Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

As a servant to the people of Queensland and Australia, I support the Commonwealth Registers Bill 2019 and the associated package of amending legislation, with reservations. Firstly, there is a growing belief among our governing class that, in many areas, Australian federalism relies on shared endeavour. I do acknowledge that coordinated federalism—where each government works with the other yet retains total determination over, and exercise of, its own constitutional powers—needs some honing today. After all, the internet runs as a thread through our society and connects us all across state borders. Yet this most definitely does not mean transfer of power from the states to the federal government. I'm advocating generally the reverse: we need to send some powers back from the federal government to the state governments in accordance with our Constitution.

It is fundamental to our Constitution and it is common sense that the best service delivery occurs when the person making a decision is located closest to the people affected by that decision. That is obvious. That is the reverse of what has happened in our country since 1944. The greater the distance apart, the worse is the decision-making. We need to stop centralising and restore competitive federalism. Competitive federalism, with six states working independently yet together, is highly effective. Our country was leading the world in per capita income from 1901, when we formed as a nation, until about the 1920s, and that was because of competitive federalism. I reiterate that it is very important to get back to competitive federalism with the states working independently yet together.

My second point is that I am concerned that this bill will give the states the chance to wash their hands of responsibility for the integrity of the data in this register. I urge the federal government to ensure that, when this register is designed, there is suitable, effective grievance reporting, so that where a person's entry contains an error or where a person has been mistaken for someone else, they can correct the record. Australians recently saw firsthand a total failure of the federal government's IT function with the chaotic, tragic robodebt scheme. And it's not just a matter of the government making an apology. It's not just a matter of there being an error of close to a billion dollars. It's a matter of wrecking people's lives. It's important to understand that the government never pays for its mistakes: the people do. What I mean by that is the people pay twice—once for what the government did through our taxation system and then through their own hip pockets for the consequences of the government's error. We can see that in relation to the ban on live cattle exports that the Gillard government capriciously put in place. We now see the federal government lining up to take over business registrations, and people know that outsourcing the IT function did not turn out so well for the government last time.

Thirdly, I am concerned that this bill is not about making a better system for controlling business registrations and keeping track of company directors. I am concerned that the government has spotted another chance to sling yet more taxpayers' money at one of their corporate backers. Who will it be? KPMG? Indue? We can hardly wait to find out, but we will be watching.

All parties to this register must show the respect that is required for the Australians whose livelihoods, whose legal liabilities, are bound to this register. Please, Minister, take your time and get it right. Remember our constitution and competitive federalism. Care about the people you are serving. The government must do better this time because after all government is here by permission of the people on behalf of the people to serve the people. That service from government must be in accordance with our people's governing document, our national Constitution.