Mr WAKELIN(10.07 a.m.) —I will just say a few words on the Excise Tariff Amendment Bill (No. 2) 1997 and the Petroleum Excise (Prices) Amendment Bill 1997. The Howard government came to office with simple promises to the Australian people: we promised to talk with Australians, not at them; we said we would give Australians a say in public policy and make public policy making a public matter once more. That is the principle that has made the Charter of Budget Honesty a keystone of fiscal responsibility at the federal level. It is a principle that has fuelled much-needed reform to tax collections for the tax law improvement project; likewise with the small business deregulation task force.

It gives me precious little satisfaction to learn that, as recently as March last year, this parliament was passing about three times as many acts as its Canadian or British counterparts and that the amount of paperwork generated by the parliament has expanded exponentially in recent years. These are not issues that are in some way irrelevant to the needs of the Australian community. The government's election policy said:

Complex and convoluted laws require lawyers to interpret them. The more complex the law, the longer the lawyer will take and the greater the cost. The average citizen has little hope of understanding the laws.

The prospect of lawyers profiting from the misfortune of the public and the inadequacy of the parliament does not please me, for one, nor the government as a whole. For this reason I am honoured to speak on the legislation before us.

The two bills we are addressing seek to clarify the law so as to ensure fair and efficient excise collection in the industries of stabilised crude petroleum oil, crude oil and liquid petroleum gas, better know as LPG. Instead of forcing producers to calculate excise amounts and make payments of excise 36 times a year, this concurrent legislation will increase the length of that prescribed division to a month. The result—one-third the number of calculations of payments in a year—will help alleviate the administrative burden presently imposed on crude oil producers. The reforms will also reduce the government's meddling in this market.

These reforms are motivated by a commitment to greater flexibility and understanding on the part of government and reflect significant changes in the crude oil industry itself. In the mid-1980s, the current excise system allowed the government to take advantage of the boom in Bass Strait crude oil production. In fact, it has been noted that in 1984-85 $4.2 million was collected in this manner in excise payments. Since then, significant amendments have been made to the collection system as the crude oil market was deregulated and the Petroleum Excise (Prices) Act 1987, which determines the volware price of crude oil, was passed. Yet the administrative mess that necessitated 36 annual payments and calculations remained.

Furthermore, the extension of the petroleum resource rent tax regime to Bass Strait reduced the number of payees to only three, excise collected on crude oil dived to $12.2 million in 1995-96. It seems ridiculous to continue with such an outdated and burdensome system on such amounts of collectable excise.

Both the amendment bills before us have been developed by the government in full and open consultation with the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association. The amendments also ensure consistent treatment of LPG by making production of LPG excise exempt by removing LPG from the ambit of the tariff act. This will remove the administrative burden on producers of LPG and the government, and bring the treatment of offshore LPG production in line with onshore LPG production.

Amendments are also being made to the rates of excise duty on aviation gasoline, better known as avgas, and aviation kerosene, better known as avtur—a very welcome move in my own electorate.

In conclusion, I commend these two bills to the House and state to the parliament my hope that we will see similar legislation in many other areas of Commonwealth law and taxation.