On 1 August 2013, the Treasurer announced that the tobacco excise will be increased by 50 per cent over a four year period – a 12.5 per cent increase each year. The options-stage Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) prepared by Treasury notes that smoking tobacco may provide a number of benefits to consumers, including immediate pleasure, control of stress, improved self image and avoidance of withdrawal symptoms. However, it is also considered that there are costs to smoking tobacco which include: serious illness, such as cancer and premature death; deferral of expenditure away from necessities by lower income households; and diversion of health related resources, such as hospital beds. It is considered that social and economic costs of tobacco use are $31.5 billion each year.
Published Impact Analyses
Official website for Published Impact Analyses for decisions announced by the Australian Government, Ministerial Forums and National Standard Setting Bodies.
On 2 August 2013, the Treasurer and Minister for Finance and Deregulation announced the establishment of a Financial Stability Fund. The Fund collects money through imposing a levy on Authorised Deposit-Taking Institutions (ADIs), which is to be used to meet the costs of a failure of an ADI. The levy will start on 1 January, 2016 and will be set at 0.05 per cent on deposits of up to $250,000. Under the Financial Claims Scheme (FCS) the Australian Government is required to fund payments to protected depositors (up to a cap of $250,000 per depositor per ADI) in the event that an ADI is placed into liquidation. However, the options-stage Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) prepared by Treasury notes that the Australian Government does not have a dedicated and readily accessible pool of assets that could be used to fund resolution activities.
On 6 August 2013, the Northern Territory Government announced that it had obtained approval from relevant Ministers for a permanent exemption from requirements under the Mutual Recognition Agreement for its Container Deposit Scheme. The Mutual Recognition Agreement allows goods that can be lawfully sold in one jurisdiction to be sold in other jurisdictions without having to meet additional requirements. This prevents state and territory governments, for example, from unilaterally imposing requirements (such as labelling requirements) on suppliers to facilitate a deposit refund scheme for containers of beverages sold within their jurisdiction. The Decision Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) examines four options for addressing the identified problem of low rates of recovery and reuse of packaging waste, particularly beverage containers, in the Northern Territory:
On 9 August 2013, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) announced that the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE) made changes to the Radiocommunications Regulations 1993 to restrict the supply of mobile repeaters. A cellular mobile repeater is a wireless radiocommunications device that repeats mobile network signals. It can receive, amplify and retransmit these signals in order to improve mobile phone reception within a small area. Repeaters can be used to extend signal coverage into areas where coverage may not exist or is too low and their unauthorised use has the potential to cause interference. The new regulation prohibits the supply of cellular mobile repeaters to persons other than a licensee or a person authorised in writing by the licensee.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has released its market integrity rules on crossing systems, dark liquidity and high-frequency trading. These rules build on a previous announcement by the Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation.
On 3 August 2013 further reforms were announced to the native title system. The reforms are based on the recommendations of the Working Group on Taxation of Native Title and Traditional Owner Benefits and Governance. The Working Group was established to examine existing arrangements for holding, managing and distributing land-related payments, and to identify options to strengthen governance and promote sustainability. The recommendations by the Working Group included:
On 14 June 2013, the Standing Council on Health (SCoH) made an in-principle decision to strengthen state and territory health complaints mechanisms relating to those health practitioners for whom statutory registration is not a prerequisite for practice. This is to be implemented through:
Energy network pricing decisions are primarily made by the Australian Energy Regulator (AER). The AER considers the network provider’s operating and capital expenses and commercial returns, and uses these to forecast the network provider’s revenue requirements. This pricing determination has a significant influence on the network tariff charged through retailers to consumers. Network pricing decisions are reviewable by the Australian Competition Tribunal, under what is termed a Limited Merits Review Regime. In 2012, an independent panel commissioned by the Standing Council on Energy and Resources (SCER) reviewed the regime and found that it was overly legalistic in its approach; that the review framework was not structured to take account of the views of all relevant stakeholders; and incentives were skewed in favour of network tariff increases.
Post-implementation Review – Treasury
On 1 August 2013, the Department of Health and Ageing announced changes to premarket assessment requirements for medical devices. A medical device must be included in the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG) prior to supply in Australia. An application to include a medical device in the ARTG may only be made once a conformity assessment certificate is issued by a conformity assessment body. Concerns have been raised regarding the use of third party conformity assessment bodies, the need for an increased level of premarket scrutiny of higher risk medical devices and the transparency of the Therapeutic Goods Administration’s (TGA) decision making processes. The proposal addresses these concerns by: