have no GST reporting requirements are now no longer required to lodge business activity statements where they are not engaged in business activity and the lodgements have been made only to report PAYG instalments. Here again, thinking through what is actually going on in the economy, we can right-size the regulatory intervention that is expected of people, even in important reforms like the Franchising Code reform. Even that measure, designed to improve the effectiveness and give new tools and teeth to that important area of the economy, had a deregulatory disposition and some savings as well.

The area of single-touch payroll is another area of great opportunity that we need to pursue as a nation. I mentioned earlier that Xero and MYOB have functionality—and others do; I am not doing an ad for those two in particular—where you can record transactions and it will prepopulate your P&L and your balance sheet. It is a simple next step to say that while you are doing that as an in-built feature of your software—software that can now be serviced from the cloud, so rather than spend all the money buying the software and the implementation manuals you can essentially rent it now and expense that—that measure should be able to find its way easily over to BAS reporting requirements. That is not everyone's cup of tea. For some people who might have a limited number of transactions, it might not be of great virtue. But, for those that are looking to meet their tax requirements in a seamless way and know that that is something that they can do without great effort, that is something we should be working toward.

Here is an idea: if the tax office has no concerns about a BAS that has been returned or a business's reporting arrangements, why don't we tell them? There is a novel idea! We know we have these algorithms that identify reports that are outside the norm or what is expected, and they are the ones that attract greater eyeball attention from the tax office. But if you are in the zone—if those algorithms say, 'Yep, that return looks about right'—then why not tell the business that, so they can worry about other things and focus their energies elsewhere, and not lie awake at night wondering, 'Am I going to get audited?' 'No, no; here is a receipt saying: "Thank you for your contribution to our economy. We value and welcome your enterprise. And isn't the small business tax package we have introduced spectacularly fantastic? You might want to get a piece of that as well. But, by the way, you are up to date and sweet with your reporting requirements, so go and think about something else; don't worry about that."' These are things that we can do. That is about getting our institutional arrangements right by providing timely, service-orientated information to those people responding to these compliance burdens, and those compliance burdens being thought through carefully to make sure that they are justified, they are the most sensible public-policy intervention, they are right-sized and they do not overreach just because you have got someone's attention.

So I commend these bills to the House, but I urge the whole parliament to realise: this is a journey we have to stay on. Extra compliance costs and regulatory burdens impede our ability as a nation to achieve our full potential. It stands in the road of businesses and individuals achieving their full ambition and all of us being our best selves. Regulation is needed at times. But make the case, and, if it is targeting smaller businesses, make sure it is right-sized, so that any small business, in the ordinary course of their business, can meet those requirements and not need 12 people in a compliance department.

So let us stay focused on this, tidy up the BAS, get rid of the excess fields, meet the challenge—if other jurisdictions are able to do it, why can't we?—and, if there is a need for extra fields where it is not immediately obvious why they need to be there, do a benefit-cost analysis. That will mean an awful lot to the two million small businesses who are the engine room of the economy, who run through the veins of this side of the parliament, and who, I might say, I was extraordinarily honoured to represent and advocate for with great vigour over many years.

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

It is with great pleasure that I take the opportunity today to sum up on the Repeal Day bills: the Omnibus Repeal Day (Autumn 2015) Bill 2015, the Amending Acts 1980 to 1989 Repeal Bill 2015, and the Statute Law Revision Bill (No. 2) 2015. This is my inaugural speech as the Assistant Minister for Productivity, and it is a fitting topic for someone interested in boosting productivity and reducing unnecessary regulatory burden.

In total, these three bills repeal 890 Commonwealth acts, ensuring regulation is more easily accessible and only remains in force for as long as necessary. Making regulation easily accessible and removing old and unnecessary provisions means that businesses, individuals and community organisations spend less time trawling through regulations and more time contributing to the economy and society.

The omnibus bill includes a range of measures to reduce regulatory burden for business, families and individuals and the community sector. Through amendments made by this bill, compensation recipients will no longer need to go through the effort and frustration of completing a separate statutory declaration to support their claim for benefits under the Commonwealth programs linked to Medicare, nursing homes, residential care and home care services. Instead, I understand that around 50,000 recipients will use the existing forms to make the necessary declaration that the information provided is true and correct. By making small improvements, that means that individuals only have to tell us once and thus the government can make the process simpler for compensation recipients and payers as well as the government. I understand the regulations savings from this measure will be $41.4 million.

