On 27 February 2014, the Department of Employment tabled amendments to the Fair Work Act 2009. Among other changes, the amendments seek to introduce good faith bargaining arrangements for greenfield employment agreements, and amend the existing rights of employee organisations to enter workplaces. The main impact of these changes is to reduce compliance costs for business. The greenfields changes seek to limit the length of employment agreement negotiations before new projects can begin and also to limit the right of unions to enter workplaces. The Department estimates that the total reduction in regulatory burden will be approximately $70 million per year and these costings have been agreed with the Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR). The proposal has been assessed as likely to have a measurable impact on the economy with no impacts on competition.
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 February 2014, the Minister for the Environment and the Minister for Industry announced that environmental approvals for offshore petroleum and greenhouse gas activities would be solely undertaken by the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environment Management Authority (NOPSEMA). Previously, petroleum and greenhouse gas activities in Commonwealth waters that were likely to impact on matters of national environmental significance were subject to regulation under both the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (OPGSS) Act 2006 and the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act. Now offshore environment activities will only be regulated through the OPGGS Act and administered by NOPSEMA.
On 19 March 2014, the Prime Minister announced the amendments to the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988. Among other changes, the amendments seek to allow greater access by national employers to the Commonwealth workers’ compensation scheme, and coverage under the Commonwealth workplace health and safety regime. These changes would allow the option for national employers (those with employees in 2 or more states or territories) to self-insure under the Commonwealth’s workers’ compensation scheme, and be covered by a single workplace health and safety regime. This would eliminate the need for such firms to deal with multiple regulations and regulators.
On 8 October 2013, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) issued a call for submissions for a proposed Primary Production and Processing Standard for Meat & Meat Products. The Australian Food Standards currently regulate processors of meat and meat products in relation to on-farm activities, but there are no corresponding obligations on producers in food safety legislation. The proposed code would regulate meat producers in relation to traceability, inputs and management of waste for farmed animals. This in turn would allow State and Territory regulators to investigate on-farm food safety issues without activating emergency powers under their respective Food Acts. A Council of Australian Governments regulation impact statement for consultation was prepared by the FSANZ and has been approved by the OBPR. The consultation period closed on 3 December 2013.
On 3 March 2014, the Department of Health released an options-stage RIS examining proposed protections of images and indicia for major sporting events. The proposed legislation would extend the existing trademark and copyright protection offered to organisers and sponsors of major sporting events by protecting certain words, phrases and images associated with these events in an effort to reduce the likelihood of ambush marketing. Initially, the events protected would be the Asian Football Confederation Asian Cup 2015, the International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup 2015, and the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. The proposal has been assessed as likely to have a relatively minor impact on the economy with no impacts on competition. An options-stage RIS has been prepared and certified by the department, and the Office of Best Practice Regulation agreed to the regulatory costings.
On 28 January 2014, the Assistant Minister for Social Services made the Fees and Payments Principles 2014 (the Principles) and the Aged Care (Maximum Accommodation Payment Amount) Determination 2014 , which have the effect of introducing the process by which accommodation payments in residential aged care are approved. Under this process, residential aged care providers that wish to charge accommodation payments above a certain threshold are required to apply to the Aged Care Pricing Commissioner for approval. The bases on which the proposed fees can be justified are set out in the Principles.
On 31 January 2014, the Department of Employment released an options-stage RIS examining proposed amendments to the Fair Work Act 2009. The proposed amendments form part of the Government’s election commitments. Among other changes, they seek to introduce good faith bargaining arrangements for greenfield employment agreements, and amend the existing rights of employee organisations to enter workplaces; these changes are likely to reduce the regulatory burden faced by large resource and construction projects in particular. The proposal has been assessed as likely to have a measurable impact on the economy with no impacts on competition. An options-stage RIS has been prepared and certified by the department, and the Office of Best Practice Regulation agreed to the regulatory costings.
On 30 January 2014, the Department of Communications announced public consultation on a draft of the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (International Mobile Roaming) Bill 2014. The closing date for submissions is 28 February 2014. If enacted, the legislation would provide the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) new powers to investigate and undertake regulatory actions, if deemed necessary, in the Trans‑Tasman mobile roaming market. The Options-stage Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) notes that consumers and business travellers moving between Australia and New Zealand faced significant charges for mobile roaming voice, SMS and data services. However, in recent years prices and margins have trended lower, and new entrants at the retail level have added competitive pressures to the benefit of roaming customers.
On 31 January 2014, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) announced amendments to its risk management guidance for prudentially regulated entities. The new prudential standard seeks to harmonise and enhance cross-industry risk management requirements for authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs), general insurers, life insurers and single industry groups (Level 2 groups). The prudential standard will also apply to conglomerate groups (Level 3 groups). The objective of the new standard is to: ensure that similar risks are treated in a consistent manner across different institutions; reflect recent improvements in local and global risk management practices; and reduce complexity by simplifying and consolidating existing standards, particularly for those groups that operate across more than one regulated industry.
In the 2011-12 Budget the then Government announced that it would provide primary producers affected by certain natural disasters earlier access to farm management deposits (FMDs) while retaining concessional tax treatment under the FMD scheme. The then Government also announced: