Wednesday, 7 February 2024

Bills

Regulatory Legislation Amendment (Reform) Bill 2023

Second reading

Debate resumed.

Jade BENHAM (Mildura) (18:52): I have still got, well, not even half the audience that was around for my thrilling contribution on the Regulatory Legislation Amendment (Reform) Bill earlier, but I will return to talk about this piece of omnibus legislation. I know everyone had wanted to stick around and hear me talk about some of the technicalities of this bill that amends 14 acts over 10 portfolios. There is a bit to it. I will not go through it all because that would take substantially longer than 7 minutes and the member for Kew did a wonderful job of that earlier today for 30 minutes and probably could have gone even longer than that. However, as an attempt to try to cut some of the red tape that strangles businesses, as I was alluding to earlier, in the state of Victoria and that makes it the most expensive state to do business, this piece of reform legislation does fall a little bit short.

There are a few amendments, however – I like to err on the side of positivity most of the time – that actually do make some positive changes, such as supporting technology. Obviously legislation needs to keep up with technology. The amendments to the Meat Industry Act 1993 and the Seafood Safety Act 2003 and the licensing technicalities will benefit probably the department, the officers, the bureaucrats within the department by bringing it all together and streamlining that process rather than helping the industry and the operators themselves. However, whether it will help some of those businesses operate their enterprises is yet to be seen. But the $3.66 that they will save each year I am sure will go a long way to putting an extra prawn on one plate, perhaps, or maybe even not really. I do not even know what the price of prawns is at the moment. Anyway, I digress.

A member interjected.

Jade BENHAM: I live a long, long way from the ocean. However, there is some really good sushi in my part of the world considering we are so far inland, but again I digress. Some of the government’s claims of the red tape reduction included, as I was stating before, the $2.6 million – we do not hear millions bragged about by the government very often anymore. That M has been changed to a B. It is not impressive unless there is a B there. Clearly when you divide it over the 710,000 businesses that it is divided amongst that is $3.66 that they will get every year. I mean in my day – that ages me, doesn’t it – $3.60 would buy you an enormous bag of mixed lollies or some hot chips. I do not think it would even do that now. So surely we could do better than that when we talk about red tape reform.

We hear every day about how small businesses in particular need red tape reform. They need more of it, but they need it so it actually benefits operators and small business owners in this state rather than the departments that are causing all of the hurdles with regard to it.

Victoria is the only state in this country that actually went backward in terms of small business operators in 2023. We have lost 7600 small businesses in Victoria over the past 12 months, and like I mentioned earlier, I can literally see them – physically see them – jumping the river. They have got the same market there. All of the infrastructure and all of the resources might be located in Victoria and all of the customers – most of the customers, I should say – are still located in Victoria. They can take Victorian money over to New South Wales where it is far less taxed and it is far easier to set up a business and far easier to get licensing – far easier than getting through all of that bureaucratic red tape that Victoria has – and they reap the benefits, with Victorians’ money. Like I said, their customers are in Victoria. We can physically see some of those in border communities right along the Murray River from Mildura to the electorate of Benambra. They are literally jumping the river to make things easier on themselves.

I know how hard it is to operate a business in this state. It is really quite difficult, and some will pay for it long after the doors have shut because of the unfavourable conditions. There will be tax bills. I am sure the member for Morwell knows this, having previously been a business owner, as well as the member for Narracan – even though he is not here – and the member for Shepparton. Having had businesses, you know that just because you close the door on a business in Victoria it does not mean that you stop paying the price for trying to contribute to the economic landscape or for being one of those entrepreneurs that might have had a business idea that lasted longer than you expected it to, as in my case.

According to the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) Cost and Ease of Doing Business in Victoria report – and I know the member for Gippsland East and probably even the member for Gippsland South mentioned it – of the members that were surveyed for that report, more than half of those businesses with operations elsewhere in Australia or overseas said it that is harder to do business in Victoria than anywhere else. Less than half of those businesses felt that they were getting fair value for money from the taxes they pay, and the government just keeps adding more. Only 7 per cent of businesses – 7 per cent, not 70 – think the government is doing a good job of reducing the cost of doing business in Victoria; maybe that might add up to ‘fair’ with an extra 3½ dollars. Only one in five business owners feel supported with their mental health. Forty-four per cent of businesses think the government service waiting times are getting worse. Hopefully these little technical changes that are supposed to will cut the red tape and streamline processes and provisions. We will see. And 85 per cent of businesses surveyed for the VCCI Cost and Ease of Doing Business in Victoria report said that regulatory culture was a barrier to doing business in Victoria. So we see them every day jumping the river, building new premises and engaging local businesses in New South Wales, some in Victoria. They are physically building new businesses on the New South Wales side, while the infrastructure is not there, so that they can operate interstate. It is really quite alarming.

When we talk about red tape and regulatory reforms we actually need to see some commitment to actually making a difference rather than the thin, token effort that we see here. We will see. Like I said, there are some positive aspects to this bill, but how much positivity and how much they will actually benefit businesses we are yet to see. I hardly think that $3.66 is enough to benefit business.

Meng Heang TAK (Clarinda) (18:59): I am honoured to join this side of the house to speak on the Regulatory Legislation Amendment (Reform) Bill 2023. The bill is the second regulatory reform omnibus bill that is –

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The member will have the call when we return to the bill, but I am required by sessional orders to interrupt business now.

Business interrupted under sessional orders.