“Labor’s commitment to reduce red tape in their trade policy is a welcome development, but it raises more questions than answers,” says Evan Mulholland, spokesperson for free market think tank, the Institute of Public Affairs.
Today Labor announced their trade policy, which makes commitment to remove red tape barriers on rules of origin in trade for exporters, and streamlining the amount of rules in trade.
“Labor’s commitment to remove red tape barriers in trade is welcome as Labor have finally acknowledged that burdensome red tape is a handbrake on the economy.”
Institute of Public Affairs research released last week highlighted that 444 red tape regulators established by Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd still exist.
“Labor need to assist in removing the red tape regulators they helped to create,” said Mr Mulholland.
“Now that Labor have acknowledged the issue, they need to confirm their commitment to deregulation and tackling red tape by releasing an economy-wide deregulation policy before the election.”
Recent IPA research revealed that red tape costs the Australian economy $176 billion each year in foregone economic output.
