Types of impacts for consideration when developing a new policy

A broad range of impacts are considered when developing an Impact Analysis (IA).

Often with new policy the area front of mind is the financial impact to Government.

When writing a IA, policy officers will be asked to analyse five types of impact depending on relevance to the proposal:

• Social, including how many people are impacted and how they are impacted.
• Competition, ranging from range from how the proposed policy would impact upon prices, quality and choice.
• Environmental, such as the impact upon land use or the take up of recycling programs.
• Distributional, how do we expect to see impacts apply to different groups in society? Are impacts the same across different cohorts?
• Regulatory, including the time it takes to fill in a form, read and understand the requirements or apply for that permit.

Reviewing impacts helps decision makers understand and compare the potential costs and benefits of the proposal.

Contact us for more information

Via email: helpdesk-OIA@pmc.gov.au 
By phone: 02 6271 6270