State Government’s embroiled red tape report

The government is making progress in rolling back red tape and overregulation, but has drawn criticism for a “a copy and paste exercise”.

Ian Ritchie from Tasmanian Ground Screws and Infrastructure Minister Michael Ferguson during a press conference at Cambridge near Hobart on Monday February 10, 2020.

THE State Government is making progress in rolling back red tape and over-regulation, but has drawn criticism for a “ copy and paste exercise” from a previous audit report.

Releasing the annual Tasmanian Red Tape Audit Report yesterday, State Growth Minister Michael Ferguson said the Government was doing an excellent job in making life easier for business.

“It’s a document which reflects the excellent work that’s being done by the Government, particularly with the work of our red tape reduction co-ordinator,” he said.

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“The audit document provides a full list of the (red tape issues) that have been resolved, which is now 84 per cent by the way, last year we were 76 per cent. So we’re seeing that improvement, and tackling those areas of reform that are needed.

“And importantly, the document also reflects those areas that we’re still seeing ongoing working.”

The State Government issued its 2018-19 Red Tape Audit in February last year.

The 2019-20 report released yesterday included eight new initiatives among the 125 reforms in the report with updates on around 15 more.

An analysis of the 2018-19 version of the report, which was removed from the Office of the Co-ordinator-General’s website yesterday morning, revealed that 97 pages in the new report were either identical in content or near identical.

Large slabs – up to 15 consecutive pages in some cases – were also replicated word-for-word in the two reports, except for updated page numbers.

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Opposition spokeswoman for regional development and small business Anita Dow said the report was unimpressive.

“This latest report is just a copy and paste exercise from the previous report,” Ms Dow said.

“There is not enough progress in outcomes to justify a very expensive position to oversee this process.

“The Government needs to explain how it can justify this spending at a time when it’s cutting $450 million from essential services and frontline workers.

“This is yet another smokescreen from a government that is more focused on headlines than outcomes.”

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