Published Impact Analyses

The Government has made a commitment to reduce the regulatory burden on businesses, community organisations and individuals.  On 20 December 2013 the Government announced changes to the regulation of the financial products and services sector, with the aim of reducing the regulatory burden for the financial advice sector.  Australia’s financial services industry is a significant part of the Australian economy.  It employs more than 400,000 people and is expected to continue growing, driven by Australia’s ageing population and increasing pool of superannuation funds.  The key reforms include:

On 20 November 2013, the Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment Bill was introduced into the Parliament. The Bill includes a proposed amendment to the Paid Parental Leave Act 2010. The proposal removes the current mandatory requirement for employers to administer parental leave payments on behalf of the Government. The intent is to relieve the administrative burden on business, especially small business, many of whom regard the ‘paymaster’ role as unnecessarily burdensome and without commensurate benefits. (The average cost identified by all organisations to administer the paid parental leave scheme was estimated at $1,783.) However, employers who wish to continue making such payments can ‘opt in’ to do so, and are not otherwise disadvantaged by this change.

On 13 December 2013 the Standing Council on Energy and Resources (SCER) endorsed the Decision Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) for Gas Transmission Pipeline Capacity Trading and agreed to pursue enhancements to information provision and standardisation of contractual terms and conditions. These measures are aimed at reducing transaction costs to facilitate pipeline capacity trading. Australia’s eastern gas supply market is connected by a series of gas transmission pipelines, which vary in terms of both capacity and utilisation.  Some domestic gas transmission pipelines are often operating near capacity.

On 15 November 2013, the Standing Council on Transport and Infrastructure endorsed  Part C1 of the National Standard for Commercial Vessels (NSCV) to align domestic commercial vessel standards to national laws and international agreements.

The sections of the NSCV have progressively replaced the Uniform Shipping Laws (USL) Code, which has been the basis of standards for domestic vessels since the late 1970s. This Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) considers one of the final pieces of the NSCV – the arrangements, accommodation and personal safety for domestic commercial vessels.

The RIS covers aspects of vessel design and construction that are vitally important to the health, safety and wellbeing of passengers and crew.

On 26 November 2013, the Chairman of the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) announced  a proposal mandating communication service providers to provide National Broadband Network (NBN) consumers with information about back up batteries. Currently all NBN consumers are provided with a back up battery, so that in the event of a power failure they will still be able to use the phone services. The NBN phones, unlike phones using a copper wire, will not be able to work in the event of a power failure.  However, some consumers do not want the back up battery because they consider it to be unsightly and they can use their mobile phones in the event of a power failure.

On 23 November 2009 the Corporations Amendment (Improving Accountability on Termination Payments) Act 2009 (the Act) received Royal Assent. The Act resulted in lowering the threshold for shareholder approval from seven times the total annual remuneration package to one year’s average annual base pay. Other amendments included:

On 28 July 2010 the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) introduced the Broadcasting and Datacasting Services (Parental Lock) Technical Standard 2010 (Parental Lock Standard) to ensure that digital televisions and digital receivers sold in Australia have a parental lock capability.  A Regulation Impact Statement was required for the proposal but not prepared. As a result, a Post-implementation Review (PIR) has been undertaken in line with best practice regulation requirements.  The PIR found that the Parental Lock Standard has had a low to negligible cost on industry and consumers and that the benefits have also been minor.

On 13 November 2013, the Government introduced legislation that provides transitional arrangements for importers of synthetic greenhouse gases (SGGs), prior to the repeal of the carbon tax (proposed to take effect from 1 July 2014).  The arrangements provide for an exemption from the equivalent carbon tax where SGGs are imported but not released onto the Australian market before repeal of the equivalent carbon tax. Under current arrangements, the equivalent carbon tax is applied when SGGs enter the economy, either at the point of import or manufacture. The equivalent carbon tax is a significant percentage of the price of SGGs. For example, the equivalent carbon tax on HFC134a is $30.40 per kilogram in 2013-14. In comparison the cost to purchase and transport HFC134a from overseas without the equivalent carbon tax is less than $10 per kilogram.

The Australian Government has tabled legislation changing the regulation of registered organisations. These changes are a specific election commitment of the Government. Registered organisations are those employer and employee associations that are registered under the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009 (RO Act) to allow them to represent the interests of their members in certain workplace matters. Under the RO Act, registered organisations must comply with detailed regulations in relation to registration, rules, financial reporting, elections, conduct of officers and other matters. The Government has committed to increase the statutory and fiduciary obligations on registered organisations to more closely align them with those that corporations have to meet. The main changes are:

On 13 November 2013 the Treasurer introduced the Minerals Resource Rent Tax Repeal and Other Measures Bill 2013 into Parliament. The Minerals Resource Rent Tax (MRRT) is a profits tax which is levied at an effective rate of 22.5 per cent of the mining profit of coal and mining projects within Australia. The MRRT applied from 1 July 2012 to taxable resources (broadly iron ore and coal) after they were extracted from the ground but before they underwent any significant processing or value adding. Miners with an annual mining profit of less than $75 million are exempted from paying MRRT. The Bill repeals the Minerals Resource Rent Tax Act 2012 from 1 July 2014.