Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Much as I like the member for Canberra, it is always interesting to hear members from the other side commenting on superannuation and those matters, because they fail to mention—and the member for Canberra just failed to mention—recent reports that their beloved industry superannuation funds, rather than complying with the law and taking five days to process rollovers, are taking up to 30 days and therefore are withholding members' money. They are withholding on members' requests to transfer their funds in a timely manner via rollovers, to maybe a self-managed super fund or to another superannuation fund. So, before those opposite lecture us about behaviour on super, maybe they should have a look at some of the things that are actually going on in the superannuation industry through their beloved industry funds at this point in time.

The Treasury Laws Amendment (2023 Law Improvement Package No. 1) Bill 2023, which is supported by the coalition, is a worthwhile piece of legislation because it seeks to reduce the compliance burden and the complexity of the Corporations Act and the financial services framework, and it's consistent with many issues that have been raised by stakeholders. As we know, red tape is an ever-growing challenge for business—not just red tape at a federal level but growing levels of red tape at the state and local government levels as well.

Schedules 1, 2 and 3 of this bill make amendments to implement the recommendations made by the Australian Law Reform Commission in interim reports A and B of its Review of the Legislative Framework for Corporations and Financial Services Regulation. These measures are designed to make a number of practical technical amendments and corrections to simplify the law and improve its navigability, as recommended by the ALRC.

The changes seek to create a single glossary of defined terms in the Corporations Act, repeal redundant provisions, correct errors and improve clarity. This will also unfreeze the Acts Interpretation Act so that the current version applies to the Corporations Act and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act.

Schedule 4 of the bill makes amendments to the Insurance Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1991, Life Insurance Act 1995 and the Insurance Act 1973. These acts are the enabling acts of certain legislative instruments regulating the insurance industry that were due to sunset on 1 October this year. This schedule will also update certain provisions in order to reflect more moral practices.

Schedule 5 of the bill transfers longstanding and accepted matters currently contained in three Australian Securities and Investments Commission made legislative instruments to the Corporations Act and the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009.

Schedule 6 of the bill amends the various laws in the Treasury portfolio to ensure these laws operate in accordance with the policy intent, makes minor changes to improve administrative outcomes, remedies unintended consequences and corrects technical and drafting defects.

As I said before, red tape is an enormous burden on our economy, and independent research has estimated that the annual cost of red tape to the economy is some $176 billion. These red tape costs run right through the economy and are more than just a direct cost; they include that businesses never start, jobs are never created and the ambitions to grow our economy or even grow a business are never realised or undertaken, because it is just too difficult. We have been having a long debate about housing, housing affordability and housing availability. From the builders and developers that I talk to, one of the biggest impediments to achieving that is red tape. It is an enormous cost right through the economy, and any business will tell you that the cost and burden of compliance, along with staff issues or shortages, is their No. 1 issue.

APRA also pointed out in its issues paper for modernising prudential regulations that there are currently 140 prudential standards and prudential practice guides, in total covering some five APRA related industries. The Basel framework, which is a key underpinning to the strength and quality of our banks, has expanded from around 300 pages before the global financial crisis to more than 1,600 pages today. The Corporations Act has almost doubled in size since 2001 and contains over 14,500 internal cross-references. These are just some examples of why red tape reduction is so important. But there is so much more to do, and this is where the government falls short.

Businesses across this country need a government that listens to them, not one that tells them that government is at the centre of the economy. Government should never be at the centre of the economy. It is business that is at the centre of our economy because that is where our wealth and our jobs are created. The more we can get governments out of businesses' way and let them do what they do so well, which is innovate, create new job opportunities, create new products, service our markets not just in Australia but increasingly—and I'm not talking about our large businesses at the top end of town; I'm talking about small to medium businesses in electorates right across this country, including mine, who are developing an export focus. But they need assistance with that, and one of the things that we can greatly assist them with is a government that gets out of the way and lets them do that job.

But, as we have seen frequently from this government, this government's policies, public statements and even essays demonstrate that it isn't listening and has taken the wrong priorities.

After promising to work with businesses, this government has unleashed a wave of new regulation and has the basic instinct and reflex to stifle business and opportunity. At a time of rising interest rates and high inflation, we need to support economic growth over the medium term, and the government's priorities do the exact opposite of that. Whilst the bill we're debating today goes some way towards cleaning up some bits and pieces, it doesn't deal with the bigger issues that are facing the economy and doesn't deal with the issues that are facing everyday Australians. We need a government that works and focuses on supporting the aspiration of individual Australians and businesses to drive innovation, create jobs and deliver prosperity. Unfortunately, this bill, as with many others presented to the chamber by this government, fails to do this.

As I said at the outset, the opposition supports this bill, but it does so while noting that the government has failed to provide the necessary support to businesses and individual Australians to deal with the issues of high inflation, rising mortgage payments, rising rent payments, rising business loan costs and rising input costs in terms of electricity and supply chain issues. All of this feeds through. The challenges faced by Australians are not addressed in this bill, and we would ask the government to bring to this House legislation that starts to deal with some of those issues.

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