Senator SHERRY (Tasmania—Minister Assisting on Deregulation and Public Sector Superannuation, Minister for Small Business and Minister Assisting the Minister for Tourism) (14:37): Thank you, Mr President. I thank Senator Stephens for her very important question. The Gillard government has—and I have outlined this on previous occasions—an extensive reform agenda in respect of deregulation. One deregulatory simplification that this government has introduced is called the Superannuation Clearing House. As senators, including Senator Stephens, would recall, last year we introduced this service to solve the red tape created for small business when the former Liberal-National government introduced choice of fund into the superannuation system. This imposed significant new regulatory and compliance requirements on business which were particularly onerous for small business. The clearing house that the Labor government has introduced is administered by Medicare Australia. It is free and it is simple to use. The take-up for the clearing house service has been growing steadily since it was introduced on 1 July last year. It will continue to grow as more and more businesses— Senator Cormann: Tell us the numbers! Senator SHERRY: If you will be quiet, Senator, I will get to the numbers. At the beginning of this month, 4,300 employers were registered with the clearing house and they are clearing almost 30,000 employees with 84,000 employee pavements being made through the system. Some $45 million has been remitted by small business employers and disbursed to superannuation funds. We know about the onerous obligations that were imposed on employers by the previous government in respect of superannuation choice. It discharges employer super guarantee obligations when the money reaches Medicare, so it removes the previous legal obligations imposed. It takes all types of super contributions: personal, salary sacrifice, not just SG. It accepts super payments— (Time expired)