Research report
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Annual review of regulatory burdens on business: Primary sector (2007) (PDF 1.3 MB)
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Annual review of regulatory burdens on business: Primary sector (2007) (RTF) (ZIP 1.4 MB)
From the perspective of farmers, mining companies and other primary sector businesses, governments impose a heavy burden of regulation. This study looks to remove or reduce Australian Government regulations which are unnecessarily burdensome, complex or redundant or are duplicative across portfolios or with state and territory regulation.
The effectiveness of regulatory reform efforts would be enhanced if there were greater coordination among all jurisdictions.
Many Australian Government agencies have processes in place to identify and progressively remove unnecessary regulatory burdens, while still meeting policy objectives.
Through this study, the Commission has identified actions which the Australian Government can take without delay, including:
In a number of cases, where reforms have been agreed to by governments at the policy level, primary sector businesses have yet to see tangible results. It is taking too long to:
A number of potentially unnecessary regulatory burdens can only be removed after a full policy and framework review, including:
The removal of unnecessarily burdensome regulations relating to agricultural chemicals and veterinary medicines is being addressed in the Commission's study into chemicals and plastics regulation.
There are some regulatory design issues of particular relevance to the primary sector, including a need for: