Page 4451 - Week 14 - Thursday, 28 November 2013
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They were joined in their criticisms by the ACT Property Council, which said members were being hit with multiple charges and new regulations proposed by government agencies unaware of their cumulative impacts. A little consultation would go a long way. The MBA deputy executive director has called for less regulation and more consultation, and is quoted as saying:
I have never seen so much disconnect in 40 years. So much rubbish coming out of the agencies and government. They have just gone mad.
Seriously, if you were out there as a builder trying to do something with the rubbish being put in front of you, you would think ‘forget it’.
We know that commence and complete fees are unique to the territory, as are lease variation charges, and they all impede on the ability of businesses to operate profitably in our city. As my colleague Mr Wall, himself a business owner in Canberra before he joined the Assembly, said in his maiden speech:
There has been, over the past years, a significant increase in the amount of red tape that businesses need to deal with in order to operate. This simply inhibits them from getting on with their core business, stifles growth and prevents new jobs from being created.
It was from my time in the family business that I began to notice the direct impact that government policy has on the way in which the business sector operates, and the detrimental effect bad government policy has on businesses, their staff and families.
While ever we encourage a nanny state—and that is the direct effect such overregulation has—we will continue to have people calling for ever more prescriptive controls on anything and everything. The last few weeks of obsession over foods sold at fetes and cake stalls should surely sound a warning to regulators that a common-sense test needs to be applied by governments.
I note the recent comments of the Australian Institute of Company Directors which suggests that red tape and the burden of regulation are Australia’s greatest economic challenges. Its director sentiment index found that over 60 per cent of surveyed directors suggest the level of red tape and the time spent by boards on regulatory compliance had increased over the last twelve months. It suggested that governments need to reduce the regulatory burden by cutting through existing red tape and taking a more efficient approach to creating any new regulation. While primarily directed at a federal government, the warning is appropriate to the ACT as well.
Having a reputation as the most nannied jurisdiction in Australia is not especially flattering and will void any efforts to promote a new modern image of Canberra as a confident bold and ready state. Surely, Mr Barr and Chief Minister, we can and should do better. Let us stop and think before allowing an over-keen bureaucrat to write yet another prescriptive piece of red tape that only serves to put offside a community, create resentment and result in a rewrite or backflip when the inevitable public outcry follows.
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