Ben Morton has outlined his vision for the government’s deregulation agenda, in a glossy eight-page report card at a public service conference in Canberra.
On Wednesday, the minister canvassed a range of measures he planned to use to ‘get regulation right’, with a view to supporting the Australian economy, helping with business investment, and creating more jobs. Speaking at a conference, where delegates were each given a copy of his new report card, Morton said the government plan, when implemented, should achieve savings of more than $21 billion over 10 years.
“It’s a key to building economic resilience in the face of economic shocks, whether that be from pandemics and economic crises, technology or geostrategic risks,” Morton said.
“Having said that, deregulation isn’t about removing all regulation. It’s about the stock of the existing regulation, it’s the flow of the new regulations that come through, but it’s also the culture and the capability of our regulators.”
The minister likened the job of regulatory reform to painting the Sydney Harbour Bridge, noting that this was an ongoing project requiring a longer-term strategy (although this is a flawed analogy because there are parts of the bridge that have not been superficially maintained by the NSW government in decades).
“[Our] deregulation agenda is not one that can rise and fall. We must embed the deregulation agenda into everything that we do, it must be sustained over a number of years,” Morton said.
The minister also said that the government’s past deregulation efforts often focused on removing redundant regulations, which had the effect of making the bureaucracy feel good about having done something but had limited impact on industry.
“Businesses told us directly that the deregulation agenda needs to focus on the way regulations are administered. So if regulations aren’t working, ministers expect to hear it first from regulators and not when it becomes a problem for business,” he said.
“Gone are the days when regulators should be comfortable with ‘set and forget’ regulations or being indifferent to the impact of regulations on their clients. We want to improve regulator performance and we need to be clear about what we expect as a government.”
Much of Morton’s address spoke of the economic and productivity gains regulatory reform would deliver to businesses, but he also gave a nod to regulatory reform on social issues, cautioning that government ‘should not rush’ when it came to regulating social solutions.
“Getting regulation right is critical – from the time the lights go on in a business in the morning, to time they close the doors at nighttime, businesses around Australia are navigating the sea of regulations imposed on them by the government at all different levels,” the minister said.
“Regulations affect those businesses in relation to how they sell their products, how they interact with their customers, the location of their business and their activities, and the timing of their investments.”
Central to the government’s regulatory reform vision was to develop what Morton described as leaner and more targeted systems, and to lift opportunities for government agencies to share information, reduce double-handling and extra paperwork. This included, where possible, removing overlapping regulations at the federal, state and local government levels.
“Businesses see government as one but their interactions with government are across many,” Morton said.
Another piece of industry feedback the government was considering concerned a preference for international rather than Australian-specific standards that would help simplify regulatory compliance, Morton said.
“Regulations also impact on individuals and the ability of individuals to apply their effort to their own circumstances,” the minister said, going on to share a favourite anecdote he also used to colour his maiden speech to parliament in 2016 about being ‘the most useless bus driver in NSW’ because, as an ANU arts graduate trying to earn some extra cash, he qualified to drive a bus but discovered that he was too young to carry passengers.
“[It is] a good example of where regulatory burdens get in the way of not only business but individuals as they go about trying to make a contribution to the economy [and] also [for] themselves.”
The minister made his remarks as part of an opening address for the 2022 regulatory reform conference being hosted by IPAA ACT and the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet from 16-17 February.
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