The SPEAKER ( Hon. Bronwyn Bishop ) took the chair at 09:00, made an acknowledgement of country and read prayers.
Dental Benefits Legislation Amendment Bill 2014
That this bill be now read a second time.
Health Insurance Amendment (Extended Medicare Safety Net) Bill 2014
That this bill be now read a second time.
Major Sporting Events (Indicia and Images) Protection Bill 2014
That this bill be now read a second time.
That the House take note of the report.
That the order of the day be referred to the Federation Chamber for debate.
That Mr S. P. Jones be discharged from the Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications and that, in his place, Mr Giles be appointed a member of the committee.
That, in respect of the proceedings on the Omnibus Repeal Day (Autumn 2014) Bill 2014, the Amending Acts 1901 to 1969 Repeal Bill 2014, and the Statute Law Revision (No. 1) Bill 2014, so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the following from occurring:
(1) the resumption of debate on the second readings of the bills being called on together;
(2) at the conclusion of the second reading debate or at 5.30 pm on Wednesday, 26 March 2014, whichever is the earlier, a Minister being called to sum up the second reading debate, then without delay:
(a) any necessary questions being put on any amendments moved to motions for the second readings by non-Government Members; and
(b) one question being put on the second readings of the bills together;
(3) the consideration in detail stages, if required, on all the bills being taken together for a period not exceeding 60 minutes at which time any Government amendments that have been circulated in respect of any of the bills shall be treated as if they have been moved together with:
(a) one question being put on all the Government amendments;
(b) one question being put on any amendments which have been moved by non-Government Members; and
(c) any further questions necessary to complete the detail stage being put;
(4) at the conclusion of the detail stage, one question being put on the remaining stages of all the bills together; and
(5) any variation to this arrangement to be made only by a motion moved by a Minister.
The House divided. [09:50]
[The Deputy Speaker—Mr Vasta]
Omnibus Repeal Day (Autumn 2014) Bill 2014
Amending Acts 1901 to 1969 Repeal Bill 2014
Statute Law Revision Bill (No. 1) 2014
That all the words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:
"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading the House notes that:
(1) the former Labor government had a strong record of deregulation reform which significantly improved the competitiveness and productivity of the Australian economy. In particular, the former Labor government:
a. repealed 16,794 acts, regulations and legislative instruments during its time in office; and
b. through its Seamless National Economy reforms was delivering significant cost savings to businesses—just 17 of these reforms were estimated by the Productivity Commission to lower business costs by $4 billion per year with the full reforms to increase Australia's productivity and deliver a $6 billion boost to GDP per year;
(2) a vast majority of the changes in this bill have no impact in terms of costs or regulatory burden on businesses, individuals and the community sector in Australia;
(3) the parliament supports sensible deregulation which removes cost and regulatory burden, but does not support the removal of protections for seniors, consumers, workers and investors under the guise of cutting red tape; and
(4) the government is using these bills as a distraction from cuts to protections for seniors, consumers, workers and investors."
… the Government had passed 254 Bills through parliament compared to just 108 Bills in the first year of the Howard Government.
Bills of this nature are traditionally non-controversial and receive the support of the parliament because they are regarded as an essential tool in the process of keeping the Commonwealth statute books accurate and up to date.
… repeal day will scrap more than 9,500 unnecessary or counterproductive regulations and 1,000 redundant acts of parliament.
Removing just these will save individuals or organisations more than $700 million a year, every year.
1. Part two, paragraphs 10 to 57, lists the clauses in 11 different pieces of legislation where from now on the law will “omit the word “e-mail”, and substitute “email”.
Part three, paragraphs 58 to 91, lists the clauses in 16 pieces of legislation where from now on the law will “omit the words “facsimile transmission” and substitute the word “fax".
Schedule five lists 10 cases in which a reference to “legislative assembly for the Northern Territory” must now be substituted with “legislative assembly of the Northern Territory”.
Schedule one, part 27, corrects a punctuation error in the Fair Work Act 2009 to insert a comma in between the words “aircraft” and “ship”.
Schedule one, part 39, corrects a spelling error in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act so that the word “committing” has the requisite two “t”s.
The culling exercise does not target any specific red tape that hamstrings family business and only a handful of measures are aimed at small business.
Telstra supports the core principles of the National Broadband Network … policy, including a wholesale-only NBN and the progressive structural separation of Telstra.
… make Australia a more attractive market for technology investment and innovation.
States and territories had signed off on the digital technology aspect but the new national curriculum hasn't received a final tick of approval because of a review at the behest of Mr Pyne.
I want our NBN rolled out within three years and Malcolm Turnbull is the right person to make this happen.
Lucy and I have found that much of our satisfaction in business has come from starting new enterprises: creating new jobs and new markets for Australian technology. Our life's experience has been that there is little reward without risk. We believe Australia's economy and prosperity depend on a culture of initiative and enterprise which supports Australians doing what we do best—having a go—and, when things do not succeed, getting up and having another go.
