VCEC –Enquiry into Victoria’s Regulatory Framework
In October 2010 the CMPA made a submission to the VCEC on the need for major changes to Victoria’s regulatory framework. BRUCE MCCLURE, CMPA’s General Manager reports.
IN July 2010 the Victorian Treasurer directed the Victorian and Efficiency Commission (VCEC) to inquire into Victoria’s regulatory framework. The purpose of this enquiry as stated by the State Government is “to improve regulation in Victoria by identifying areas where the cost of regulation should be reduced as a matt er of priority and ways of improving the institutional framework that drives ongoing regulatory reform”.
The CMPA has made a submission to VCEC and highlighted a number of real concerns that Members had concerning government regulation.
Over many years the CMPA has provided comments, analysis and submissions to various regulators in response to proposals for new or expanded controls. Most have gone unheeded. The effort and cost of this work by the Association therefore is questionable when taken in a direct sense.
However, the relentless imposition of costs by regulators demands that the Association maintain the interest. The Association’s Members will not go down without a fight!
The plea by the Association is for balanced regulation. Balance in the quest of increasing social and environmental needs with the need of industry to be able to confidently risk its capital and ingenuity in the pursuit of profit-making ventures in a fiercely competitive environment.
The Inquiry’s Terms of Reference are very broad. There is an element of desperation in their scope that seems to call for new ideas or slogans or gimmicks to address regulatory creep and to make the State more competitive. The CMPA believes there are no new solutions. It has all been said before.
The Government has regulatory gatekeeping arrangements in place although they must be improved. Regulatory balance is the key and is the answer. This is not rocket science but demands grit and determination in the face of newly created regulatory demands from eminent, articulate and oft en convincing people, generally funded from the public’s purse.
It is too easy for Governments to go with the populist tide of emotive and plausible arguments presented by these good-willed people. Government must be about facing off these challenges in the knowledge that balanced regulation will provide long term sustainability for all the State’s communities.
This submission responded to the Inquiry’s Terms of Reference by referencing data provided in the Association’s earlier comprehensive report, An Unsustainable Future – The Prohibitive Costs of Securing Access to Construction Material Resources in Victoria, which showed in considerable detail the costs of entry into the industry.
The submission also gave an update on the ten case studies used in that report and provided an analysis of the impact of the spiraling levels of rehabilitation bonds on the industry. These levels have been the cause of collapse of some extractive operations already and the cessation of several major new extractive developments – both of which have economic and regional impacts.
In the CMPA submission a total of 39 essential points were made under the four sections shown below.
- Regulation that is necessarily burdensome, complex, redundant or duplicative.
- Regulation that should be reformed/reduced as a priority
- Improving institutionalised frameworks
- Framework for achieving the largest net reduction in red tape
The CMPA will review the draft report outlining recommendations for consultative purposes once it becomes available. Only time will tell if the inquiry leads to realistic and beneficial changes in VICTORIA’S regulatory framework.
If you would like to read a copy of the CMPA’s VCEC submission, it can downloaded from the Members only area of the CMPA website www.cmpavic.asn.au
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