Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

The opposition welcomes the Treasury Laws Amendment (2022 Measures No. 1) Bill 2022 to the extent that it extends and implements key measures of the former government's economic plan. This bill delivers key measures of the former coalition government's commitment to provide cost-of-living relief to disaster-affected communities, to support women's sport and to cut red tape for business. The bill brings together a number of Treasury measures which were included in bills that lapsed at the election. I note that the opposition will be supporting the bill.

The bill covers a number of measures from the previous government. Schedule 1 implements important protections around grants for recovery from Cyclone Seroja. Schedule 2 supports transitional provisions relating to the repeal of the Superannuation (Resolution of Complaints) Act 1993. Schedule 3 implements income tax and withholding exemptions for the FIFA Women's World Cup. Schedule 4 makes a number of minor and technical amendments, including tidying up drafting errors in consequential amendments in previous legislation and extending the automatic commencement date for modernising business registers.

This is an uncontroversial bill that wouldn't normally be debated, and the fact that we are debating it points to the lack of an economic plan from this government. Indeed, just this morning, we have seen another important report from the Productivity Commission, and all we have seen in response from the government is more economic commentary but not a plan. We could be debating the cost of living. We could be debating cost-of-living relief and measures to support families and businesses. But, instead, we're debating this.

Now, schedule 4, among many minor and technical changes, extends the automatic commencement date for modernising business registers. A lot has been written about this in recent days. All decisions taken with regard to the Modernising Businesses Registers Program were included in the coalition's 2022-23 budget, and then they were independently confirmed by the secretaries of Treasury and Finance at the 2022 Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Outlook.

Noting the minister's second reading speech in the other place, I must add that the government's attempts to politicise this would be far more credible if they weren't planning to drive up debt and government spending even further. The fact is that this government went to the election proposing to run bigger deficits—bigger deficits—and this was confirmed by the independent Parliamentary Budget Office, which showed that the platform that this government took to the election would actually make the budget bottom line worse. In contrast, the PBO confirmed that the coalition parties were the only parties that went to the election with a pathway to improve the budget bottom line. So, while the opposition will be supporting this bill, the politicisation of this measure by the government, despite their supposed support of it, is a damning example of this government's approach to economic policy.

The Modernising Business Registers Program is a key deregulation measure that will cut red tape, reduce the compliance burden and support small businesses around Australia to manage their own affairs. It will unify the systems and the data, allowing users to manage their registrations and compliance in one simple location. This will support small businesses and small business owners to save time. It will make it easier to deal with government. It will cut red tape that's a drag on productivity, business owners' time and the resources of government. It is a proud initiative of the former coalition government. So, while we welcome the government's commitment to continue the program, it is astounding that the government is seeking to delay this measure further, not to next year but—to kick it into the long grass—all the way to 2026. So much for improving productivity!

So, while we don't oppose the bill, as it continues a lot of good work that the previous coalition government did, we call upon the government, once again, to outline a plan to address the challenges facing Australia's economy. The government can make choices to address these pressures and they can make those choices right now. The opposition can and will hold them to account for how they respond. And the risk for Australia is that this government will make a bad situation worse.