Published Impact Analyses

Due to truly urgent and unforeseen events related to the spread of COVID-19, on 18 March 2020 OBPR announced that the Prime Minister has granted an exemption from the need to complete regulatory impact analysis in the form of Regulation Impact Statements (RISs) for all urgent and unforeseen Australian Government measures made in response to COVID-19.

Due to the time-limited nature of such measures, and the difficulty in ascribing impacts to measures in isolation, the Prime Minister set aside the requirement for Post-Implementation Reviews for measures falling under this Prime Minister’s exemption.

To date, matters that fell within this exemption are as follows:

Attorney-General’s Department

• Paid Pandemic Leave

Department of Education, Skills and Employment

COAG Decision Regulation Impact Statement – Australian Energy Market Commission

On 12 March 2020, the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) released a final rule determination and accompanying final rule titled: National Electricity Amendment (Victorian Jurisdictional Derogation - RERT Contracting) Rule 2020.

This rule applies only in Victoria, and complements the reliability and emergency reserve trader (RERT), which is a last resort mechanism allowing the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) to pay for additional capacity to be on stand-by in case of emergencies when the electricity demand and supply balance is tight.

COAG Decision Regulation Impact Statement – Australian Energy Market Commission

On 12 March 2020, the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) released a second draft rule determination and accompanying second draft rule titled: Draft National Electricity Amendment (Wholesale demand response mechanism) Rule 2020 to provide a mechanism to facilitate wholesale demand response in the National Electricity Market. On 12 March 2020, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) also published a high level design to assist stakeholders in understanding the implementation of the wholesale demand response mechanism.

COAG Decision Regulation Impact Statement – Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment

On 13 March 2020, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreed to ban the exports of waste plastic, paper, tyres and glass with additional supporting government interventions to build recycling markets and associated demand.

The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (formerly the Department of the Environment and Energy) prepared a Decision RIS titled Phasing out exports of waste plastic, paper, glass and tyres for COAG consideration. The Decision RIS examined the following options and their impacts:

Regulation Impact Statement – Australian Securities and Investments Commission

On 10 March 2020, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) announced a new framework for the regulation of foreign financial services providers (FFSPs) providing financial services to Australian wholesale clients.

COAG Decision Regulation Impact Statement – Australian Energy Market Commission

COAG Decision Regulation Impact Statement – Australian Energy Market Commission

On 12 March 2020, the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) released a final rule determination that amends the National Gas Rules to simplify wholesale pricing in relation to the Victorian Declared Wholesale Gas Market (DWGM) by:

Independent Review – Department of Health

On 27 February 2020, the Government introduced the Aged Care Legislation Amendment (Improved Home Care Payment Administration No. 1) Bill 2020.

The purpose of the Bill is to change the payment of home care subsidy to approved providers from being paid in advance to being paid in arrears. Payment of subsidy in arrears is intended to introduce a more contemporary business practice into home care subsidy payment arrangements and bring these arrangements into alignment with other Government programs.

The Bill amends both the Aged Care Act 1997 and the Aged Care (Transitional Provisions) Act 1997, and gives effect to the first stage of reforms to improve payment administration arrangements for home care packages announced in the 2019‑20 Budget.

Independent Review – Australian Communications and Media Authority

On 28 November 2019, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) announced its plans to optimise arrangements for the 3400-3575 MHz band.

Over time the current arrangements have resulted in a fragmented use of spectrum in this band. Defragmentation is expected to result in a more efficient use of the spectrum while reducing network deployment costs. The optimisation will also enable ACMA to make additional 5G spectrum available to meet the growing demand for 5G services that could benefit from the characteristics of this band.

Independent Review – Australian Prudential Regulation Authority

On 17 January 2020, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) determined Prudential Standard APS 115 Capital Adequacy: Standardised Measurement Approach to Operational Risk to replace the existing prudential standard for authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs) — which includes banks — on Advanced Measurement Approaches to Operational Risk effective from 1 January 2021. The new standard will also replace existing standardised approaches to operational risk from 1 January 2022.