Gabriel Ng (Menzies, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the Regulatory Reform Omnibus Bill 2025. I stood for election and became involved in politics because I believe government can be an enormous force for good. Good government encourages the flourishing of society, community and the individual. It is focused on serving members of the community and on being accessible and accountable. Good governments make good regulations, achieving the big picture by paying attention to the details to disincentivise negative behaviour and incentivise good outcomes. That is what this bill is about at its core: making sure that governments are working for individuals and working for business.

My purpose has always been to make sure that people can rely on the systems that have been built to serve them, because trust in government is built through access, accountability and fairness. I was recently at a Halloween celebration at Jackson Court in my electorate, in Doncaster, and somebody came with a pretty clever costume: they had a couple of pieces of cardboard; the front said 'myGov' and the back said, 'You have a message from myGov,' because that was supposed to be a scary costume! We don't want people to have that experience of government. We want government to be a helping hand, not a bureaucratic labyrinth to navigate. In an age when there's declining trust in government, this is more important than ever.

As a former public servant, I know how important it is that Australians can depend on services that are reliable, fair and trusted. People regularly contact my office—just as, I know, they contact the offices of the other members here—asking for assistance to access government services. It's a role that I'm happy to play, and it's an honour to be able to serve my constituents. But government services shouldn't be so hard to navigate or understand that people need an interpreter in order to be able to access them. Every interaction with government should leave people feeling supported, not frustrated. It should be designed with empathy and efficiency to make life easier.

This bill builds on the work that the government began following the economic reform round table, which focused on streamlining services, getting investment flowing and boosting productivity. The bill delivers better regulation, less red tape and higher productivity, while keeping the focus on people. I thank the member for Wentworth for her contribution talking about reduced regulation, and the member for Wentworth would be happy to hear that this bill contains 60 measures across 28 acts, it repeals two acts entirely and it affects 13 agencies. These are reforms that cover a broad range of areas, from health care to citizenship, from digital identity to child care and social security, all to make things easier.

This bill simplifies information-sharing across government, taking an important step towards the implementation of a tell-us-once approach across government. For too long, Australians have had to repeat their details across Centrelink, Medicare, child support and paid parental leave, and this reform ends that duplication. It saves time for the public, like the members in the gallery, and for staff. It means less time and stress standing in line or being on the phone or entering details into government forms. So, for example, when someone updates their bank details with Centrelink, that information will be automatically shared with Medicare.

This will have tangible flow-on effects beyond just efficiency and saved time. Around 980,000 Australians—so almost a million Australians—are owed $270 million in unpaid Medicare benefits; many may not even be aware that they are owed these entitlements. Thanks to these changes, someone owed, say, unpaid Medicare benefits can have those funds deposited into the same verified bank account used for family tax benefit payments. A person escaping family violence will have to update their relationship status, address or bank details only once and authorise these changes to apply securely across programs. It reduces the burden on people during some of the most difficult times in their lives, and it reduces the risk of them having to recount difficult details repeatedly. When a person moves from one payment type to another, verified information can now be reused, instead of requiring a new claim. This means faster processing and less frustration. Older Australians who lose their Commonwealth seniors health card due to temporary overseas travel will have it automatically reinstated upon return, if they're still eligible, sparing them unnecessary paperwork.

Each of these reforms—while, admittedly, pretty technical—builds a government that listens, adapts and respects people's time. Each reduces barriers, simplifies access and restores confidence that government services can be fast, fair and reliable.

I recently visited the Services Australia office in Box Hill with Assistant Minister for the Public Service Patrick Gorman. There I saw dedicated public servants focused on supporting people who came to them for assistance. I saw client-centred innovations, such as recruiting staff with language skills like Mandarin, or Farsi, that were appropriate to the community. I saw the co-location of services such as NDIS. I'm pleased to see the government is matching the dedication of our frontline staff with reforms which will make their lives—and, more importantly, their clients' lives—easier.

We're also amending the Australian Citizenship Act 2007 and the Electronic Transactions Act 1999. Australians currently rely on paper certificates that can be lost or misplaced. This amendment is for anyone who has dived into a desk drawer or ruffled around in a filing cabinet to dig out a birth certificate or a citizenship certificate. We know, too, that these documents, particularly the older ones, do not have the security features that we would expect in modern life. My birth certificate looks like it could have been typed up on any computer, with a font that looks like a typewriter's. This will clear the way for secure digital proof of citizenship. It will make it easier to confirm identity when applying for jobs, passports or government services. It will reduce costs, strengthen privacy protections and increase reliability. Home Affairs will be able to build a secure system that issues digital certificates while safeguarding personal data and preventing fraud. Our government is about making modern reforms to keep up with technology and risk.

