INTERVIEW WITH HAMISH MACDONALD ON ABC RADIO SYDNEY

INTERVIEW WITH HAMISH MACDONALD ON ABC RADIO SYDNEY

18 August 2025

Subjects: Labor’s 5,000 regulations and 400 new laws that have cost the economy $5 billion

E&OE………

Hamish Macdonald

The Coalition is taking a strong position, you could say, on red tape, arguing that this needs to be part of the conversation this week. The Shadow Minister, Senator Andrew Bragg, he'll be making an address to the Sydney Institute today on this. Very good morning to you. You were listening into that conversation. In a sense, that is a bit about red tape, but we also heard the risks of getting rid of too much red tape, and people that are paying for apartment buildings that don't work or don't have enough money in the sinking fund might see the benefit of having some regulation.

Senator Bragg

Well, I think governments of all colours have been addicted to announcing more laws and more regulations. But the reality is that they haven't made, necessarily, Australia a better place, and often the law enforcement isn't there, as well, which is a major problem. In the housing space, the Government have put a lot of red tape in place. Now they say they want to change course on that – that's good – we're happy to help them turnaround the Titanic. But more broadly, we need to have a proper debate about the limits of regulation in our economy because we can't save everyone from everything.

Hamish Macdonald

What is it that you're saying today? Give us some examples of the red tape that you say could be cut that would make our economy more productive.

Senator Bragg

Well, there's a huge amount of red tape in the industrial relations space. There's a huge amount of red tape in the 'just doing business' space. Even in just the last Parliament, we saw 5,000 new regulations come in place, 400 new laws, and then you have the porous law enforcement issue. Unfortunately, we're in a position now where there's a red tape compliance cost, and then in addition, there's a lack of law enforcement. I think that means that the country is paying twice. And so, what we're now seeing is the country going down the world league tables in terms of our competitive position, and that is hurting us in terms of the ability to attract investment and ultimately, employment.

Hamish Macdonald

So, if we were to get rid of this stuff, what are the risks? Do you acknowledge that there are risks in loosening the red tape?

Senator Bragg

Yeah, there is. But what I'm trying to say to you is that the idea that all the rules that are there now in the books are enforced is also a fallacy. It's just not the case. There are anti-incitement laws, for example, which aren't enforced – you can walk over the Harbour Bridge and spew a whole lot of antisemitic stuff, and there's no law enforcement. You can steal people's money and manage investment schemes and send it to the Caymans – there’s no law enforcement. You can use artificial intelligence to steal people's works, whether it be artists or whether it be journalists, and there's no law enforcement. We're not living in a country where there is a huge amount of law enforcement anyway. I think we've got to be really focused on what are the rules that we think we really need. Let's simplify them, and let's also talk about how we enforce those rules.

Hamish Macdonald

How much money do you reckon you'd save by doing this?

Senator Bragg

Well, just in the last Parliament, the Albanese Government put in place 400 new laws which cost the country $5 billion. Now,the compliance cost of all the red tape is probably closer to 10% of GDP today. You'd be talking about tens of billions of dollars if you had a more reasonable amount of rules. I mean, for example, we have well over a thousand laws in Australia. In Canada, they only have 800, and we have almost half the population. Just getting to a more reasonable level of rules and regulations, I think, would be a massive benefit to the economy.

Hamish Macdonald

Andrew Bragg, thank you very much.

Senator Bragg

Thanks, Hamish.

[Ends]

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