Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Finance and Debt Reduction) Share this | Hansard source

I think it is important to note the following words in the first part of the amendment:

… a licensed superannuation clearing house, which meets the minimum standards specified in the regulations for the purposes of this paragraph—

and also, in the second part of the amendment—

… as specified in the regulations for the purposes of this paragraph.

This means that there is oversight. There is not going to be a kind of laissez-faire approach; we just want to open up further the opportunity to participate in this marketplace. I do not know why we should quarantine everything within Medicare or why we should be inherently picking a winner in Medicare. When we drill down through Medicare they have provided us with no real reason for us to say that they are a winner. I have no doubt that they would have competence but they do not necessarily have it in this field. It may develop in this field, but we should be opening this up so that there is the capacity for wider participation by small business in this marketplace.

The purpose of this amendment is not that any person for any reason should be able to decide to set things up. It is a case that if you meet the minimum standards, you can. To put it another way, it would be like starting up tax agents again and saying only Medicare could be the tax agent. Why? Other people are competent and have the capacity to deliver an outcome. Other people have the capacity to build a business. Why not let them do it?