Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is wonderful to be able to get up today and speak on the Omnibus Repeal Day (Autumn 2015) Bill 2015, the Amending Acts 1980 to 1989 Repeal Bill 2015 and the Statute Law Revision Bill (No. 2) 2015. They build on a commitment that this government made prior to the election that we would have a laser-like focus on removing red tape that had grown disproportionately out of control for many years and increased somewhat under the former Labor government.

The member for Grey made a good point: that, prior to the 2007 election, that Labor government made what I think was probably an earnest commitment that, for every regulation brought in, one regulation would be repealed. After six years of Labor government, we ended up with 22,000 additional regulations. So whilst the commitment may have been earnest at the beginning—some people would doubt that, but I will give the Labor Party the benefit of the doubt—it was just an example of the size of government and the red tape that we impose on all sectors of our economy, whether it be the private sector, not-for-profits or government institutions in their interactions with Australian individuals. In each one of those cases, the inexorable growth of regulation just strangles the capacity of our country to grow and the entrepreneurialism of our citizens.

That is why we made a commitment to ensure that red tape was something that we would have an absolute focus on removing at every opportunity, and this, our third set of red tape repeal days, has reaped a huge dividend for this country: $2.45 billion worth of regulatory costs have now been taken out of the economy—subject, of course, to all of the bills that form part of omnibus repeal day being passed.

But why are we doing it? Why are we spending time in this parliament repealing red tape and, more importantly, why have ministers and individual members of parliament like me spent hours and hours and hours identifying what those regulations are and what those impediments to growth in our economy are? It is because we want to unshackle our citizens and small businesses and encourage them to do what they do best, because we have a very basic philosophy on this side of the House, and that is that governments do not create jobs and wealth; individual citizens do. If we can do more to unshackle them and help them realise their ambitions, that is something that is extraordinarily worthy.

That is why I am disappointed and despondent when I watch those opposite mocking and belittling individual changes here, because the whole reason why red tape builds up over years and years and years is that incrementally one rule after another after another after another after another builds up, although it might only be small in an individual case. That is why you must have the discipline in government to have a laser-like focus, identify each of those individually and remove them, and that is what this government is doing.

I was having a conversation with my father, who was a small business operator. He ran many, many small businesses, and he said to me, 'Michael, when I came to Australia in 1966, it was a great country, full of opportunity,' and he has realised those opportunities himself. He said that, if he thinks about all of the additional laws and rules—the reams and reams of legislation and regulation at a federal, state and local government level—and adds all of those up, it still has not resulted, in his view, in Australia being much of a better place than it was when he arrived here in 1966. Is our country that much greater because of it? Are our citizens freer because of it? Of course not.

Governments at all levels feel as though for every problem there must be a regulatory or legal solution. Often what we end up doing is putting in place rules and regulations that do not have any practical impact and do not really address the problem that they seek to address. All they are is just another aspect of the law that private citizens, small businesses, not-for-profits and charities need to adhere to.

I was speaking recently to a local NGO who employs somebody full time effectively just to deal with the rules and regulations that they must adhere to in all of their program delivery. I am sure that all of those rules and regulations were extraordinarily well intentioned when they were put in place, but it is quite extraordinary to me that that organisation must employ somebody full time on something that in no way furthers the goals of that organisation.

I speak to countless small businesses—often husbands and wives, business partners, who absolutely work their guts out. If you are in a small business, you understand a few things. If you are the owner, you pay the rent first, you pay your employees second, you pay your taxes third and then, if there is a little money left over, you pay yourself. Those small-business owners will often be up at five in the morning, they will work all day and then when they go home, instead of spending time with their children, instead of spending time doing things they want to do, the countless things, they will sit at their desk and deal with paperwork. It might be BAS or some other form or compliance activity that the government requires. We are literally draining the energy out of our entrepreneurial small businesses.

