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.
Published Impact Analyses
Official website for Published Impact Analyses for decisions announced by the Australian Government, Ministerial Forums and National Standard Setting Bodies.
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:
In the 2011-12 Budget, the then Government announced a measure to abolish the entrepreneurs’ tax offset. The entrepreneurs’ tax offset was a non-refundable tax offset that was introduced in the 2005-06 Budget as additional assistance for very small, micro and home-based businesses in their early stages of development. It applied to assessments for income years commencing on or after 1 July 2005 and was abolished by the Tax Laws Amendment (Stronger, Fairer, Simpler and Other Measures) Act 2011 from 1 July 2012. The then Prime Minister granted an exceptional circumstances exemption for the Government’s tax reform agenda in response to the Australia’s Future Tax System (Henry) Review which included the abolition of the entrepreneurs’ tax offset. Consequently, a Post implementation Review was required to commence within one to two years of the abolition of the offset.
The Government has strengthened the Regulatory Impact Analysis framework with a focus on costing impacts on business, community organisations and individuals as part of a broader goal to reduce the burden of regulation. A new Australian Government Guide to Regulation (replacing the current Best Practice Regulation Handbook) will be issued in early 2014. In the interim, this guidance note details important changes to the Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) requirements which must be applied in addition to the requirements in the current handbook. Consequently, the handbook must be read in conjunction with this guidance note. Some of the key changes to the RIS requirements are:
On 12 December 2013 the Department of Industry released a Consultation Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) on electric storage hot water heaters. The RIS examines various policy options to streamline regulations and reduce the operating costs of electric storage hot water heaters to consumers. The options presented in the RIS focus on the electric storage water heater market with special consideration for electric storage units when they are used as part of a solar water heater or heat pump water heater system. The RIS notes that the term ‘electric storage water heater’ covers three main types of water heaters: conventional electric storage water heaters, heat pump water heaters and electric-boosted solar water heaters.