Published impact analyses

Regulation Impact Statement – Australian Taxation Office

On 7 February 2018 the Government introduced the Treasury Laws Amendment (2018 Measures No. 1) Bill 2018 (the Bill) to Parliament.

The Bill requires purchasers of new residential premises and new subdivisions to remit GST to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) at the time of settlement, rather than in their next Business Activity Statement (BAS) statement, which could be several months after settlement. This change addresses the risk that some businesses in the property development industry will fail to remit GST, either through intentionally dissolving a business to avoid remitting GST or through a business not sufficiently budgeting to meet GST obligations.

Post–implementation Review – Australian Accounting Standards Board

In June 2010 the Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) issued AASB 1053 Application of Tiers of Australian Accounting Standards. This was intended to offer in Australian Accounting Standards a way of permitting most types of entities to reduce the cost of preparing General Purpose Financial Statements in accordance with Accounting Standards yet still provide adequate information for the users of the financial statements.

The AASB was required to prepare a Post-implementation Review (PIR) under the Government’s regulation impact assessment requirements because a compliant Regulation Impact Statement was not prepared before the decision to issue new standards was made. The AASB chose to address this requirement at the same time as undertaking its own routine post-implementation review of the standards.

Australian Maritime Safety Authority

On 31 January 2018, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority announced changes to vessel survey requirements. The changes align survey frequency with risk on an individual vessel basis, provide for greater flexibility to reduce the number of out-of-water surveys required, and allow surveys to be more easily aligned with other vessel maintenance activities.

The RIS indicates that the preferred option represents an estimated $97 million in quantified net benefits to the community as a whole over a 10-year period, as well as providing numerous unquantified benefits, including for marine safety.

The preferred option results in a reduction in compliance costs to business of $14.31 million per annum.

COAG Energy Council

On 24 November 2017, the COAG Energy Council agreed to changes to energy efficiency regulation for refrigerated display and storage cabinets.

The changes will increase Minimum Energy Performance Standard (MEPS) for commercial refrigerated display cabinets and refrigerated storage cabinets to harmonise with MEPS levels adopted by Europe in 2017. In addition, the changes will result in adopting international test standards, rather than a regionally specific Australian and New Zealand test standards, and provide consumers with accessible and comparable information on refrigerated commercial cabinet energy efficiency.

Decision Regulation Impact Statement – Department of Health

This Decision Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) is the final stage of a consultation process undertaken by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (the Commission) to review the first edition of the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards.

The NSQHS Standards are designed to protect the public from harm and to improve the quality of health care for consumers.

The second edition of the NSQHS Standards was endorsed by COAG Health Ministers in June 2017, and released in November 2017. The NSQHS Standards (second edition) will be implemented and assessed  from 1 January 2019.

In April 2017, the Government announced its decision to replace the 457 visa with a Temporary Skill Shortage visa for short and medium to long term skill shortages.

A  RIS was prepared by the then Department of Immigration and Border Protection in compliance with the Australian Government RIS requirements. However the level of analysis in the RIS used to inform decision makers was not commensurate with the potential impacts. For example, the longer term impact on the competitiveness of Australia’s labour market – while discussed – is not assessed in any detail, in particular the impact of the policy on Australia’s competitiveness in attracting and retaining highly skilled or specialised workers. As a result the OBPR’s final assessment is that the RIS is not best practice.

The Department estimated the proposal will reduce regulatory costs by $1.185 million. The OBPR agreed to this estimate.

COAG Consultation Regulation Impact Statement - Transport Canberra and City Services Directorate

The Transport Canberra and City Services Directorate (TCCS) of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Government has released for public consultation a Council of Australian Governments (COAG) regulation impact statement (RIS) examining permanent exemption from mutual recognition arrangements for the ACT Container Deposit Scheme (CDS).

Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development

On 18 November 2017, the Minister for Urban Infrastructure approved the Australian Design Rule 33/01 – Brake Systems for Motorcycles and Mopeds. Advanced braking systems (such as Anti-lock Braking Systems (ABS) and Combined Braking Systems (CBS) will be required to be fitted to new bikes from November 2019.

The option to mandate ABS/CBS is estimated to deliver net benefits of $1.62 billion over 35 years due mainly to the number of lives saved (587) and reduced road trauma.

Independent review – The Treasury

In the 2017-18 Budget, the Government announced that it would extend the $20,000 instant asset write-off by 12 months to 30 June 2018 for small businesses with aggregated annual turnover less than $10 million.

The Treasury Laws Amendment (Accelerated Depreciation for Small Business Entities) Bill 2017 was introduced on 25 May 2017.

The Bill amends the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, the Income Tax (Transitional Provisions) Act 1997 and the Tax Laws Amendment (Small Business Measures No. 2) Act 2015 to implement the 2017-18 Budget announcement.

An independent review was prepared and certified by the Treasury as meeting the standards of a RIS. The Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR) does not assess the quality of independent reviews.

Independent Review – Australian Prudential Regulation Authority

On 30 November 2017, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority released its revised framework to allow mutually owned authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs) to directly issue instruments that may be included in Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) capital.