Labor have always believed in making it easier for business to do business. We have always believed in competitive, productive and profitable enterprises. We believe in successful enterprises that provide Australians with good jobs.
The Commission is actually working for us and gives the public confidence, it underpins the consumer benefit to charities.
The ACNC is more efficient than the government regulators it replaced, is doing good work and deserves a chance to achieve its three goals of reducing red tape, increasing public trust and strengthening the charities sector.
The government—
is drawing an extremely long bow in its promotion of this bill as part of its commitment to reducing red tape, at least within the government's own administration.
The goal of the Australian Universal Service Obligation Fund was to encourage competition in under-served areas by licensing other operators to become universal service providers …
The pilot areas were divided into a total of 213 US—
areas that encompassed 52 local government areas.
… in 2005 the Ministry for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts declared that Telstra was the only USP and that there was no competition in the provision of US—
Further information on datacasting can be found on the ACMA's datacasting page
The page you are looking for could not be found.
When the Howard Government amended the cross media ownership laws in 2006 a particular concern was the impact on local content on regional radio.
As a consequence, they—
introduced specific local content and local presence regulatory requirements for those licencees.
This resulted in quite onerous regulatory compliance obligations on those licencees.
As a lawyer at Gilbert and Tobin, one of my colleagues had the task of spending many hours, even days, on fulfilling this compliance task for one licencee.
Thankfully this Government—
in 2011 … revised those rules to reduce that burden, including in some cases exemptions.
… the point I wish to make is the need for policy makers to understand the full impact of regulations.
The immediate, direct benefit from removal of regulatory obstacles will be considerable, in the region of $10 million for Tasmania.
…a breath of fresh air for businesses big and small
… in difficult circumstances difficult things happen.
Before I went to the Humanise program I was very nervous about going into the workforce and all the skills I would need to have. Participating in 'Humanise the Next Generation' helped me build my confidence and inspire me to know that someone as ordinary as me can be something extraordinary.
I genuinely believe this is one of the best, if not the best, crit in Australia.
It dismays Australians when the national broadcaster appears to take everybody's side but our own.
'As an independent observer, I found no grounds for concern' in any measurements of bias or prioritising of particular viewpoints.
That the resumption of debate on the Prime Minister's motion of condolence in connection with the loss of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 be referred to the Federation Chamber.
The release today of the federal government’s repeal day legislation marks a turning point in dealing with the high costs and inefficiencies faced by businesses and consumers in our economy
… health and disability spending are expected to increase over the next decade by ½ percent of GDP each, and education, assistance to the aged and pensions by 0.2 percent each.
I do not look at policy through the prism of left-wing or right-wing ideology – I’m interested in what works …
This budget ensures that the benefits of the boom are spread to all corners of our country. We have brought the budget back to surplus on time, as promised …
The government’s bad choices and wrong priorities evident in the lead-up to the May budget.
In Australia's biggest cities, public transport is generally slow, expensive, not especially reliable and still a hideous drain on the public purse.
Budget News
Bill Shorten MP
A budget surplus for a strong economy – spreading the benefits of the mining boom to all Australians.
Australia's economic report card.
Back in surplus, on time, as promised
In these uncertain global times there’s no clearer sign of a strong economy than a surplus. We’ve delivered a surplus, on time, as promised.
We will honour the agreements that Labor has entered into. We will match the offers that Labor has made. We will make sure than no school is worse off. We think that money is important.
Every single school in Australia will receive, dollar for dollar, the same federal funding over the next four years whether there is a Liberal or Labor Government after September 7.
We are going to keep the promise that we made, not the promise that some people thought we made or the promise that some people might have liked us to make. We are going to keep the promise that we actually made.
… the idea of a profits based tax is a sound one.
Private Health Insurance Legislation Amendment Bill 2013
Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 2) 2013-2014
Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2013-2014
Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2013-2014
Export Market Development Grants Amendment Bill 2014
Marriage (Celebrant Registration Charge) Bill 2014
That this bill be now read a third time.
Marriage Amendment (Celebrant Administration and Fees) Bill 2014
That this bill be now read a third time.
Omnibus Repeal Day (Autumn 2014) Bill 2014
Amending Acts 1901 to 1969 Repeal Bill 2014
Statute Law Revision Bill (No. 1) 2014
Without the removal of this red tape, the financial impact on small financial advice businesses in setting up systems, training, supervision, monitoring and reporting would have been significant.
It is great to see the Commonwealth introduce measures to simplify or completely remove unnecessary or duplicated regulation that directly adds to the spiralling cost of compliance that local Central Coast businesses face.
It is the compliance requirements that do nothing but create red tape that is killing small business.
Small businesses play a significant role in the Australian economy and it is already apparent that the optimism is returning to small businesses which will only lead to employment growth and investment into this crucial area of the economy.
Any rule endorsed by government where there is an expectation of compliance.
… red tape is in the mind of the beholder: it's red tape if you don't like it and good governance if you do.
Smart regulations save lives and dollars.