Amendments in this bill also facilitate greater public access to aggregated information that does not disclose information about a particular person. These amendments will promote greater access to deidentified data which could ultimately support better policy analysis, innovation and more effective policy design.

The changes proposed by the bill are not controversial. As well as making specific changes to reduce regulatory burden, the bill repeals redundant and spent acts and provisions in Commonwealth acts. For example, the Meat Export Charge Act 1984 and the Meat Export Charge Collection Act 1984 have been replaced by the 2011 Export Certification Reform Package, and the fees are now recovered through other legislation. Those who are affected by Commonwealth rules and regulations do not need to spend time wading through redundant regulation.

The Amending Acts 1980 to 1989 Repeal Bill 2015 continues the government's efforts to streamline the statute book by removing over 850 amending or repealing acts enacted between 1980 and 1989. This adds to the two previous amending acts repeal bills the government introduced over previous repeal days, which together repealed over 1,700 amending acts made between 1901 and 1979. The bill repeals acts no longer required as the amendments and repeals that they provide for have already occurred. Repealing these acts will make accessing the law simpler and faster for businesses and individuals.

The Statute Law Revision Bill (No. 2) 2015 continues the work of repealing spent or redundant legislation and correcting minor errors in the Commonwealth statute book. By removing obsolete provisions and correcting outdated terminology, the bill makes improvements to the acts it amends without making substantive changes to the law. Through improving the accuracy and usability of Commonwealth legislation, this bill reduces the burden of regulatory compliance on individuals and businesses that access and rely on Commonwealth rules and regulations.

The three bills include significant changes, but they are just a part of a broad range of initiatives that we outlined in the Autumn Repeal Day. A few examples of these other measures include: first, making identity checks even easier for retailers and consumers when purchasing a new prepaid mobile phone, including the ability for retailers to visually check identification documents; and, second, for individuals, enhancing myGov services so that customers can now update their details in one place using the myGov 'Tell us once' service, and link Australian JobSearch online accounts to their myGov account to obtain secure and convenient access to online services with a single account and one set of credentials. Third, it will allow students receiving payments to advise of multiple changes to their details in one online transaction, without needing to contact a call centre or attend a service centre. Fourth, it removes the requirement for heavy vehicle operators of B-double truck combinations registered under the Federal Interstate Registration Scheme to fit additional spray suppression devices, which provide no additional safety benefits. Fifth, as part of the government's industry, innovation and competitiveness agenda, we adopted a new principle that Australian regulators should not impose additional requirements beyond those that already applied under trusted international regulations unless it can be demonstrated that there is a good reason to do so.

As part of these changes Australian manufacturers of medical devices will be able to choose to have a conformity assessment conducted by either the Therapeutic Goods Administration or an alternative conformity assessment body, such as a European notified body. In total, this government has identified $476 million in simple red tape reductions at the autumn 2015 repeal day, which means that the reduction in cost for businesses and individuals in complying with Commonwealth regulations that we have announced totals $2.45 billion since September 2013. This achievement has been accompanied by the institution of significant transformation across government since 2013. Commonwealth government regulatory gatekeeping, including the application of regulation impact statements to assess the costs and benefits of policy options, has been strengthened. Regulators are also required under the Regulator Performance Framework to look at how they administer regulation and minimise the cost that this imposes on regulated entities.

The government's efforts are being recognised. In the World Economic Forum's Global competitiveness report, Australia climbed 44 places in its ranking of the burden of Commonwealth regulation across countries, from 124th in 2014 to 80th in 2015. So far so good, but there is still much work to be done, and we are focused on nurturing innovation and growth and on creating jobs.

As the Assistant Minister for Productivity I look forward to continuing to foster this important cultural change. These repeal day bills, along with the key regulatory reforms that the government is introducing, reduce costs on businesses and remove regulatory impediments to competition and innovation. Through a comprehensive regulatory reform agenda we can continue to free businesses, improve productivity and transition to a stronger economy. I commend the bills to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.