The Liberal Government is taking further action to cut red and Green tape, following agreement at COAG on Friday.
As part of the agreement, we will undertake end-to-end regulatory mapping of our agricultural sector, with a view to taking regulatory changes to COAG later this year.
The review will map Australian, state and local government regulation in the agriculture sector and identify any overlaps or duplicates that could be removed to create a simpler, fairer system.
Agriculture is one of Tasmania’s competitive strengths, but it is also a sector which is increasingly tied up in red and particularly Green tape, and this review will enable a detailed understanding of the unnecessary regulation that exists in the sector, and whose job it is to eliminate it.
Similarly, the Liberal Government has agreed we will report to COAG by the end of the year with options to improve the model Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) laws, which have been in place in Tasmania since the start of last year.
I want to stress that we won’t do anything to compromise worker health and safety, but there is absolutely no doubt that the 1,000 pages-plus of WHS laws brought in by the former Labor-Green are complicated and little understood, and taking a close look at their operation is both necessary and appropriate.
Further details of the review process for both agriculture and WHS laws will be announced in coming weeks.
These actions, along with our advertising for a Regulation Reduction Co-Ordinator, and appointment of an Executive Chair to our Planning Reform Taskforce, are all part of our election commitment to reduce red and Green tape by 20 percent.
Adam Brooks, Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business and Trade
