Tara Cheyne, ACT Minister for Business and Better Regulation, will table the Better Regulation Report in the Legislative Assembly today, mapping out the ACT Government’s agenda to make it easier to start, run, and grow a business in the ACT through best practice regulation and by simplifying interactions between business and government.
The Canberra Business Chamber welcomed the Report, and called on Chief Minister Andrew Barr to ensure a whole of government commitment to making the regulatory reform agenda a reality.
The Better Regulation Taskforce (BRT) was established to support Canberra’s recovery from COVID-19 and long-term economic growth.
“The Better Regulation Report explains how we are improving regulation for business in the ACT,” Ms Cheyne said. “The planned reforms draw from and respond directly to what the BRT has heard from businesses through its engagement.
“The Taskforce will make it easier to do business in the ACT, working with the business community to identify and deliver solutions to address barriers they face, and building on the ‘How can we help?’ approach the ACT Government has long been committed to. We will deliver targeted support for businesses to navigate regulatory requirements and to try new things, with a view to saying ‘yes’ wherever possible.”
The Better Regulation Report details the ACT Government’s forward work program, the Better Regulation Agenda, and is comprised of two key reform streams, which will progress in parallel.
Stream 1: Policy and Legislation – making continual improvements to rules, regulations, and processes includes:
• Reviewing the existing procurement framework from an SME perspective.
• Readying the ACT for the automatic mutual recognition (AMR) scheme to improve mobility for occupational license holders.
• Developing options to improve existing regulatory arrangements.
• Working with industry and across government to review the policy, legislative, regulatory, and process requirements that ‘frame’ the night-time and entertainment economy industries.
Stream 2: Business Experience and Regulator Practice – making government-to-business interactions better, faster, and simpler includes:
• Better understanding business by surveying sentiment, mapping the user experience, and piloting human-centred design with business.
• Providing clearer information for business to meet their needs.
• Improving how regulators interact and respond to businesses; for example, enabling a more individual response to issues that arise, as well as putting all the information businesses need in one spot.
• Reducing the number of times businesses need to interact with government and regulators, and reducing duplicated processes.
Both the full Better Regulation Report and a summary version are online to help business owners to understand what regulation reform agenda will mean for them.
The BRT will continue to speak with businesses as the Better Regulation Agenda progresses.
Canberra Business Chamber CEO Graham Catt said: “It is clear and very pleasing that the government has listened to businesses, and we commend the Minister and the Better Regulation Taskforce on this report.
“The Report recognises the feedback and frustration that we hear consistently from our members, including a need to focus on how regulation is implemented and a lack of business experience and understanding amongst regulators and the ACT public service generally.
“Unfortunately, feedback from small local businesses is that when dealing with government, many interactions seem to be based on mistrust and a misunderstanding of business, rather than a desire to support the entrepreneurs who drive our city’s economic growth and create jobs.
“For small business, one of the most significant statements in the report is the commitment to move from this ‘why should we help?’ mentality, to a ‘how we can help?’ culture,” Mr Catt said.
There are 31,500 businesses in the Territory, of which 97 per cent were small or family enterprises employing fewer than 20 people. ACT businesses provide around 150,000 jobs, almost two-thirds of Canberra’s total employment.
“Small businesses are the lifeblood of the economy, and the key to recovery, growth, and employment,” Mr Catt said. “They aren’t big companies, but people like you and me who had a passion or a great idea, and took a risk to deliver goods and services to the rest of us. We need a ‘think small first’ approach so we have regulatory requirements based on their operating model, and not on compliance with rules and processes that were originally developed to regulate large corporations.
“Right now, small businesses are struggling with massive cost increases, shortages of supplies, and the ongoing skills and labour shortage. At the local level, we can make an enormous difference by fixing what might seem like small things, because lots of these small things add up to lots of time, cost, and sadly often to impacts on people’s mental health and wellbeing.
“If the ACT Government can effectively implement the reform agenda outlined in the report, it will make a real difference to the Canberra business community. For that to happen, there needs to be a whole of government commitment to making it easier to start up, grow, and run a business from every minister, every portfolio, and every directorate, led from the top by the Chief Minister.
“The Chamber, our members, and the Canberra business community stand ready to help make this opportunity a reality,” Mr Catt said.
