The Productivity Commissionwill be tasked with delivering a report card on the impacts of Commonwealth and State regulators on small business costs, the Gillard Government announced today.
The announcement of the Productivity Commissionstudy follows the conclusion of the second meeting of the COAG Business Advisory Forum in Canberra today.
This wide-ranging national study will deliver a report card on how small business-friendly Australias various regulatory authorities actually are, said Assistant Treasurer Bradbury.
The way that Commonwealth and State regulators go about their operations can have a big impact on the time and costs of small businesses, and this PC study will look at which regulators are doing their jobs in the most small-business friendly way.
A new regulatory and competition reform agenda was agreed to at COAG in April as a result of the Business Advisory Forum.
This benchmarking study is part of the Governments ongoing commitment to work with small business to cut red tape and improve productivity, Senator Wong said.
This report will complement the role of the first Australian Small Business Commissioner, Mark Brennan, who starts work next month, said Minister OConnor.
It provides a great opportunity for people in small business to voice their concerns about how regulators interact with them and the final report card will be useful in improving practices and lead to small businesses spending less time and resources dealing with those regulators.
The Commission will seek public submissions and release a draft report. The final report is to be provided to the Government within nine months of receiving the terms of reference.
The terms of reference for the study are attached below.
121206 WONG O'CONNOR BRADBURY ATTACHMENT - BENCHMARKING STUDY ON REGULATOR ENGAGEMENT WITH SMALL BUSINESS TERMS OF REFERENCE