On 19 September 2014, the Minister for Agriculture and the Minister for Small Business jointly announced the release of a mandatory code of conduct designed to give bulk wheat exporters fair and transparent access to port terminal services, regardless of who owns the infrastructure. The Code of Conduct replaces the ‘access test’ arrangements under the Wheat Export Marketing Act 2008, which were seen to impose an unnecessarily high burden on a small number of port operators. The new Code applies to all port terminal service providers, including some operators who were not subject to the previous arrangements. However, where competition exists, the Code allows for businesses to be exempted from certain mandatory requirements, excluding basic publishing obligations.
Published Impact Analyses
Official website for Published Impact Analyses for decisions announced by the Australian Government, Ministerial Forums and National Standard Setting Bodies.
On 28 August 2014, the Minister for Education introduced the Higher Education and Research Reform Amendment Bill 2014 into the Australian Parliament. The Bill implements a range of higher education reform measures announced in the 2014-15 Budget. The Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) identifies the regulatory problem that the reforms are targeted to address, namely, that existing price controls for undergraduate and some postgraduate education at public universities distort the efficient functioning of the higher education market. In addition, current arrangements limit which institutions can deliver subsidised higher education, constraining competition within the market.
On 17 June 2014, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced that it will regulate the price that a mobile phone network operator can charge other networks for connecting calls and text messages to its network. The declaration will be in place until 30 June 2019. The ACCC had previously regulated the price of connecting calls between networks, but not text messages. The ACCC decision was informed by the Domestic Mobile Terminating Access Service Declaration Inquiry (Inquiry). The Inquiry considered which services operated by mobile phone networks should have their price regulated. The assessment of the Inquiry was that there was no effective substitute for mobile phone calls and text messages.
On 22 August, the Chairman of the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) announced new rules for telecommunication service providers regarding the backup power supply for National Broadband Network (NBN) voice services. Following the national rollout of the NBN, approximately twenty-six per cent of Australians will be connected to the NBN via fibre to the premises technology. During a power outage, households connected to the NBN via fibre to the premises technology will not have access to fixed-line telephone services without a backup battery supply. The inclusion of a backup battery in NBN service packages is at the discretion of individual telecommunication service providers.
On 6 August 2014, the Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) on the grocery code of conduct was released for consultation. The RIS prepared by the Treasury considers whether the activities of the major supermarket chains are harming Australian suppliers. There is considerable debate that difference in bargaining power between supermarkets and suppliers may be used to extract contractual arrangements that go beyond what would be realised in a competitive market. The preferred option at this stage is for supermarkets to engage in an ‘opt-in prescribed’ code of conduct that makes certain elements of their contractual undertakings with suppliers transparent, and regulates certain things that can be contracted.
On 25 July 2014, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) made a variation to the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code relating to a Primary Production and Processing Standard for Meat and Meat Products. Meat producers are currently not directly regulated for traceability, input and waste management under the food regulatory system. Rather, they are indirectly regulated via requirements on meat processors to source products from producers who meet such requirements. This means that State and Territory food regulators are unable to investigate on-farm food safety issues without activating emergency powers under their respective Food Acts; in the event of a food safety incident, the additional time that this takes can allow an incident to worsen.
On 29 August 2014 a consultation paper was released for the Review of the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme for Health Professions (the National Scheme) on behalf of the Australian Health Ministers' Advisory Council (AHMAC).
On 7 April 2014 Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced the conclusion of negotiations on the Japan-Australia Economic Partnership Agreement (JAEPA). Prime Minister Abbott and Prime Minister Abe signed the agreement on 8 July 2014 in Canberra. Japan is Australia’s second-largest trading partner, with two-way trade in goods and services reaching nearly $70 billion in 2012-13. Australia and Japan also have significant direct investment relationships. However, there exist a number of tariffs and other barriers which constrain the ability of Australian producers and exporters to build trade, and which limit profitability and expansion opportunities for these businesses. These barriers are particularly significant for Australia’s agriculture sector.
On 27 July 2014, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) repealed the short sale tagging obligation. Short selling is the sale of financial products that the seller does not own at the time of the sale. Short sale tagging refers to an obligation for market participants to specify the quantity of a sell order that is short at the time the sale order is placed or at the time the trade is reported. This is also known as real-time tagging, as opposed to reporting with a lag, such as end of day reporting. The obligation was introduced in July 2012 (see the original RIS) and was due to commence in July 2014.
On 1 August 2014 the Government released an exposure draft regulation and a draft explanatory statement which seek to amend the Superannuation Industry (Supervisory) Regulations 1994. The proposed ‘pass-through’ regulation would require any superannuation fund that receives data relating to a contribution being made to another fund to on-forward that data to the other fund – e.g. If Fund ABC received data about a contribution being made to Fund XYZ, then Fund ABC would be required to pass the data onto Fund XYZ. The proposal has been assessed by the Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR) as likely to have a measurable but contained impact on the economy with minor impacts on competition. A RIS has been prepared by the Treasury for consultation. The Treasury is currently inviting interested parties to comment on the exposure draft and explanatory statement. The closing date for submissions is Monday, 1 September 2014.