Today we're releasing letters from 38 Commonwealth regulators containing more than 400 ideas to reduce regulatory burden and support productivity growth in our economy.
We're cutting red tape where we responsibly can to ease the burden on businesses and consumers and make our economy more prosperous and productive.
As part of the Reform Roundtable, we wrote to 38 Commonwealth regulators requesting new ideas to improve regulation and reduce unnecessary compliance burdens.
Regulators have responded. Today we're releasing these letters which include more than 400 ideas including around 150 new actions to consider that could be taken without budget or legislative change.
We won't always agree with every suggestion but we will give them careful consideration. The ideas will inform more targeted engagement with industry and regulators to identify priority areas.
Today I have written to the Council of Financial Regulators (CFR) and other financial sector regulators asking them to identify additional actions to de‑clutter and improve regulation, including facilitating a deep dive on financial sector regulation.
The CFR will coordinate this work, with input from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the Australian Taxation Office, AUSTRAC and the Australian Financial Security Authority.
I have asked the CFR to prioritise the streamlining and harmonising of data collection and consult with stakeholders on other priority areas.
Better regulation was a big focus of the Economic Reform Roundtable and it will be a big focus of Labor's economic agenda moving forward.
The Government will progress further work identified at the Roundtable.
We will:
- Alter statements of expectations for Commonwealth regulators to emphasise the reduction of red tape and a better balance between outcomes and risk.
- Progress the 'tell‑us‑once' principle on how individuals and businesses engage with the government, to remove frustrating duplicative processes.
- Conduct deep dives for priority sectors to streamline regulation.
Regulator letters are published on the Department of Finance website.
Whether it's our occupational licensing reforms, the Single Front Door for investment, or our work on approvals, we've made plenty of progress on regulatory reform already, but we recognise there's more to do and that's what these efforts are all about.
We're grateful for the clear consensus that was built around regulatory reform at the Roundtable and leading up to it, and these contributions will continue to inform the government's decisions on economic reform in the lead up to the budget and beyond.
Better regulation will deliver big benefits to businesses, workers and the broader economy.