I am not going to go chapter and verse through all of the items in this omnibus repeal day suite of bills. The member for Grey did it very well and did it in a more entertaining fashion than I can. So I want to focus on and continue to focus on why we have such a dedication to repealing red tape. It is not sexy. It is not something that is going to capture headlines in the newspapers. The Labor Party talk about it being the ordinary course of business. They say: 'Why is the government making such a big deal out of this? Why is the government trying to pat themselves on the back? Well, today is not an exercise in patting ourselves on the back. Today and the previous two repeal days are an exercise in showing our dedication and commitment to the Australian people in getting off their backs. Government should really only do for people what they cannot do for themselves. Government should not unduly burden citizens and individuals with rules and regulations that add little value to their lives or little value to their businesses.

There is a startling statistic from 2014. In the burden of government regulation index that is put together by the World Economic Forum, Australia ranked 124th out of 148 countries. Now, we are a great country. As the foreign minister often says, 'We are a top 10 nation.' We are in the top 10 in a range of indices, whether it be economic growth, whether it be GDP, whether it be GDP per capita in particular, whether it be entrepreneurialism, science, technology or development. But to be 124th out of 148 is absolutely outrageous. This was also highlighted by a report which said that Commonwealth government regulation alone—and I am not including state governments or local councils which are bad as well—was costing the economy $65 billion or 4.2 per cent of GDP. So it is no surprise that we were 124th out of 148, but we must therefore be dedicated over time to improving it.

In three repeal days, we have repealed $2.45 billion of red-tape costs. I can tell you having been on the backbench committee involved in the red-tape repeal days, we have absolutely sweated blood to find that $2.45 billion, literally going through regulations line by line and speaking to small businesses whether it be a business in pharmaceuticals or a manufacturer—the myriad of regulation. It is quite difficult for politicians to understand some of the regulations, particularly the very technical regulations that our manufacturers or others need to deal with. So, to get to $2.45 billion was incredibly hard.

Each repeal day that we have as a government will incrementally get more difficult. We will have to be more ambitious. We will have to search harder. It is the old adage—the low-hanging fruit has gone now and we will have to be even more dedicated. But after all that work, $2.45 billion is extraordinarily exciting and it is a lot more than we promised. We promised $1 billion and we are now up to $2.45 billion. But that is $2.45 billion out of a cost to the economy of $65 billion. So we have barely touched the sides, but we have made an earnest attempt.

Governments from both sides of this chamber for the last 40 years have piled on rules and regulations, and we are strangling the entrepreneurial nature of this country. Every single road block that you put in somebody's way when they want to chase their own idea and start their own small business is an absolute tragedy for this country. This country has been built on the foundations of an entrepreneurial spirit, and risk-taking has been in our DNA.

I fear that the more government shackles our country, the more people will say: 'You know what? Why am I going to risk my house? Why am I going to mortgage my own home to start a new business, when I can get a cushy job somewhere and take no risks. It will be a hell of a lot safer and it will be better for my family?' That is logical thinking, but that is not what creates wealth for this country. What creates wealth for this country is people saying: 'I have an idea. I see a gap in the market. I see boundless opportunities and I am going to risk everything to take it.' It is those sorts of people who built this country and it is those sorts of people who exist today, but we have to encourage them even more. I am very proud to be part of a government that has shown the dedication to do something that, as I said, is not sexy. I do not get constituents walking up to me in the street saying, 'Michael, thank you for repealing X, Y and Z regulation.' It does not happen. That is why it has been ignored for so many years. This is what good government is about: it is about doing what is right for this country, even when you know you are not going to get kudos for it.

I can visit my father now and say to him, 'Dad, we have repealed 890 Commonwealth acts of parliament,' in response to his words to me that, from the time he came to this country in 1966, the endless rules, regulations and laws, in his view, have not been what has made this country better. This country has been made better despite those rules and regulations, not because of them. I can say to him that we are starting the process to change this inexorable decline that Australia has gone through in shackling our people with red tape. I am very proud to be part of this government and I am very proud of this repeal day today. (Time expired)

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