E&OE……………………….……………………………………………………………
Today, bills are introduced for the second Red Tape Repeal Day.
It is the second of many to come.
Every day, this Government is working to build a strong, prosperous economy for a safe, secure Australia.
Every day, we are seeking to identify ways to make life easier for individuals, community groups, charities – and businesses large and small.
Our Economic Action Strategy aims to remove the burdens from business, make our country more competitive, and drive more jobs and higher living standards for all Australians.
But today, this day Deputy Speaker, I am pleased to report that since the election, this Government has reduced annual red tape costs by over $2 billion.
And this more than doubles our original commitment of a $1 billion a year cut in red tape costs.
While some regulation is necessary and nearly all regulations originally had some point, we are now suffering from regulatory over-kill.
Between 2010 and last year an Act of Parliament was passed every two days. Under the former government, some 21,000 new regulations became part of our national life.
And that does not include the regulations, laws and by-laws that were added at state, territory and local levels.
While it is easy to point to bizarre examples, like the ACT Government’s attempt to require safety supervisors at sausage sizzles, the purpose of this Government is to look beyond the absurd.
It is to identify the raft of red tape that adds costs without a commensurate public benefit.
Talk to any butcher, newsagent, dry cleaner or café owner and he or she will tell you that it is the accumulation of regulation that damages initiative, productivity and the willingness of people to ‘have a go’.
If red tape can grow incrementally, then it can be cut in the same way. That is what the Government is doing today.
When it comes to regulation, we are changing the culture of government.
Deregulation units are now in place across government.
Ministerial Advisory Councils have been established so that the people impacted by decisions can have a say on them.
Portfolio regulation audits are underway.
The performance pay of senior public servants now includes deregulation as a key performance indicator.
The site – cuttingredtape.gov.au – has been established, allowing every Australian to make a contribution to the Government’s deliberations on cutting red tape.
Regulatory Impact Statements are required for cabinet submissions because assessing the cost of any regulation is as important as knowing its benefits.
Soon, a regulatory performance framework will drive cultural change within regulators and help to ensure that regulations are administered effectively and efficiently.
In March, we held the first ever Red Tape Repeal Day.
On that day, nearly 10,000 unnecessary or counter-productive regulations and 1,000 redundant acts of Parliament were removed.
That day we relegated some 50,000 pages of redundant regulation from the law books to the history books.
And since the first Red Tape Repeal Day, we’ve scrapped the Carbon Tax and the Mining Tax.
Scrapping the Carbon Tax not only saves the typical household $550 a year, not only has it removed a $9 billion a year handbrake from our economy and provided a direct red tape saving to business of $85 million a year.
Each Repeal Day is an opportunity to reduce or eliminate regulation and legislation that has outlived its usefulness or does more harm than good.
And today, we add to this, with almost 1,000 acts and regulations to be scrapped – more than 7,200 pages.
These changes, large and small, are about making people’s lives easier.
We are a government freeing up businesses so that they focus on the people they are meant to serve.
We will make it easier for bricks and mortar shops to compete with online stores by reducing their compliance costs – because, all too often, the retail sector has to interact with multiple agencies from local, state and national government.
We’re making it easier for Australian Apprenticeship Support Network providers, who will no longer have to maintain some 3 million paper files and waste money every quarter doing so.
By reducing administrative costs, these service providers can better focus on assisting apprentices and employers in meeting the skills Australia needs.
We are also making life simpler for users of managed investment schemes, who will no longer have to undertake two separate ‘know your customer’ checks before they can complete their applications because one check should be enough.
Every year, there are over 500,000 new applicants for these schemes. Every duplicate check costs a managed fund around $40, as well as the time the customer spends providing the same information twice.
In healthcare, we are reducing the time taken to list medicines on the PBS, to improve access to vital, life-saving medicines.
And we’re delivering a one-stop shop for environmental approvals.
Reducing these approval delays is expected to result in regulatory savings to business of over $426 million a year.
Our Industry Innovation and Competitiveness Agenda is promoting lower costs, better skills, and the ‘have a go’ ethos that is so much a part of the Australian character.
By reinvigorating Australian businesses, we’ve reinvigorated the economy.
Deregulation is an essential part of that agenda because ‘bubble wrapping’ our creative minds in red tape stifles innovation and flexibility.
Importantly, the Competitiveness Agenda included proposals to reduce duplication of our regulatory arrangements where trusted international standards have already been met or trusted international assessments have been made.
Our guiding principle is that if a system, service or product has been approved under a trusted international standard or risk assessment, then Australian regulators should not impose any additional requirement, without a demonstrable reason to do so.
We are already seeing the benefits of this.
For instance, the Therapeutic Goods Administration has just advised Cochlear – who make the bionic ear – that all its products are eligible to use European Union certification to streamline TGA certification, and that implementation will begin from next month.
This change, according to Cochlear, will mean thousands of people in Australia and overseas will have access to the very latest devices, sometimes up to a year earlier than may otherwise have been the case.
We’re making it easier for small to medium exporters to finance their export activity, now that the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation has the flexibility to lend directly for all types of exports – not just capital goods – reducing business costs and processing time.
As well, EFIC’s adoption of accelerated execution processes for some transactions could shorten processing time by 40 per cent and this could save an average of $5,000 per export contract.
These measures will make it easier for entrepreneurs to transform ideas into reality, and create an environment where small businesses can do more.
And with changes to the Corporations Act governing the administration of general meetings, the management of Australia’s largest companies can spend more time focussed on managing their company than managing their shareholders by making it harder for activists to make vexatious requests for shareholder meetings.
We’re making these changes Mr Deputy Speaker because people don’t work for government, government should work for people.
It is government’s job to serve the people; not people’s job to serve the government.
We are a country of people who work hard, pay their taxes, volunteer in their local community and save for their retirement.
And where we can make it easier for people to spend their time as they choose, rather than waste it filling out forms, we should.
A working mother, for example, who doesn’t want to be contacted by telemarketers during her spare time, will be able to register both her home and her mobile phone numbers on the Do Not Call Register.
We’re now also making sure she doesn’t have to remember to re-register every eight years by keeping her numbers on the list indefinitely.
This same mother could also benefit from the rollout of the myTax online portal, that pre-fills individuals’ returns, so they don’t have to spend hours flipping through the pages of a paper tax return.
For over 250,000 people, this programme should reduce the time taken to submit a tax return.
And the broader myGov system means that Medicare, Centrelink, and Child Support customers can obtain information, make claims, and access services, without having to visit a service centre in person, or spend time on hold on the phone.
Mr Deputy Speaker cutting red tape is about making life easier.
It means anything from less time in airports waiting in queues because of SmartGate, to more forms of identification that marriage celebrants may accept.
Cutting red tape should mean less time in queues, less time filling out forms and less time searching for information.
These changes, and other changes since September 2013, have removed over $2 billion in annual red tape cost. But this Mr Deputy Speaker is the start, not the end.
We are not only cutting red tape, but changing the culture that fosters and encouraging it.
Regulation should not and must not be the default option for policy makers because more regulation is not the answer to every corporate, community or personal failing.
We are a country with highly skilled, highly capable people running our businesses, helping community groups and making our country better.
We are putting more trust in them, more trust in them to make the right choices, and we know that our people are up to the task.
I am proud of the progress that we have made so far, and I pledge there is more to come.
[ends]