"This legislation again reflects the hard work that the Albanese government is prepared to do to make sure that business is easier to do here in Australia."

Address to the House of Representatives - BILLS - Treasury Laws Amendment (2023 Law Improvement Package No. 1) Bill 2023 - Second Reading

Wednesday 21 June 2023

I also rise to speak in support of the Treasury Laws Amendment (2023 Law Improvement Package No. 1) Bill 2023. I commend earlier contributions to this debate and also look forward to the contribution of the member for Bennelong on the next bill coming up for debate.

The Albanese government, as part of its regulatory stewardship role—a role that we take incredibly seriously—is progressing amendments to ensure that Treasury portfolio legislation remains current and fit for purpose. The amendments in this bill, as many speakers have said, are mostly technical and will reduce complexity in Australia's corporations and financial services law, increasing its navigability and enhancing its clarity—all important aims. For the hard work in bringing this bill to parliament, I would also like to thank the Assistant Treasurer, his team and the incredible, hardworking public servants that have worked to identify these changes and implement these changes to reduce red tape for businesses and consumers.

Yesterday I spoke about the importance of expertise in the Public Service, and the comments that I made yesterday equally apply to the detailed work that goes into making sure that the recommendations from reviews are able to properly take effect in legislation such as this.

For some context, particularly in relation to the changes proposed in schedule 1: in September 2020 the then Attorney-General asked the Australian Law Reform Commission to inquire into the potential simplification of laws regulating Australian corporations and financial services as part of the government's response to the 2019 Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry. The ALRC found, unsurprisingly, that the law is challenging to navigate and complex for individuals and businesses and that it needed to be simplified to ensure its intent is met. Additionally, the ALRC's interim report A focused on the use of definitions. It found that complexity could be reduced by using defined terms only where this reduces repetition and enhances readability, improving the design of definitions and using defined terms consistently throughout the corporations law.

The ALRC made 13 recommendations along with 24 proposals and questions for further consideration. The recommendations primarily address unnecessary complexity in the corporations and financial services law, as I said. They unfreeze the AIA, create a single glossary of terms, remove redundant definitions and make other simplifications. The ALRC review effectively called for some spring cleaning to be done to make it easier for business to operate. While it may only be winter, the government is getting on with the job of implementing these recommendations.

As I said earlier, schedules 1 to 3 to the bill implement recommendations that were identified by the ALRC in interim reports A and B from the ALRC review. These include unfreezing the application of the AIA to the Corporations Act and the ASIC Act, creating a single glossary for all defined terms in the Corporations Act, repealing redundant definitions, addressing unclear or incorrect provisions and simplifying unnecessarily complex provisions in the law. Schedules 1 to 3 will improve that navigability and simplify the law by improving clarity, with a particular focus on terms defined as having more than one meaning and on definitions containing substantive obligations; by correcting errors, because, as the member for Bennelong said, despite best intentions, there are errors that do occur in our legislation and it's important to do that spring clean; and, of course, by repealing redundant definitions. The consequence of these changes in schedules 1 to 3 will facilitate a more adaptive, efficient and navigable legislative framework which ensures that the legislative intent is actually met.

Schedule 4 to the bill creates amendments to the Insurance Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1991, the Life Insurance Act 1995 and the Insurance Act 1973. Those acts are the enabling acts of certain legislative instruments regulating the insurance industry that are currently due to sunset on 1 October 2023, not that far away. As the member for Fraser talked about earlier, sunsetting is the automatic repeal of legislative instruments after a certain date unless action is taken to retain them. Sunsetting is important to ensure that legislative instruments are kept up to date and only remain in force so long as they are needed.

The purpose of the relevant insurance acts is to protect policyholders by regulating the types of persons that may carry on insurance businesses and prescribing standards to ensure the prudent management of the insurance industry. The amendments will help to ensure that the sunsetting insurance instruments come up to date and are actually fit for purpose when they are remade. As previous speakers have said, they are primarily technical, but they include updating certain provisions to reflect modern communication practices—I note your important contribution, Deputy Speaker Freelander, on the relevance of fax machines still in some enterprises—to allow regulators to administratively prescribe the manner and form of certain notices to increase flexibility and align with modern drafting practices. The amendments also include moving some provisions in the insurance instruments into the primary legislation. Essentially, these amendments to the enabling acts of certain legislative instruments will help to ensure, as I said, that they remain up to date and fit for purpose when they're remade. They're primarily technical in nature, but it's still critical that they be made.

On the changes proposed in schedule 5 and the rationalisation of ending ASIC instruments: class orders and legislative instruments that notionally amend the primary law or regulations may cause complexity in the law and undermine accessibility. This can make it difficult for entities to identify and understand the law as it applies to them. Schedule 5 to the bill moves these notional amendments into primary law and regulations to provide greater certainty and clarity of the law and make it easier for industry and consumers to navigate Treasury laws. To achieve this, schedule 5 to the bill amends the Corporations Act and the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 to incorporate longstanding matters currently contained in the Australian Securities and Investments Commission legislation. Long-term reliance on ASIC's exemption and modification powers to update the law for changing circumstances makes it difficult for regulated entities to understand the full state of the law as it applies to them. The amendments in schedule 5 to the bill will improve the clarity of the law, provide certainty and make it simpler for regulated entities and consumers to properly understand their rights and obligations.

As the Assistant Treasurer made clear in his second reading speech on this bill, for a long time ASIC relied on its exemption and modification powers under the enabling acts to update the law for changing circumstances. But this is a more appropriate approach, moving the operation of those legislative instruments into the primary law. This provides, as I said, greater clarity and certainty and is actually a much better approach for consumers to properly understand their rights and obligations.

Moving on to schedule 6, there is an ongoing need to make technical amendments and corrections to Treasury portfolio legislation at times, to rectify minor problems with the law that prevent it from operating as intended. The minor and technical amendment process in this schedule is consistent with the recommendation made by the Tax Design Review Panel in 2008. This panel was appointed to examine how to reduce delays in the enactment of tax legislation and to improve the quality of tax law changes. It has since been expanded to all Treasury portfolio legislation. The panel identified a requirement that appropriate priority should be given to the ongoing care and maintenance of the taxation system. The regular minor and technical amendments process has since been expanded to cover all Treasury portfolio laws. This schedule makes minor and technical amendments to those laws to make sure that they appropriately operate in accordance with policy intent. Some minor changes are also made to improve administrative outcomes, remedy unintended consequences and correct technical or drafting defects. The amendments have been identified by Treasury portfolio agencies and the Office of Parliamentary Counsel.

Again, I would like to thank the Assistant Treasurer, his team and the public servants who've done so much work in this dry but important area, for all the work they have done on this legislation. This legislation again reflects the hard work that the Albanese government is prepared to do to make sure that business is easier to do here in Australia. Those opposite have often talked about the need to continue to reduce red tape in Australia and make business easier in this country. Since the election of the Albanese government, doing business in this country has continued to become easier, which was a focus of our last budget. We're progressing these amendments to ensure that Treasury portfolio legislation remains current and fit for purpose. The amendments in this bill are mostly technical and will reduce complexity in Australia's corporations and financial services law, increase its navigability and enhance its clarity. I welcome the support of those opposite and some of the positive contributions that they have made to this debate. Again, I'd like to thank the Assistant Treasurer and the incredible hardworking public servants who have worked to identify these changes to reduce red tape for business and consumers. I commend this bill to the House.