Effective regulation is necessary. It safeguards businesses, the environment and our communities. Poorly designed regulation, however, can act like a tax on business, raising costs and stifling innovation. A particular focus on improving regulation surrounding transport of agricultural goods, on-farm labour and environmental assessments could realise significant benefits for farm businesses and should be prioritised by policy makers.
The release today of the federal government’s repeal day legislation marks a turning point in dealing with the high costs and inefficiencies faced by businesses and consumers in our economy.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I will give you an example of regulation gone mad …
a secret directive to our top financial services companies requiring them to complete an 800-question audit—800 questions.
The object of this bill is merely to cut away the dead wood on the statute-book. It is not a consolidation of the statutes, but a Statute Law Revision Bill. There are various circumstances which make acts no longer useful, and which justify their removal from the statute-book. This bill is designed to remove obsolete and useless matter, and will correct a few mistakes that have been discovered in the legislation passed by the Commonwealth Parliament during the last 34 years.
It is the purpose of this bill to repeal such obsolete and unnecessary acts.
Most regulation did not just happen… Each got there because a problem or need was brought to government’s attention, to which it responded.
… we are determined to reduce duplicative regulatory requirements that exist between federal and state agencies and also between different federal agencies.
Reducing red tape and removing redundant laws, particularly in the customs portfolio, improves the efficiency of businesses engaged in importing and exporting and makes things simpler for all Australians.
By removing unnecessary regulations, we are reducing the burden on business and helping to lift business efficiency and productivity.
Social Security Legislation Amendment (Green Army Programme) Bill 2014
The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Hon. BC Scott ) took the chair at 09:30.
When you scratch below the surface of the GP superclinics scheme … you do not have to scratch too much before you see that is a nasty program … You do not have to poke too much into the GP Super Clinics Program to see a really nasty undertone to it.
Marriage (Celebrant Registration Charge) Bill 2014
Marriage Amendment (Celebrant Administration and Fees) Bill 2014
In respect of the planned abolition of the Australian Charities and Not-for Profits Commission (ACNC)
(a) what is the timeline for consultations,
(b) who will be consulted, and
(c) if the ACNC is abolished, will a discussion paper be released on the Government's proposals for regulating charities and not-for-profit organisations.
(a) I have, and will continue to consult with the sector and across Government on the abolition of the ACNC. Timelines regarding future consultations is a decision for Government.
(b) Arrangements for consultations are a decision for Government.
(c) Considerations on the release of a discussion paper is a decision for Government.
In respect of the Government's election commitment to allocate $3.3 million to the resurfacing of Kennedy Drive at Tweed Heads, (a) will the funds be allocated in the 2013-14 budget as promised; if so, from which funding program will they come, (b) what additional funding requirements will be imposed on funding recipients for them to receive the funding, and (c) what is the status of the National Party's progress on meeting its remaining 2013 election commitments in the electoral division of Richmond
(a) and (b)
The Australian Government made a commitment to contribute $3.3 million towards the upgrade of Kennedy Drive in 2014-15. The Australian Government is working with the NSW Government to finalise the Infrastructure Investment Programme.
(c) The Government is funding its election commitments through the Community Development Grants (CDG) programme, with $342 million provided for a range of community projects to support economic growth and liveability. The Government has allocated $435,000 from the CDG to the electorate of Richmond through the Tweed Shire Council including $185,000 for the Murwillumbah Football Club upgrade, and $250,000 for the Joan Nicoll Tennis Centre – Stage 1 and 2. My Department is working with the Tweed Shire Council to ensure that sufficient information on the projects is provided to allow a value with public money assessment to be undertaken prior to entering in a Funding Agreement with the Tweed Shire Council.
(1) Is there a plan for an ad hoc meeting on the Standing Council on the Environment and Water; if so, for when is it scheduled.
(2) Has he been nominated by the Prime Minister as Chair of the National Environmental Protection Council (NEPC); if so:
(a) on what date, and
(b) when does he plan to convene a meeting of the NEPC in his role as Chair.
(3) What assessment and/or reporting is the NEPC undertaking in respect of a potential national container deposit scheme.
(4) What is the status of the decision made by the Standing Committee on Environment and Water in August 2012 to push ahead with work to find better ways to manage Australia's packaging waste.
(5) Has a Decision Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) been developed on packaging impacts by the Standing Committee on Environment and Water to undertake a more detailed analysis of the seven options contained in the Consultation RIS including regional and other distributional impacts.
(1) The Standing Council on Environment and Water was abolished by the Council of Australian Governments on 13 December 2013. An ad hoc meeting of environment ministers is scheduled to take place on Tuesday 29 April 2014.
(2) Yes.
(a) 17 October 2013
(b) Tuesday 29 April 2014, concurrently with the ad hoc meeting of environment ministers.
(3) None, this work had been undertaken by the Standing Council on Environment and Water.
(4) This work is in progress.
(5) Yes, the draft Decision Regulation Impact Statement is currently with the Office of Best Practice Regulation for clearance.