Peter Hendy (Eden-Monaro, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Productivity) Share this | Hansard source

It is with great pleasure that I take the opportunity today to sum up on the Repeal Day bills: 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. This is my inaugural speech as the Assistant Minister for Productivity, and it is a fitting topic for someone interested in boosting productivity and reducing unnecessary regulatory burden.

In total, these three bills repeal 890 Commonwealth acts, ensuring regulation is more easily accessible and only remains in force for as long as necessary. Making regulation easily accessible and removing old and unnecessary provisions means that businesses, individuals and community organisations spend less time trawling through regulations and more time contributing to the economy and society.

The omnibus bill includes a range of measures to reduce regulatory burden for business, families and individuals and the community sector. Through amendments made by this bill, compensation recipients will no longer need to go through the effort and frustration of completing a separate statutory declaration to support their claim for benefits under the Commonwealth programs linked to Medicare, nursing homes, residential care and home care services. Instead, I understand that around 50,000 recipients will use the existing forms to make the necessary declaration that the information provided is true and correct. By making small improvements, that means that individuals only have to tell us once and thus the government can make the process simpler for compensation recipients and payers as well as the government. I understand the regulations savings from this measure will be $41.4 million.

Amendments in this bill also facilitate greater public access to aggregated information that does not disclose information about a particular person. These amendments will promote greater access to deidentified data which could ultimately support better policy analysis, innovation and more effective policy design.

The changes proposed by the bill are not controversial. As well as making specific changes to reduce regulatory burden, the bill repeals redundant and spent acts and provisions in Commonwealth acts. For example, the Meat Export Charge Act 1984 and the Meat Export Charge Collection Act 1984 have been replaced by the 2011 Export Certification Reform Package, and the fees are now recovered through other legislation. Those who are affected by Commonwealth rules and regulations do not need to spend time wading through redundant regulation.

The Amending Acts 1980 to 1989 Repeal Bill 2015 continues the government's efforts to streamline the statute book by removing over 850 amending or repealing acts enacted between 1980 and 1989. This adds to the two previous amending acts repeal bills the government introduced over previous repeal days, which together repealed over 1,700 amending acts made between 1901 and 1979. The bill repeals acts no longer required as the amendments and repeals that they provide for have already occurred. Repealing these acts will make accessing the law simpler and faster for businesses and individuals.

The Statute Law Revision Bill (No. 2) 2015 continues the work of repealing spent or redundant legislation and correcting minor errors in the Commonwealth statute book. By removing obsolete provisions and correcting outdated terminology, the bill makes improvements to the acts it amends without making substantive changes to the law. Through improving the accuracy and usability of Commonwealth legislation, this bill reduces the burden of regulatory compliance on individuals and businesses that access and rely on Commonwealth rules and regulations.

The three bills include significant changes, but they are just a part of a broad range of initiatives that we outlined in the Autumn Repeal Day. A few examples of these other measures include: first, making identity checks even easier for retailers and consumers when purchasing a new prepaid mobile phone, including the ability for retailers to visually check identification documents; and, second, for individuals, enhancing myGov services so that customers can now update their details in one place using the myGov 'Tell us once' service, and link Australian JobSearch online accounts to their myGov account to obtain secure and convenient access to online services with a single account and one set of credentials. Third, it will allow students receiving payments to advise of multiple changes to their details in one online transaction, without needing to contact a call centre or attend a service centre. Fourth, it removes the requirement for heavy vehicle operators of B-double truck combinations registered under the Federal Interstate Registration Scheme to fit additional spray suppression devices, which provide no additional safety benefits. Fifth, as part of the government's industry, innovation and competitiveness agenda, we adopted a new principle that Australian regulators should not impose additional requirements beyond those that already applied under trusted international regulations unless it can be demonstrated that there is a good reason to do so.

As part of these changes Australian manufacturers of medical devices will be able to choose to have a conformity assessment conducted by either the Therapeutic Goods Administration or an alternative conformity assessment body, such as a European notified body. In total, this government has identified $476 million in simple red tape reductions at the autumn 2015 repeal day, which means that the reduction in cost for businesses and individuals in complying with Commonwealth regulations that we have announced totals $2.45 billion since September 2013. This achievement has been accompanied by the institution of significant transformation across government since 2013. Commonwealth government regulatory gatekeeping, including the application of regulation impact statements to assess the costs and benefits of policy options, has been strengthened. Regulators are also required under the Regulator Performance Framework to look at how they administer regulation and minimise the cost that this imposes on regulated entities.

The government's efforts are being recognised. In the World Economic Forum's Global competitiveness report, Australia climbed 44 places in its ranking of the burden of Commonwealth regulation across countries, from 124th in 2014 to 80th in 2015. So far so good, but there is still much work to be done, and we are focused on nurturing innovation and growth and on creating jobs.

As the Assistant Minister for Productivity I look forward to continuing to foster this important cultural change. These repeal day bills, along with the key regulatory reforms that the government is introducing, reduce costs on businesses and remove regulatory impediments to competition and innovation. Through a comprehensive regulatory reform agenda we can continue to free businesses, improve productivity and transition to a stronger economy. I commend the bills to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

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