Mr BAYLEY (Clark) - Mr Deputy Speaker, I will be very brief. The Greens will support the bill. I will move through this pretty quickly. The Treasurer's second reading contribution and the supporting material for this bill make a compelling case that the current arrangements for annual notices of fee unit increases are onerous and provide no benefit over the proposed simplified framework. The requirement for each head of agency to table an individual schedule is clearly excessive. At my count, there were 14 such schedules tabled last year.
As a new member in this place, one of the things that has surprised me is the volume of paper that passes across our desks on a daily basis and into our bins. Reducing unnecessary resource use is certainly something the Greens can appreciate and support. The Treasurer's comments that most people get their information from a website rather than the gazette is true. I concur with Dr Broad that the world has moved on and the Gazette is no longer what it used to be.
The Greens are satisfied that the proposed framework provides for the same level of public scrutiny and parliamentary process and is more efficient. We welcome that. The safeguard provisions, including refunding for overcharging and not being able to charge increased fees until the increase is reflected on an agency website appear to be appropriate and comprehensive. For these reasons the Greens are happy to support this bill.