Talking Point: Election promises come to nothing as red tape rules supreme

MADELEINE OGILVIE: SOME mighty big promises were made by the Liberal Government to reduce red tape.

The promised red tape audit seems to have gone missing in action and no legislation has materialised.

SOME mighty big promises were made by the Liberal Government to reduce red tape.

It will therefore come as quite a shock and surprise that there has been a complete failure to deliver on this promise. Or is that faux shock and fake surprise — because despite the promises and big talk, little was done to establish a program that could actually reduce red tape.

The Liberal election promise, made in black and white and repeated ad nauseam, was to reduce Tasmanian red tape by 20 per cent — a laudable goal and something all Tasmanians want, particularly small business, professional services and tradies.

Red tape adds cost and delay to doing business. Red tape reduces profit and makes it harder to turn a dollar.

Indeed, a 20 per cent reduction in red tape would arguably put real extra dollars into pockets for spending.

So it was quite a surprise to learn how poorly implemented this policy has been, despite the establishment of a well-funded Regulation Reduction Co-ordinator.

The Liberal policy promised that the Regulation Reduction Co-ordinator would oversee the “drafting of legislation to require an annual audit of red and green tape in Tasmania and ensure that all new legislation be accompanied by a Regulation Impact Statement to ensure that the amount of regulation is minimised”.

The promised red tape audit seems to have gone missing in action and no legislation has materialised.

The Liberals who cast themselves as the friends of business have failed to deliver any reduction.

This non-delivery has been so profound it appears no measures to track the change in red tape were implemented.

Has it gone up, or down?

No one knows.

What was the amount of red tape when the Liberals took government?

We have never been shown a figure.

This non-delivery has been so profound it appears no measures to track the change in red tape were implemented.

Clearly we can’t prove red tape has increased or decreased without establishing some measures. It’s just a basic fact of productivity improvement.

Was it was a strategic decision not to establish measures for red tape? Perhaps the Liberal Government, knowing it could not meet the election promise with any measurable outcome, dodged its own bullet.

Alternatively, perhaps it was a well-meaning and genuine promise, made with good intent at the time, but which proved impossible to deliver in office.

Much was made of a fresh approach to planning law reform as the wellspring from which the 20 per cent red tape reduction would be sourced.

Unfortunately things seem to have been made worse.

I’ve turned my mind to this question, to see if I could come up with a position, supported by hard data, as to whether red tape had been reduced since the Liberals took office.

In doing a review of legislation and regulation during this term of government I have sought to determine whether there has been an increase or decrease in burden.

I was expecting a decrease — after all, that’s what had been promised. What I found was quite the contrary.

According to the data, not only has there been no 20 per cent reduction in red tape but there has in fact been an 8.58 per cent increase.

While there has been anecdotal evidence of increased red tape across planning matters and in particular building regulation, I felt it was important to get some real data to work with.

The data clearly states that as of 2013 leading into the state election there were 1416 acts and statutory rules on the books. In 2017 there are 1549 acts and statutory rules.

That is an increase of 133 or an 8.5 per cent rise in regulatory burden, rounding up for ease of calculation, since the Liberals assumed government.

For the record: not only did the 20 per cent reduction not occur, an 8.5 per cent increase has been delivered.

This leaves Tasmanians 28.5 per cent worse off measured against the election promises and voter expectation.

Labor understands government efficiency is important so that all Tasmanians can get on with their work in a profitable and effective commercial environment.

What would Labor do differently?

My preferred approach to delivering a reduction in red tape is to ensure each piece of legislation brought before parliament is assessed for its red tape impact.

Measures and definitions would need to be agreed, and continuous reporting against those measures would be publicly available.

As each bill is tabled in Parliament its impact on red tape — efficiency measures in other words — would be clear to all before legislation is passed.

As it stands today the voters of Tasmania are worse off and under a greater regulatory burden than ever before.

Madeleine Ogilvie is Labor’s spokesperson on innovation, communications, science and the digital economy.