The Seamless Economy Regulatory Project - Overview

On 15 May 2008, Brendan Nelson made his one and only Address in Reply to the Budget as Opposition leader.

One issued raised was the condition of the Australian federation.

He said:

It is very important for every one of us to ask ourselves in this the 21st century: how can we make the Federation work more effectively for our country in the interest of Australians? It will require all of us, in a mature and sober way, to examine the constitutional arrangements and responsibilities of the three tiers of government—who is responsible for what, how the money is raised and then how it is distributed.

However, those who are interested in the debate will have to hurry, or it will be too late - Australia will effectively be a unitary state.

Writing in The Australian on 10 June 2008, the federal Minister for Finance and Deregulation Lindsay Tanner said:

Across Australia there is recognition that our federation is a mess. We have this system because of how we started: a collection of separate entities, joined together to form a federation. In the intervening period, technological change and an increasingly global economy have transformed Australia in ways our colonial forebears could not have imagined.

He went on to say:

I no longer think that abolition of the states is the most practical or desirable reform option. But I do want to create a much clearer delineation of the roles and responsibilities of the different levels of government.

This is the prevailing view amongst Australian public policy makers.

In March 2008, the Council of Australian Government (COAG)

identified 27 areas where there was need for regulatory reform.

It called for the Commonwealth to take responsibility for non-bank lending institutions.

Other areas where harmonisation was considered desirable include occupational health and safety, environmental assessment and approvals, payroll tax, electronic conveyancing, licensing of tradespeople, registration of health professionals, rail safety, consumer law, a national construction code to ensure consistency in on-site building and plumbing regulation, maritime safety regulation and wine labelling –areas largely the responsibility of states and territories.

Progress in implementing the Seamless Economy agenda is tracked by COAG’s Business Regulation and Competition Workgroup.

The Commonwealth now has an additional weapon to drive the process, as will be discussed in the next article.