The announcement by the Victorian Government of a review into regulation of the retail sector is a welcome and timely one.
It comes on the back of other promising signs by the Victorian Government when it comes to over regulation of the Victorian economy, such as the Andrews Government accepting every one of the recent Victorian Auditor-General’s recommendations on red tape reduction.
One of the key findings by the Victorian Auditor-General was that a lot of the ‘low hanging fruit’ had already been acted upon when it comes to red tape reduction and that there needed to be a focus on the more complex areas of red tape, including those issues that cut across various agencies and regulators.
The preparedness of the Victorian Government to open up this review and ask for the retail sector themselves to identify the issues that need to be acted upon is particularly welcome as it addresses another finding by the Auditor-General that the Government need to more effectively engage businesses and others to take account of their concerns.
It is also positive that there is a bi-partisan desire to reduce red tape given the State Opposition’s appointment of the Member for Mount Waverley, Michael Gidley, to a dedicated Red Tape Reduction portfolio.
The review will be released on August 1st.
