Alex Gallacher (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm telling you again!—Prime Minister and Cabinet, social services, Treasury and the Veterans' Affairs portfolio. This bill is one of the three that form part of the government's spring repeal day package. The deregulatory savings in this bill are calculated at $1,000,335,000. This bill does not contain some of the government's deregulatory measures that were outlined in the prime ministerial statement or some that have been made in the media—for example, the requirement to put mudflaps on motorbikes. That is really important! That's got to be in front of submarines in Adelaide, hasn't it! It changes the occupational health and safety requirements for government building sites. There was a worker killed in Adelaide the other day, and your answer is to change the occupational health and safety standards. There was a worker killed in Adelaide the other day and your answer is to change the occupational health and safety standards. The changes to the Do Not Call Register are among the deregulatory measures contained in this bill. Examples of the measures in this bill range from and include the repeal of an act in the Immigration and Border Protection portfolio related to a particular tariff decision between 1996 and 1999 which is no longer relevant. We cannot talk about submarines but we can talk about something that happened between 1996 and 1999. Repealing the Patents Amendment (Patent Cooperation Treaty) Act 1979, which amended the Patents Act 1952: this amending act was spent once an amendment passed into law. And there is abolishing several bodies including the Fishing Industry Policy Council, the Oil Stewardship Advisory Council and the Product Stewardship Advisory Group.

Whilst the majority of the measures in this bill are not contentious and have no deregulatory savings attached, there are some concerns with some of the measures in the Environment portfolio, including reducing details to be specified in an import or export permit for hazardous waste. Amendments may be moved in the Senate after an inquiry and after stakeholder consultation has been undertaken to determine whether there are negative consequences in any of the repeals where, if our amendments fails in the Senate, details of the amendments and repeals of each portfolio are attached at attachment A.

We have been invited to make a couple of contributions. Let us just talk about the abolition of the Fishing Industry Policy Council. The council has not been convened since the enabling legislation—