Page 756 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 17 March 2015
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young Liberals in Mr Wall and Mr Coe wanting to adopt a policy approach that is really scorched earth when it comes to support of the territory economy.
Sometimes government support comes through providing space for the community and for businesses to innovate, because innovation is essential for Canberra businesses to grow. My government believes Canberra businesses, given the right tools and the right support from government, can compete with anyone in the nation and around the world and win. The job of business in this town is obviously to be out there innovating and growing and not spending time dealing with government paperwork. That is exactly what Access Canberra is about—freeing up business to get on with things. As we stimulate the economy we need to demonstrate confidence by developing and growing emerging enterprises, entrepreneurs and different sectors of the economy to expand our economic base and grow local employment. We simply must promote our city to the region, the nation and the world, and attract new investment and tourism.
Access Canberra is already making a difference inside its first 100 days to help Canberra businesses grow to attract investment and visitors. Our events and festivals are an extremely important contribution to the economic, cultural, sporting and community life of the territory. In addition to our well-known major events, there are approximately 2,000 events of varying sizes held in the territory each year. Organising an event can be complex and time consuming for the organiser. For many events, organisers have found themselves shuttling from one regulator to another to collect all the various approvals they need to run relatively straightforward events. I was determined to respond to this and change the process—and we have.
The regulatory reform panel is also continuing to work closely with community groups and businesses that are in the business of holding public events to make the process even more straightforward. A clear message from the community and from business is that they are experiencing duplication, time delays and additional expenses to collect all the approvals they need. Access Canberra is the answer to this challenge because it provides a one-stop shop. It provides a more supportive regulatory environment and it changes the way business is done in the territory. In the short period Access Canberra has been up and running, we have already helped a range of exciting and innovative events projects get off the ground. For example, Access Canberra coordinated all of the regulatory approvals for the Art, Not Apart festival in New Acton, along Acton beach through to the new west side pop-up. Access Canberra was the single point of contact for the organisers and worked across government to ensure there was a one-stop-shop approach for approvals, ultimately for the success of the event.
Access Canberra is at the beginning of its work and we anticipate and are working towards even more coordination and integrated regulation in Canberra as the entity establishes itself. Its aim is to promote good governance and great service and to help support new and existing businesses and events.
The government’s approach to improving the business regulatory environment is multifaceted. In the building and construction sector, we are reviewing the Building Act and the estate development planning process to update these to make them more
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