Implementing the Government’s Better Regulation Agenda
Finance provides policy advice on ways to reduce the costs of regulation, provides secretariat and policy support to the Council of Australian Government’s Business Regulation and Competition Working Group (BRCWG), and assists government agencies and departments to comply with the government’s Regulatory Impact Analysis requirements. On 1 September 2008, Finance strengthened its focus on the government’s better regulation agenda by establishing a new business group within the department to focus on deregulation matters.
During 2008-09, Finance provided support for twelve meetings of the BRCWG and worked closely with Commonwealth and state and territory agencies to draft the National Partnership Agreement to Deliver a Seamless Economy. The agreement seeks to improve Australia’s productivity by reducing the cost and removing regulatory barriers to doing business across jurisdictional borders. COAG approved the agreement in principle on 29 November 2008 and it came into effect on 27 February 2009.
The agreement commits the Commonwealth to provide the states and territories with up to $550 million over five years in order to facilitate and reward the delivery of 27 priority deregulation reforms. Areas of reform covered by the agreement include a single national system for the regulation of consumer credit, a national regulatory scheme for trustee companies, a national licensing system for a range of occupations, and nationally uniform occupational health and safety laws. The agreement also commits jurisdictions to eight areas of competition reform, including a review of the parallel importation of books, and to the ongoing reform of regulatory processes. Reward payments to the states and territories are contingent upon jurisdictions meeting the key milestones set out in the agreement’s implementation plan.
Regulatory Reform at the Commonwealth level
With Finance’s assistance, during 2008-09 the Minister for Finance and Deregulation established Better Regulation Partnerships with ministerial colleagues to improve the effectiveness of existing regulation. The Minister developed a partnership with the Minister for Financial Services, Superannuation and Corporate Law to develop accessible product disclosure statements about financial services; and with the Minister for Health and Ageing to conduct a Health Technology Assessment Review to improve the timeliness of patient access to medical technologies and to reduce regulatory costs for the industry. The report on the review is scheduled for delivery in late 2009.
Finance was involved in two major exercises to review the stock of regulation during the year. As announced in the UEFO on 3 February 2009, the department reviewed pre-2008 subordinate regulation to document regulations that impose net costs on business and to identify opportunities to improve the efficiency of this regulation. The Minister for Finance and Deregulation introduced the Statute Stocktake (Regulation and Other Laws) Bill 2009 into the Parliament on 24 June 2009. The Bill proposes the amendment or repeal of almost 30 Acts where the provisions no longer have any function or purpose.
During the year, Finance coordinated the government’s response to two major Productivity Commission Reviews. The government published its response to the Annual Review of Regulatory Burdens on Business: Primary Sector on 18 December 2008 and its response to the Annual Review of Regulatory Burdens on Business: Manufacturing and Distributive Trades on 18 March 2009. The government accepted 68 of the 84 recommendations in these two reviews.
On 30 December 2008, the Minister for Finance and Deregulation announced that the government had requested that the Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) undertake a review of regulatory settings and policy development processes in Australia, including an assessment of the interaction of Commonwealth and state regulation, and current COAG regulatory reforms. The review seeks to identify opportunities to strengthen processes for making and reviewing regulations. Finance provided policy and logistical support for the OECD’s two missions to Australia to conduct the review and the OECD is expected to report the results of the review by December 2009.
Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR)
The government has committed to a rigorous process of regulatory impact assessment as part of its objective of ensuring that Commonwealth regulation does not hinder productivity growth. Agencies proposing new or amended regulations are required to prepare a Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) to ensure that options to address a perceived policy problem are canvassed in a systematic, objective and transparent manner, with options ranked according to their net economic, social and environmental benefits.
Finance (through its Office of Best Practice Regulation) has responsibility for monitoring, assessing and reporting on compliance by agencies with the best practice regulation requirements, including assessing RISs and certifying Business Cost Calculator (BCC) reports. The department’s Best Practice Regulation Report 2007-08 was published on 23 December 2008 and details compliance with the Australian Government’s and COAG’s best practice regulation requirements.
Finance supports agencies as they develop regulatory proposals consistent with the best practice regulation requirements and provides formal training to policy officers involved in developing regulatory proposals. Each month, Finance provides a program of general and tailored training and guidance to agencies on the preparation of RISs and on the use of the BCC.