House debates

Wednesday, 29 October 2014

Questions without Notice

Economy

2:29 pm

Photo of Nola MarinoNola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer outline how the government is helping to build a modern, prosperous economy that will create more opportunities for all Australians?

Photo of Joe HockeyJoe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | | Hansard source

I do thank the honourable member for her question, because we are in the business of getting rid of red tape; we are in the business of getting rid of excessive regulation; we are in the business of a fairer, simpler taxation system; and we are in the business of a fairer deal for Australian consumers and Australian businesses.

As a result of the policy initiatives we have put in place I am pleased to report that in the first nine months of this year 170,000 new companies have registered with ASIC. That is nearly 17,000 more than the first nine months of last year under Labor. So companies are registering, people are setting up new businesses and, as a result of our initiatives on tax and the economy and the budget and a range of other things, Australia is getting back to work. That is good news. It is one of the reasons why we have job creation this year running at three times the speed of that of the last year under Labor.

One of the ways we are doing it is to get rid of red tape and, as a result of the repeal day initiatives and the good work of the parliamentary secretary, the member for Kooyong, and others, the fundamental point is we are getting rid of $2.1 billion of red tape to business, and that is welcome.

Also, when we implement measures, we seek to ensure that we have as little cost to all those involved is possible. That is in stark contrast to the experience of Labor, because we have good memories of what Labor tried to do in previous years. No-one knows this better, of course, than the member for McMahon. I come back to the member for McMahon—it is like a boomerang coming back all the time—and the great example of the member for McMahon's work in compliance costs was something called Fuelwatch! If we are going to talk about fuel, let's talk about Fuelwatch. The Labor Party promised that they would watch fuel prices. The problem was, when it came to watching fuel prices, according to a leaked Department of Finance paper, it was going to cost $20.7 million in the first year to watch fuel prices and $18.7 million per year after that—to watch fuel prices. That is the Labor Party's argument about deregulation. That is the Labor Party way of doing things. They were not doing anything; they were watching fuel prices.

The only friend of Australian business, the only friend of prosperity, the only friend of job creation is the coalition government, because it is the coalition government that has put in place initiatives that are delivering the prosperity that Australians deserve.