{"id":42052,"date":"2023-10-20T15:18:23","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:18:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/productivity-commission-report-tells-regulators-to-lay-off-small-business-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:18:23","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:18:23","slug":"productivity-commission-report-tells-regulators-to-lay-off-small-business-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/productivity-commission-report-tells-regulators-to-lay-off-small-business-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Productivity Commission report tells regulators to lay off small business &#8211; StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"td-post-featured-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"445\" height=\"352\" itemprop=\"image\" class=\"entry-thumb\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/l_paperwork-bureaucracy-forms-445.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"l_paperwork-bureaucracy-forms-445\"><\/div>\n<p>Small businesses feel the consequences of regulation more than any other type of business, and changes should be made to the entire regulatory system so SMEs aren\u2019t needlessly hindered by red tape, a Productivity Commission report has warned.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The commission has released the final version of its small business regulation report, with similar findings suggesting a wide range of changes. Small Business Minister Bruce Billson has responded to the report, saying the government will consider several of the recommended changes.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe commission\u2019s report suggests that there are opportunities for regulators across Australia to improve the regulatory experience for small business,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf implemented properly, improved engagement strategies have the potential to result in a win-win situation for small businesses and regulators.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The preliminary report was already released earlier this year, but the findings are still the same. Specifically, that small businesses are being burdened by over-regulation, and that while necessary, more localised government agencies need to tone it down.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>For instance, the report recommends regulators should more accurately target businesses that are more likely to present a higher risk to the community, removing unnecessary burdens from lower-risk businesses.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This would mean fewer inspections or less onerous reporting requirements, it said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen done well, such targeting is likely to achieve outcome at a lower cost than an engagement approach based on strict application of a small business definition.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Other recommendations include:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>An assurance of low-cost mediation for resolution of disputes with local governments.<\/li>\n<li>More formal cooperation between regulators to lessen the burden on small businesses for reporting.<\/li>\n<li>More reporting on behalf of the regulators to ensure they\u2019re being as effective as possible.<\/li>\n<li>Giving regulators more resources to ensure risks don\u2019t go unmitigated, but also a list of priorities to ensure those same regulators are targeting the right businesses.<\/li>\n<li><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Given over 95% of Australia\u2019s businesses are \u201csmall\u201d, the report argues, regulatory impacts can be greater for these companies than others.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor some small businesses, compliance necessitates the diversion of a substantial proportion of productive business time and modifications to their production or service delivery processes in ways that are uncertain to deliver improvements in regulatory outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Presiding commissioner Warren Mundy said in the report that by exercising discretion and \u201cchoosing judiciously how regulation should be implemented\u201d, they can reduce costs for businesses \u2013 \u201ca win-win for business and the community\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>This story first appeared on SmartCompany.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Small businesses feel the consequences of regulation more than any other type of business, and changes should be made to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60548,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42052"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}