‘Years of reform in weeks’

Liberal senator Andrew Bragg says COVID-19 has helped lift productivity, but the challenge now is to lock in those gains.

Andrew Bragg at Middle Head Reserve on 17th February 2020. (AAP Image / Julian Andrews).

Australia has a responsibility to lock in the productivity gains driven by COVID-19 according to Liberal senator Andrew Bragg, who hopes his inquiry into fintech and regtech will help the country’s high-growth technology sector lead a fast bounce-back from the current recession.

Speaking to The Australian Mr Bragg said his inquiry, which has been extended to tackle the impact of COVID-19 on the economy, had heard from many businesses and public servants who had done things completely differently during the pandemic.

“Years’ worth of reform has been delivered in weeks,” Mr Bragg told The Australian. ”It’s taken a crisis to move on 20 years of outdated corporate law. In New South Wales for example the state government has allowed video conferencing for witnesses of a legal document, but that is sunsetted to finish in September.

“I don’t want to be complacent that all we’ve gained in the pandemic will be locked in. I am determined that this inquiry will make a strong case for locking the gains that have been achieved, and I don’t want to take anything for granted.”

Mr Bragg cited several data points of how rapidly business had changed during COVID-19, including that virtual AGMs had saved an estimated $13m – and 8000 trees – wasted on printing paper for shareholders. AGMs previously had to be held in person with meeting notices and annual reports sent via post.

The senator, who himself contracted coronavirus early on in the pandemic, said that the world has changed daily life for businesses and their workers irrevocably, and that it was incumbent upon government to provide a neutral, low-regulation framework for them to operate in.

Mr Bragg recently wrote a book on superannuation - titled Bad Egg: How to Fix Super - and between 2014 and 2016 was a policy director at the Financial Services Council, which represents retail superannuation funds.

“We‘re going through our first recession in 30 years. There are no excuses for us to then leave these old artefacts of law in place,” he said. ”I think we’ve proven during the pandemic that we’re very good at tech, and very good at fintech in particular, as a country. We need to keep creating tech-based jobs because every jurisdiction around us will be doing the same thing.

“It‘s now a hungrier, harder world and if we don’t provide a pro-tech environment, it will be very hard for us to attract more jobs in Australia.

“We are thinking of doing one more set of hearings particular to regtech, if the committee agrees, for example looking at how we look at regtech to help solve the very complex industrial relations challenges this country faces. And we might have one more hearing about agtech, before the interim report is handed down in August.”

The hearings are set to continue on Tuesday.