Australian Regulatory Compliance Review

Government Response to the Productivity Commission Annual Review of Regulatory Burdens

The Federal Government has responded to the Productivity Commission report – Annual Review of Regulatory Burdens on Business: Social and Economic Infrastructure Services .

The Productivity Commission's concerns covered a wide range of regulated schemes and activities relating to the social and economic infrastructure sector, including: aged care; child care; information media and telecommunications; electricity, gas, water and waste services; transport; education and training; and medical services.

Of the Productivity Commission's 42 recommendations, the Government has accepted 21 and accepted a further 5 in principle. Of the remaining responses 12 were noted, mainly reflecting the Government’s existing reform agenda, while four responses were not accepted.

Queensland Government responds to review of government boards

The Queensland Government has responded to the recommendations in the Brokering Balance Report by agreeing to the abolition of 103 government bodies.

The underlying principle set out in the Report is that the establishment of a separate government body should only occur if it is in the public interest and that the ongoing need for Government bodies must be the subject of regular review.

COAG’s Business Regulation and Competition Working Group Annual Report Card

COAG’s Business Regulation and Competition Working Group has published its 2009 Annual Report Card on progress towards a "seamless national economy".

The Report covers:

• Occupational Health and Safety
• Environmental Assessment and Approvals Processes
• Payroll Tax Harmonisation
• Licences of Tradespeople
• Health Workforce Agreement
• National System of Trade Measurement
• Rail Safety Regulation
• Consumer Policy Framework
• Product Safety
• National Regulation of Trustee Corporations
• National Regulation of Mortgage Broking
• National Regulation of Margin Lending
• National Regulation of Non-Deposit Lending Institutions
• Development Assessment
• National Construction Code
• Regulation of Chemicals and Plastics
• Registering Business Names
• Personal Property Securities
• Standard Business Reporting
• Food Regulation
• National Mine Safety Framework
• A National Electronic Conveyancing System
• Oil and Gas Regulation
• Maritime Safety Regulation
• Wine Labelling
• Directors’ Liability
• A National System for Remaining Areas of Consumer Credit

Interim Report of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission

The National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission (NHHRC) has released its Interim Report:
A Healthier Future for all Australians

The report proposes 116 reform directions across the spectrum of health service delivery, covering a range of issues including governance of the health system, primary health care, prevention, Indigenous health, hospitals, aged care, workforce, mental health, and rural health.

The Commission recommends that the Commonwealth should take responsibility for policy and funding of all primary health care.

ALRC consultation paper on secrecy in laws

The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) has released a community consultation paper for its current inquiry into Commonwealth Secrecy laws—(Review of Secrecy laws:Issues Paper 34)

The ALRC has identified over 370 distinct secrecy provisions scattered across 166 pieces of legislation.

The closing date for written submissions in response to the Issues Paper is 19 February 2009.

The ALRC has been asked to submit its final report and recommendations in this Inquiry to the Attorney-General in October 2009.

COAG continues regulatory reform

At its meeting on 29 November 2008 COAG agreed, amongst other things, to continue regulatory reform towards a "seamless national economy".

According to the COAG Communique, focus areas were:

• planning and zoning policies and processes from a competition perspective as recommended in July by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s inquiry into grocery prices.
• greater coordination and oversight in chemicals and plastics regulation,
• To progress food regulation reforms, COAG agreed to examine reforms to the voting arrangements of the Australia and New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council. COAG also agreed to consider options to improve national consistency in the monitoring and enforcement of food standards and options to improve food labelling law and policy in early 2009.
• COAG agreed that a national electronic conveyancing system would be implemented.
• COAG also agreed to increased harmonisation in relation to directors' liability.

Rules for developing business regulation

The Administrative Review Council has published a report, ‘Administrative accountability in business areas subject to complex regulation’.

The report focuses on accountability and transparency in the development of business rules by government.  A key suggested principle is that "There should be an opportunity to seek review of any decision that applies a business rule in a way that directly affects the rights or interests of a person or business. "

The report encompasses regulation by way of ‘black letter’ law and ‘soft law’ guidelines and codes.

SCAG November 2008 meeting outcomes

The Standing Committee of Attorneys General (SCAG) met in Brisbane on 7 November to discuss progress on harmonising laws between the states.

The outcomes included:

• the agreement of the States and Territories to create a National Anti‑Discrimination Information Gateway. This single website will provide a one-stop shop to access information relevant to discrimination issues.
• agreement to improve the mutual recognition of powers of attorney between jurisdictions, including the consideration of a national form.
• agreement on a uniform approach to the form of statutory declarations and who can witness a statutory declaration.
• commitment of the States and Territories to further develop the framework for a national electronic register of suppression orders. A national electronic register would make it much easier for the media to find out whether a suppression order is in place for a particular court case and what jurisdictions would be affected.

