Page 2980 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 15 September 2015
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To streamline processes and to support efficient and effective regulatory outcomes, my government has committed to introducing at least one of these red tape reduction omnibus bills each year. This is in addition to a large amount of work being undertaken across the government to streamline and reduce regulation to make our city a better place to live, work and do business.
Through commitments such as this, my government is building on Canberra’s strengths and unique characteristics to create a supportive regulatory environment. We are listening to the business sector and the community more broadly to understand what ease of business and reduced red tape means to them, and we are considering issues for reform of all sizes and scale.
Some of the reforms being progressed by the government include innovation reforms to the taxi and on-demand transport industry and the review of the Liquor Act. These projects represent significant change for the community, workers and business and are, necessarily, being considered through their own processes with active engagement of interested stakeholders. But there are many smaller yet still important regulatory reforms that may otherwise remain unaddressed in the absence of bills such as this one.
An important feature of a supportive business environment is an effective and trusted regulatory system. To maintain that we must ensure it remains relevant over time and adjusts with the evolving landscape, technologies and new ways of doing business. The amendments proposed in this bill do just that: they respond to the changing needs and preferences of the community and provide for improved effectiveness and cost efficiencies in the way government conducts its business. The government has established Access Canberra to facilitate a single contact point for regulatory services in the territory, and this bill supports the effective operation of that organisation.
The bill amends legislation including the Workers Compensation Act 1951, the Public Unleased Land Act 2013, the Public Sector Management Act 1994 and the Legislation Act 2001. The bill includes a new definition of “public notice” in the Legislation Act and amends various acts and regulations to enable public notices to be made electronically on an ACT government website. The bill repeals the Hawkers Act 2003 and instead includes provisions for hawkers in the Public Unleased Land Act 2013. This is one less act on the statute book and a far better integration of existing legislation.
In relation to the amendments around public notices, the government is absolutely committed to both increasing people’s access to information and to enhancing digital services. In the past decade there has been a significant change in how people access information, with a dramatic shift to online and digital services. This is particularly evident in Canberra where we have the highest use of the internet in Australia. Amendments to the definition of “public notice” proposed in the bill recognise this shift and provide the option for public notices to be published on an ACT government website. This measure increases flexibility in how the government communicates and will result in better targeting of messages and information to the community.
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