A report by the Victorian Auditor-General last week pointed out a fundamental problem with red tape reduction programs – no one checks afterwards whether it made a difference or not.
The report found that while the Victorian government has reduced “red tape” as an entity there has not been any study into whether it has reduced the burden on Victorians.
Victoria is not alone when it comes to this. There is a recommendation sitting with the next Federal Government by the Commonwealth Auditor-General that asks for the Productivity Commission to examine the effects of the Federal Government’s red tape reduction programs too.
Whatever the outcome here it is a good thing.
Either the reductions in red tape are leading to positive outcomes and should be continued (hopefully at an even greater pace) or they have not achieved the goals we would all hope for and should be fixed to make sure that they are working in future.