Gershon review of the Australian Government's use of information and communication technology (ICT)

The Government has released Sir Peter Gershon’s report on his independent review of the Australian Government's use of information and communication technology (ICT).

The report analyses a wide range of issues affecting the Government’s use and management of ICT, and also outlines a staged plan for the implementation of recommendations.

The key findings were:

1. There is weak governance of pan-government issues related to ICT.
2. Agency governance mechanisms are weak in respect of their focus on ICT efficiency and an understanding of organisational capability to commission, manage and realise benefits from ICT-enabled projects.
3. The business as usual (BAU) ICT funding in agencies is not subject to sufficient challenge and scrutiny.
4. There is a disconnect between the stated importance of ICT and actions in relation to ICT skills.
5. There is no whole-of-government strategic plan for data centres. In the absence of such a plan, the Government will be forced into a series of ad hoc investments which will, in total, cost in the order of $1 billion more than a coordinated approach over a 15-year period.
6. The government ICT marketplace is neither efficient nor effective.
7. There is a significant disconnect between the Government’s overall sustainability agenda and its ability to understand and manage energy costs and the carbon footprint of its ICT estate.

The recommendations include:

Governance

• Establish a Ministerial Committee on ICT to be responsible for the key whole-of-government ICT policies and the overall strategic vision for how ICT should support the achievement of the Government’s outcomes and wider policy agenda.
• Create a Secretaries' ICT Governance Board (SIGB) with a strong mandate from the Government to drive the agreed recommendations arising from the review and focus on addressing the key business issues to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Government’s use of ICT.
• Allow agencies to obtain opt-outs, based on genuine business need, from agreed whole-of-government activities. Opt-outs to be approved by the Ministerial Committee, informed by the SIGB.

Capability

• Improve agency capability to commission, manage and realise the benefits from ICT-enabled projects through the implementation of a common methodology for assessing agency capability based on self-assessment and periodic independent audit. Each agency Chief Executive to propose a target level of capability based on their agency’s and the Government’s strategic priorities, and for this to be independently validated. Agencies to develop a capability improvement plan with commitment, and agreed actions, to address identified gaps.

ICT spend

• Target to move total FMA Act agency ICT spend from an average 77:23% split between ICT BAU activities and creation of new capability in 2007–08 to an average 70:30% in 2011–12.
• As initial steps towards this goal, reduce the ICT BAU budgets of the largest 28 FMA Act agencies (Defence excluded) with ICT spends in excess of $20 million per annum by 15% from 2007–08 actuals, with a phased introduction over two years.
• Create ICT Review Teams to help these agencies achieve or exceed the target reductions without impairing service delivery to citizens and business.
• In addition, target agencies with total annual ICT spends between $2 million and $20 million to achieve a 7.5% reduction on average of their BAU from 2007–08 actuals, with a phased introduction over two years.
• The 15% and 7.5% reductions in total should save the Government around $140 million in the first year and in excess of $400 million in the second and subsequent years. 50% of the savings generated by these recommendations to be transferred to a central fund for reinvestment in projects to improve efficiency and effectiveness of ICT BAU activities, such as replacement of legacy software and hardware with high support and maintenance costs.

Skills

• Create a whole-of-government Australian Public Service (APS) ICT career structure, including training and development programs for ICT professionals in key skills areas.
• Develop and maintain a whole-of-government strategic ICT workforce plan.
• Reduce the total number of ICT contractors in use across FMA Act agencies by 50% over a 2-year period and increase the number of APS ICT staff. This should save the Government an estimated $100 million (across both BAU and project-related work).

Data centres

• Develop a whole-of-government approach for future data centre requirements over the next 10–15 years.

Sustainable ICT

• Develop a whole-of-government ICT sustainability plan (in conjunction with the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts) to manage the energy costs and carbon footprint of the Government’s ICT activities.

The Government is currently considering the findings and recommendations.

Harmonisation of legal systems within Australia and between Australia and New Zealand

The Commonwealth Government has responded to the House of Representatives Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee report into the harmonisation of legal systems within Australia and between Australia and New Zealand by announcing that it will act on 22 of the 27 recommendations, including in relation to harmonisation of guardianship and succession law, evidence law, consumer protection, privacy and debt collection.

The Government does not accept the recommendations for the institution of a common currency for Australia and New Zealand and the legal harmonisation of the Australian and New Zealand telecommunications regulation frameworks.