We are a government that will always invest in health care. It is always looking for ways to make our system better. This bill modernises healthcare information systems. The Healthcare Identifiers Act 2010 will be updated so healthcare providers automatically appear in the national Healthcare Provider Directory unless they choose not to. This opt-out model ensures a complete and accurate directory, making it easier for doctors, pharmacists and allied health professionals to connect, coordinate care and use secure digital tools such as electronic prescribing and referrals. The secretary of the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing will be given new authority to set national data standards after consulting with state and territory governments. Health information across Australia is currently fragmented and inconsistent. National standards will enable secure, accurate data-sharing so healthcare professionals can access what they need when they need it. This will lead to faster diagnosis, safer treatment and better health outcomes.

The bill also doubles the timeframe for diagnostic imaging referrals from seven to 14 days. This is an important reform that will reduce the burden on GPs and their patients. We know people have busy lives and it can be difficult to make time to see a doctor—let alone if you need to have multiple scans or appointments. This strikes the balance between ensuring people attend vital diagnostic scans and making sure that there is not too much burden on them. It gives people a bit more breathing room. People won't have to return to their GP for a new referral if a week passes, and, in that way, it will reduce costs, save time and keep the focus on care rather than on paperwork.

It also addresses non-operational pathology collection centres. If a centre is closed, inaccessible or no longer collecting specimens, the minister will have the power to revoke its approval. Pathology centres play an important role in health care for diagnosis, treatment and management of medical conditions. This ensures that new functioning centres can open and patients can access services when and where they are needed.

The legislation authorises secure information-sharing between the department of health, Services Australia and other integrity bodies, implementing the recommendations of the Philip review. This will strengthen Medicare's integrity, allow earlier detection of fraud, protect public funds and maintain confidence in a system that millions of Australians rely on every day.

This legislation improves access to health and child care by making the rules simpler and more practical, but also kinder. The Additional Child Care Subsidy now replaces the phrase 'child at risk of abuse or neglect' with 'child in need of wellbeing support'. This small change removes stigma and encourages families to seek help. It keeps the same eligibility rules but uses strength based language that supports dignity and supports trust.

The reforms confirm that healthcare identifiers can be used in insurance or employment settings only to support ongoing treatment not to make adverse decisions about a person's care or work. This protects patients from discrimination, while ensuring their care is continuous and properly recorded in the My Health Record system, ensuring better sharing of health information.

These are just some of the reforms under this bill. The bill will help increase government efficiency and improve productivity in a range of ways. Taken together, these reforms represent a government that values inefficiency, integrity and fairness. They are about more than a process; they are about putting people at the centre of what we do. They mean a single mother can update her details once instead of five times, they mean a pensioner can get their healthcare card re-issued without having to fill out another form and they mean a doctor can access accurate patient information without delay. This shows that good government is not just about cutting services; it's about improving them. Those opposite often argue that cutting departments, cutting government services, will make them work better. We reject that. You do not improve the Public Service by hollowing it out. You improve it by designing systems that work for the people that use them.

This bill is proof that smart reform can deliver better outcomes without cuts. It demonstrates that regulation, when done properly, can empower rather than constrain. It can make government more human and more efficient at the same time. At its heart this bill is about trust. Australians should be able to trust that, when they deal with their government, they will be treated fairly, their time will be respected and their information will be secure. They should be able to trust that their government will help them, not hinder them.

We are building a government that talks to the Australian people and that listens to the Australian people so that Australians do not have to tell their story twice and that information is shared across services. We are building a government that connect programs and systems so people can move through life's stages without getting lost in bureaucracy and a government that understands that every form filled out, every call made and every appointment delayed is time taken away from what really matters: spending time with friends, working, playing sport, getting involved in the community and spending time with family. These are the sorts of things that we want Australians to be able to focus on, not having to spend time filling out forms and navigating government bureaucracy. This is what a Labor government does. We make a government that works for people.

Those opposite will talk about deregulation as if it were an end in itself. We understand that regulation is about fairness and function. It must protect the vulnerable, it must safeguard public funds, it must safeguard people's privacy, it must safeguard people's identity and medical records and it must enable innovation. This bill does that. It supports faster services, stronger integrity and a fairer economy. It does that by making sure that information is shared across government services, across health services, and that people's digital records—whether in health or if their bank account details are needed for government services—can flow freely between departments, reducing the amount of time that people need to spend online, filling out forms or filling out paper forms or standing in line at Services Australia offices or waiting on the phone to Centrelink. This is why I commend this bill to the House.

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