Craig Emerson (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Finance Minister on Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

It is on my hand, absolutely. I do it every day—waiting, waiting, waiting. The great moment has occurred just before the reshuffle, just in the nick of time. But to answer the question, in relation to BAS Easy, we have produced a very substantial reform in the form of standard business reporting, which will cut down GST paperwork requirements by up to 70 per cent. We are concentrating on the standard business reporting initiative, which I think was actually supported by the previous coalition government, by the previous member for Higgins. That standard business reporting mechanism is going to be very effective in achieving the very objectives of BAS Easy.

We are nevertheless going through a public consultation process working with the small business community, with those who remain outside of the standard business reporting initiative, so that we can work with them through the simplified accounting methods available under the GST administration, to do everything we can—to do what the coalition failed to do. I remember a book about—

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