Minister Assisting the Prime Minister and Cabinet,
Minister for the Public Service,
Special Minister of State
Joint Media Release
Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash
Attorney-General
Minister for Industrial Relations
Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate
Senator for Western Australia
The Hon Ben Morton MP
Minister Assisting the Prime Minister and Cabinet
Minister for the Public Service
Special Minister of State
Legislation changes recommended by the Morrison Government will make it easier for individuals and businesses to lodge forms electronically.
The Governor-General agreed to remove 33 exemptions to the Electronic Transactions Act 1999 (ETA) that required physical paper forms lodged to government – with scope to cut more. This gives Australians more accessibility and ease of use when interacting with government services.
Minister Assisting the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Ben Morton, said these changes are further evidence of the Morrison Government’s commitment to remove unnecessary regulatory burdens and go digital.
“When the legislation was introduced 20 years ago, it was to help businesses move away from paper-based forms when communicating with government,” Minister Morton said.
“But for sensitive information or when a physical signature was needed, exemptions remained in place, requiring people to use physical copy. This was appropriate at the time, but as technology has adapted, so have we.
“These changes will save time and money, and is another achievement under the Morrison Government’s Deregulation Agenda.”
To complement these changes, the Council on Federal Financial Relations also agreed to a set of principles to guide future reforms in this space.
Commonwealth Attorney-General, Michaelia Cash, said these principles will drive the modernisation of document execution across all jurisdictions for documents including agreements, deeds and statutory declarations.
“We are making statutory declaration forms easier to fill in online and additional new measures will provide for temporary electronic statutory declarations,” Minister Cash said.
“It’s just another step we’ve taken to make it simpler for individuals and businesses to fulfil their legal obligations.”
The change today builds on the 54 exemptions the Morrison Government removed from the ETA last year. This is in addition to the Government’s Budget commitment to reduce or remove Treasury portfolio legislation exemptions to the ETA.
A copy of the new online Statutory Declaration form is available at ag.gov.au.
