Due to truly urgent and unforeseen events related to the spread of COVID-19, on 18 March 2020 OBPR announced that the Prime Minister has granted an exemption from the need to complete regulatory impact analysis in the form of Regulation Impact Statements (RISs) for all urgent and unforeseen Australian Government measures made in response to COVID-19.
Due to the time-limited nature of such measures, and the difficulty in ascribing impacts to measures in isolation, the Prime Minister set aside the requirement for Post-Implementation Reviews for measures falling under this Prime Minister’s exemption.
To date, matters that fell within this exemption are as follows:
Attorney-General’s Department
Department of Education, Skills and Employment
- Higher education support measures
- Measures to support early childhood education and childcare entities not eligible for JobKeeper payments
- COVID-19 apprenticeship wage subsidy extended to be same value as JobKeeper subsidy
Department of Health
- Fast track electronic prescribing for pharmacists
- Biosecurity Act amendments (emergency powers)
- Mandatory Reporting of vaccinations to the Australian Immunisation Register
Department of Home Affairs
Department of Social Services
Department of the Treasury
- Enhancing the Instant Asset Write Off – Increased thresholds
- Backing Business Investment
- Guarantee of Lending to Small and Medium Enterprises
- Structured Finance Support
- Boosting cash flow for employers & JobKeeper
- Providing flexibility in the Corporations Act
- Early release of superannuation and temporarily reduced superannuation minimum drawdown rates
- Temporary relief for financially distressed businesses – bankruptcy and insolvency measures
- Assistance for Severely Affected Regions
- Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) screening $0 threshold
- Instrument-making power in the Corporations Act for the Treasurer to provide COVID-19-related relief and associated instruments
- HomeBuilder Grant program
- ATO Support measures to assist those affected by COVID-19
- RBA term funding facility for ADIs
- Provide an exemption from responsible lending obligations for small business
- Providing temporary statutory demand relief for financially distressed businesses
- Temporary relief from directors’ personal liability for trading while insolvent
- Providing the Treasurer an instrument making power under the Corporations Act
- Further updates to Commercial Tenancies
- Broad-based Hiring Credit