New research shows that rising red tape costs and regulatory governance problems pose a threat to the competitiveness of Australian business, according to free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs. It has been ten years since the Howard Government’s landmark 2006 Taskforce on Reducing Regulatory Burdens on Business Inquiry. In the years since [...]
It has been ten years since the Howard government’s landmark Taskforce on Reducing Regulatory Burdens on Business inquiry. However, despite much apparent effort, on a number of international measures Australia’s red tape performance has slipped since that report was released. This paper looks at Australia’s regulatory quality across five measures of international competitiveness. Economic freedom [...]
A potentially effective way to remove the burden of red tape off Australian businesses and individuals is for the politicians who impose red tape to focus, instead, on removing them. With red tape restrictions embedded in over 103,000 pages of federal legislation alone, and not to mention the regulatory impositions of state and local governments, [...]
In 2014 the Australian Government undertook a stocktake of the costs to businesses and individuals complying with federal regulations. The publicly released stocktake found that $65 billion in regulatory compliance costs, representing a massive impost on productive activity in Australia. But to construe the $65 billion figure as the total cost of red tape would [...]
Australians have become accustomed to governments regularly advertising their red tape reduction credentials, with claimed estimates of millions (or even billions) in red tape savings each year. The Australian Government says reduced the cost of red tape from businesses and individuals to the tune of nearly $5 billion over the last three years (https://www.cuttingredtape.gov.au/), while [...]
Both major parties should commit to appointing a Minister responsible and accountable for overseeing a reduction in federal government red tape burdens. So far this election campaign the Labor Party has yet to explicitly commit to a deregulation or red tape minister, should it win the 2016 election. Appointing a Minister for Cutting Red Tape [...]
A new survey of Australian mining industry sentiment indicates that red tape remains one of the major obstacles to mining growth and development, according to free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs. The Newport Consulting Mining Business Outlook 2016-17 survey showed nearly 1 in 4 of industry leaders interviewed said government needs to [...]
The plan announced by the federal Labor opposition for Canberra to take over environmental approvals threatens to worsen Australia’s regulatory burden, according to free market think tank Institute of Public Affairs. “The proposal to water down the existing ‘one stop shop’ environmental approval process is effectively a Canberra takeover of project approvals, especially for larger [...]
Free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs welcomes the latest Productivity Commission report urging governments to ease red tape barriers against new digital platforms and technologies. “New innovative business models relying on digital platforms, such as Uber and Airbnb, are increasingly becoming a regular part of everyday Australians’ daily lives,” said IPA Senior [...]
“Labor’s childcare policy fails to address the most critical roadblock to affordable childcare – regulation and red tape,” said Dr Mikayla Novak, Senior Fellow at free market think tank the Institute of Public Affairs. Labor’s childcare policy, which was announced over the weekend, includes mandatory fee reporting, giving the ACCC powers to monitor and report [...]
