Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Murray Darling Basin) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Waters highlights arrangements that may exist, and yet Senator Waters and the Greens seem to have this enormous problem and concern with the idea that those existing arrangements could be built upon and improved. With existing bilaterals in place, why can they not be built upon and improved? Why can we not work to an ambition of a one-stop shop? I hope that is what the government seek to do through the upcoming COAG meeting and through their work in this regard.

I am not afraid of the fact that big business might be advocating this. Governments should be able to respond to all stakeholders and all interests, including the so-called 'big business' in the Greens' motion. Respond to them, of course, knowing that they come with their own vested interests. And you need always to act with your eyes open to the vested interests of whomever is knocking on your door. But that does not mean that you reject all of their points and their views outright. You accept what makes sense and you apply the other necessary tests to them. In this case, what makes sense is to reduce the bureaucracy and to achieve a one-stop shop approach but to do so whilst maintaining your Commonwealth environmental standards as the minimum test through these processes.

So if the coalition win the next election we will certainly work through the type of process that I have outlined today and that Mr Abbott announced back in April of this year as coalition policy. If the government at the December COAG meeting is able to work through something similar, then we will welcome that. We will welcome anything where this government actually reduces the red tape and green tape that are clogging so much of business in this country at present. (Time expired)