Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Clearly, Madam Deputy President, the government have been found wanting once again with regard to providing information. Certainly, the direction to give notice to the senator was provided at a quarter to two, and I am very sorry that the minister did not actually have an answer prepared way ahead of this, seeing as this is a very, very important matter. Under standing order 74(5)(b), I move:

That the Senate take note of the explanation provided by Senator McGrath.

Many of the questions that are put on notice by this opposition to this government continue to be treated with the contempt that we just saw in that display, that fit of pique, by the minister on duty here in the chamber, Senator McGrath. The reality is that these questions, which were put on notice over a month ago, go to important matters that Australians have the right to have information about. It goes to the attitude that this government has about having any accountability at all for the things that it says and that it promises to this country.

One of the questions that I put on notice was around deregulation with regard to the Department of Communications and the Arts. One of the things the government like to bang on about, day after day, week after week, is how fantastic they are at managing regulatory reform. Yet, when they were asked simple questions, or what I thought would have been relatively simple questions, such as, 'What is the Department of Communications and the Arts net progress, for 2016 to date, for regulatory savings and costs,' they were unable to answer that on the day, despite claiming to be the champions of deregulation. They are still unable to answer it, more than a month later. We asked:

How many regulatory and deregulatory proposals were costed in 2016.

Again, there is no answer. Here we are more than a month later, and there is still no response. We asked if the government might provide some accountability to the Australian people for this great agenda that they have with regard to deregulation, asking if they would be publishing a report to summarise what they have been doing with deregulatory and regulatory measures and their associated savings and costs that they were going to try and bank over 2016. No answer has been forthcoming, and today is 22 March.

I go to the Department of Communications and the Arts annual report 2015-16. On page 31, under 'Targets, measurement, results'—which gives the general reader the impression they are accountable for what they are doing—they claim, in black and white:

Our target is to reduce the burden of red tape and onerous regulation in the communications sector, including efforts to meet the Australian Government's commitment to reducing the costs of excessive regulation by $1 billion per year.

That is a pretty big claim. You would think, if they were making sincere and genuine efforts towards that end, they might have some numbers on hand and provide the information.