Published Impact Analyses

On 24 March 2011, the Treasurer introduced legislation to Parliament to address anti-competitive price signalling and information exchange.  The prohibitions will apply to those sectors of the economy specified by regulation, and initially only to banks. A regulation impact statement (RIS) was prepared for this legislation and was assessed as adequate.  The RIS published here on 4 April 2011 excluded information that was contained in the RIS considered by the decision-maker, and Treasury was assessed as not being compliant with the best practice regulation requirements at the transparency stage.  The RIS now attached includes all the information and we have amended our assessment to compliant with the best practice regulation requirements.

The Minister for Mental Health and Ageing introduced into the Parliament on 26 May 2011 proposed new regulations relating to the use of accommodation bonds held by aged care providers by way of the Aged Care Amendment Bill 2011. Accommodation bonds are an unsecured prepayment for aged care accommodation services and typically involve a substantial amount of money. Given this, a certain amount of consumer protection regulation already applies to the charging and use of accommodation bonds. The proposed regulatory changes:

On 8 June 2011, the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry announced that the Government has suspended the export of live cattle to Indonesia until new safeguards are established for the trade. A regulation impact statement (RIS) was required to inform the decision to suspend exports but was not prepared. Consequently, the OBPR has assessed the proposal as being non-compliant with the Australian Government’s best practice regulation requirements. A post-implementation review is usually required within one to two years from the implementation of the decision. However, in this case, the requirement may be met by producing an adequate RIS for any changes implemented when the suspension ends.

On 23 May 2011, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority announced [] enhancements to the Basel II regulatory framework. The measures are designed to increase transparency and risk management for banks through their minimum capital requirements, risk management practices and public disclosures. The measures include:

• higher capital requirements to capture the credit risk of complex trading activities;
• higher risk-weightings for particular exposures;
• changes to valuation practices; and
• increased transparency requirements.

The Regulation Impact Statement was prepared by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority and was assessed as adequate by the Office of Best Practice Regulation.

In November 2010, State, Territory and Commonwealth Health Ministers agreed to conduct a national consultation on options for strengthening the regulation of those health practitioners where statutory registration is not a prerequisite for practice (those known as 'unregistered health practitioners'). The national consultation is to consider whether there is a need for strengthened regulatory protections for consumers who use the services of unregistered health practitioners, and if so, what these should be and how they should be structured and administered. A consultation paper was released by the Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council (AHMAC) in February 2011 outlining options for strengthened regulation. The paper was assessed as adequate by the Office of Best Practice Regulation as a consultation Regulation Impact Statement

On 26 May 2011 the Government introduced a bill into Parliament that, if passed, will impose financial reporting requirements on large operators of long day care centres. The intention is to enable closer scrutiny of the financial viability of operators that run more than 25 centres. The changes will also allow the Department to conduct an independent audit in cases where the financial monitoring raised viability concerns. The Regulation Impact Statement was prepared by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations and was assessed as adequate by the Office of Best Practice Regulation.

On 26 May 2011, ACMA announced planning principles for restacking digital television channels. Radio spectrum in Australia is managed by the Commonwealth Government through ACMA. Spectrum can be used for many activities including television and mobile internet. The decision to switch off analog television services has freed up significant amounts of spectrum which could be used to provide new services – the ‘digital dividend’. There are three key areas of work related to yielding the digital dividend. The first is completion of the switchover to digital television, which results in the cessation of analog television services. The second is the process of clearing digital television services from the identified digital dividend band. The third is the configuration and allocation of the cleared spectrum to new users.

On 27 May 2011, the members of the Select Council of Gambling Reform (consisting of Commonwealth, State and Territory Gambling Ministers) announced that all new gaming machines will be required to have pre-commitment functionality from a date to be agreed. Pre-commitment functionality allows gaming machine players to set a maximum expenditure limit over a selected period of time. The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) best practice regulation requirements apply to decisions by ministerial councils or other bodies where there is a reasonable expectation of widespread compliance. Under the COAG requirements a Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) is prepared for the consultation stage, and for the decision stage.

On 25 May 2011, the Minister for Resources and Energy released the Australian Government’s final response to the Report of the Montara Commission of Inquiry.

On 12 November 2010, the Australian Health Ministers’ Conference endorsed a set of National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards and a Model National Accreditation Scheme and decided to apply them. Both the Standards and Accreditation Scheme were developed by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. The Standards are an explicit statement of the level of care consumers should be able to expect from health services. The Model National Accreditation Scheme provides the process for accreditation of health services organisations and reporting of performance against the Standards.  The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care prepared a decision making RIS that was provided to the Australian Health Ministers’ Conference for their decision.  The RIS was assessed as adequate by the Office of Best Practice Regulation.