Published Impact Analyses

On 11 July 2011, the Australian Government announced Australia’s Plan for a Clean Energy Future.  The Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) outlines the regulatory considerations and arrangements for a market based pricing mechanism that deals with Australia’s emissions of carbon dioxide and other global warming gases.  The Government’s objectives are to respond to climate change, and meet Australia’s international emissions obligations in a flexible and cost effective way.  The RIS contains analysis on a number of regulatory options in relation to: the form of the pricing mechanism; coverage; reporting and compliance; fixed price architecture; transitional arrangements; international linking; taxation arrangements; and governance arrangements.  The RIS was prepared by the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency and has been assessed as adequate b

On 18 July 2011, the National Transport Commission announced the release of a Consultation Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) on a national rail safety law. This proposal aims to develop a seamless and coordinated national approach to rail safety regulation as well as leading to improved safety outcomes. This follows the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) and the Australian Transport Council directing the National Transport Commission to consolidate the seven state and territory bodies of rail safety law into a Rail Safety National Law. Rail Safety is one of the 27 deregulation priority reforms currently being delivered under the National Partnership Agreement to Deliver a Seamless National Economy (SNE NP). The Consultation RIS has been approved by the Office of Best Practice Regulation. The National Transport Commission is seeking feedback from stakeholders on the proposed changes.

On 24 May 2011, the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport announced the decision to extend the existing tripartite deeds for the 12 Australian privatised airports from 20 to 50 years. Tripartite Deeds clarify the rights of financiers in the event an operator of a federally leased airport, to which they have lent money, goes out of business or loses its operating licence.  This regime where the Commonwealth accepts the risk, gives financiers confidence to invest and operators certainty to plan for the long term. The deeds for twelve airports - Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra, Darwin, the Gold Coast, Townsville, Alice Springs, Launceston and Bankstown - will be extended to cover the full 50 year duration of the leases held by their operators. A Regulation Impact Statement was required for this decision due to the competition impacts on business.

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) announced on 30 May 2011 the gazettal of a Primary Production and Processing Standard for Eggs and Egg Products. The standard is intended to be implemented by state and territory food regulators and will introduce new requirements for egg producers to identify and control the food safety hazards associated with the production of eggs. Specific requirements have been included for the control of inputs, waste disposal, health and hygiene, traceability of eggs, and sale or supply of unsuitable eggs and egg pulp. A Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) was prepared by FSANZ. The RIS concluded that if a 20 per cent reduction in egg-related illness is achieved the enhanced food safety benefits of the new requirements would likely outweigh the costs.

On 11 June 2011, The Minister for Infrastructure and Transport announced new pollution standards for light vehicles. In Australia, vehicle emissions standards are set via the Australian Design Rules, which are legislative instruments under the Motor Vehicle Standards Act 1989. Proposed standards are based on a review of European “Euro 5” and “Euro 6” emission standards for light vehicles. They are designed to cut a new car's maximum allowable emissions of hydrocarbons, oxides of nitrogen and particulate matter. The Regulation Impact Statement was prepared by the Department of Infrastructure and Transport and assessed as adequate by the Office of Best Practice Regulation.

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