Today, I met with state and territory Treasurers to advance key economic reforms following the Albanese Government's Roundtable last month.
We built a lot of consensus on economic reform through the Roundtable and we made a lot of progress advancing economic reforms today.
Treasurers agreed to progress a Single National Market and expand competition reforms, increase efforts to improve regulation, build more homes and fast‑track approvals and undertake further work on road user charging.
This meeting was all about working together to make our economy more prosperous and productive and our budgets more sustainable.
National competition policy
Today we agreed to progress a Single National Market and bolster National Competition Policy (NCP) to boost productivity across the economy. NCP is supported by the $900 million National Productivity Fund.
Treasurers agreed to expand NCP priorities to include:
- Heavy vehicle access reforms - to improve transport productivity and reduce or remove regulations that disadvantage electric heavy vehicles.
- Further action on recognising international standards and harmonising state standards - states will identify opportunities to harmonise standards in key sectors like building and construction, electrical products, resource management, transport, renewable energy, agricultural and veterinary chemicals, and consumer goods.
- A national licence scheme for electrical tradespeople to remove unnecessary mobility barriers without reducing standards. Treasurers also agreed to work together and with industry and unions to identify other trades where we can expand national occupational licensing, with a particular focus on construction and housing. This is good for workers, good for businesses and will make our economy more productive and competitive.
Better regulation and faster approvals
Treasurers agreed to:
- Identify regulatory overlap and barriers to faster approvals, working with the Commonwealth's Investor Front Door to unlock projects of national significance in priority areas like housing and energy.
- Accelerate efforts to reduce duplication in approval processes.
Housing
Treasurers agreed to:
- Work with Building Ministers to streamline the National Construction Code and reduce regulatory burden on builders.
- Work together to increase uptake of prefabricated housing, including through exploring how Commonwealth and state and territory governments can use procurement to provide a stable source of demand for the industry.
Road user charging
Treasurers agreed to:
- A statement to guide further work on a road user charge for electric vehicles.
- The statement outlines our approach to this work including fair and sustainable funding for road investment, whilst ensuring any changes are timed to enable the productivity, climate and consumer benefits of increasing electric vehicle uptake.
The Commonwealth will progress work with the states and territories and take the time to get the policy development right.
Health and disability
- Negotiations have re‑commenced to finalise the December 2023 National Cabinet deal on hospital funding and NDIS reforms. The Commonwealth has increased the hospitals funding offer. Treasurers discussed more action on the deal, which will be progressed by Minister Butler with his state counterparts next Friday.
- The hospitals offer remains linked to NDIS reform and the establishment of Foundational Supports (i.e. Thriving Kids for kids 0-9). Higher living standards are the holy grail, and higher productivity is how we get there together.
Whether it's national competition reforms, better regulation or building more homes, we have a big and broad productivity agenda, we're keen to add to it where we can, and the states and territories are a big part of that.
We are grateful for the support for the state and territory Treasurers for their constructive and candid engagement in this meeting.
