On 18 September 2013, the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) registered a continuation of an area closure, aimed at protecting dolphins in the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery. The closure prohibits fishing by gillnets, in an area of the fishery off the South Australian coast, for a period of one year. Other measures will also be put in place, most notably 100 per cent monitoring requirements in areas adjacent to the closure, and allowing the use the hook fishing. The proposal has been assessed by the Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR) as likely to have relatively minor impacts on the broader economy and has therefore given this a ‘D’ rating (on a scale of A to D) in relation to the level of analysis required. The Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) looked at three options, and recommended the regulatory option.
Published Impact Analyses
Official website for Published Impact Analyses for decisions announced by the Australian Government, Ministerial Forums and National Standard Setting Bodies.
On 18 September 2013, the Government issued its Administrative Arrangement Orders (AAOs), which took effect immediately. As part of the AAOs, portfolio responsibility for deregulation matters and the OBPR moved from the Department of Finance and Deregulation to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. The OBPR in due course will provide information on our new email and website addresses. In the meantime, please continue to use http://ris.finance.gov.au.
On 13 August 2013, the former Minister for Road Safety tabled new legislation requiring the installation of ABS in new heavy commercial vehicles. ABS is a technology that prevents wheels from locking when a vehicle is overbraked and increases the safety of a vehicle. It is an advanced technology that is already used by a significant portion of the commercial heavy vehicle fleet. The Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) notes the considerable cost of road crashes on Australian society. It considers four options: the status quo; deleting the relevant Australian Design Rules; non-regulatory options; and the preferred option of mandating ABS installation. Overall, the RIS concludes that, due to the advanced nature of the technology, there is effectively a small positive net benefit to the community for each additional heavy vehicle fitted with ABS even as the voluntary fitment rate approaches 100 per cent.
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.
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: