Mr J. BULL (Sunbury) — It is my great pleasure to rise to contribute to the debate on the Associations Incorporation Reform Amendment (Electronic Transactions) Bill 2015. As we have heard the bill amends the Associations Incorporation Reform Act 2012 to enable the majority of transactions and notifications under the act to be conducted electronically. The majority of paper-based forms and processes under the act will be replaced by electronic smart forms. This bill will reduce the compliance burden on small incorporated associations by removing the existing requirement for them to attach a paper copy of their annual financial statement when they lodge their annual statement with the registrar of incorporated associations. We have heard contributions from both sides of the house about the importance of the practicality of this bill and the reduction of the burden for incorporated associations. We know that there are over 38 000 registered incorporated associations in our state, and 90 per cent of those fall into tier 1. It is also worth noting that Victoria is the first state or territory to reduce the compliance burden on not-for-profit organisations by introducing the comprehensive streamlined online transaction system.

When we think about what this actually does and what it means from a local perspective, I know that hundreds of local incorporated associations that do some terrific work within our communities, including in my electorate of Sunbury — —

Mr Pearson interjected.

Mr J. BULL — It is a terrific electorate; and I appreciate that comment from the member for Essendon. We know that we have a number of these organisations, and that they do terrific work in the community. Often they are small organisations and small associations. We know that many of these organisations now communicate via email, smart phones and social media. This bill reduces the burden and the paperwork required for those organisations to operate. It is probably fair to say that gone are the days of solid paperwork and gone are the days of cheques — and it is terrific to see that this bill is being debated today. We know that the existing system is based around paper and that it is outdated. The world has moved on, and things move a lot quicker now.

As I have mentioned in the house before, SunFest is a local community organisation in Sunbury that is responsible for the festival. I spoke to the president of SunFest about what this amendment would do for the organisation. He basically said that the organisation operates mainly online. For example, for the event there are costs for suppliers of sound and stage equipment, toilet hire, radio hire, security guards, traffic management, first aid, entertainers and much more. All of these are paid for using an online banking system. These days the only cheques SunFest sends are to Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV). Everyone else has moved with the times and gone online. Essentially the only reason SunFest still uses a cheque book is because of the requirements of CAV.

The president of SunFest also said that myCAV is something that SunFest has been looking forward to for quite some time. He said that having all reporting requirements in one place so that they can be easily accessed online and submitted instantly, the use of smart forms and easy access to things like model rules and the fact that other associations and organisations are allowed to register details means that SunFest and the other 38 000 incorporated associations that we have in Victoria can finally have a one-stop shop for dealing with Consumer Affairs Victoria. They will not have to go into detailed and ongoing correspondence and incur expenses merely to obtain a copy of the organisation rules or to submit a form. We know that the vast majority of tier 1 organisations, such as SunFest, have been crying out for an online system for a very long time.

This amendment reduces the regulatory burden. We know that organisations such as SunFest often operate on a very low budget and are made up of good, local community people who spend their time working for the community and doing things that matter in their community. We want to ensure that those people in those communities can do the work that they need to do without worrying about paperwork and such things, thereby cutting red tape and allowing them to get on with it. Like this government, they are rolling up their sleeves and getting on with their work.

The SPEAKER — Order! The member for Sunbury can resume his contribution when the bill is next before the house.

Business interrupted under sessional orders.