Reducing Red Tape

Red tape is recognised globally as a barrier to economic growth.

Outdated and onerous rules and regulations hamper business success, limit jobs creation and deter investment.

It's why reducing red tape has been given priority status by the South Australian Government.

The program is succeeding on two major fronts:

• Initiatives currently in place are expected to cut the bureaucratic burden on business and the community by more than $300 million every year by 2012
• At the same time the State Government has released a Better Regulation Handbook to discourage a build up of red tape in the future and to develop more effective regulation

All government agencies are required to follow steps outlined in the handbook to achieve best practice when developing new regulations.

This is in line with an agreement by the Council of Australian Governments which is coordinating national regulatory reform across the nation.

expanding the program

South Australia has adopted a broad definition of red tape.

It's a progressive and far reaching approach to remove any non-essential government processes that create unnecessary time and cost constraints.

Initially focused on easing the impact on business, the program has been extended to include:

• not-for-profit organisations
• employment-related requirements for individuals
• local government and its interface with business and the not-for-profit sector