Call for reform to cut red tape

The National Electrical and Communications Association (NECA) is calling for policy and regulatory reforms to cut the increasing amount of government red tape that is costing electrical and communications contractors both time and money.

NECA made the call following the publication of a survey by the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) that showed the burden of complying with regulation is rising and costing a large number of small businesses up to five hours a week and $10,000 a year.

NECA’s Chief Executive Officer James Tinslay said, “What this survey shows is that NECA members - many of whom are small businesses - are being slowly strangled by the growing amount of bureaucratic red tape they have to struggle through to keep their businesses going.

“A lot of this red tape is not essential and the cost and time taken up in dealing with it is restricting the growth of our members and disencouraging them from investing in their business and jobs. Action needs to be taken now to tackle the impact of regulation with the administrative burden reduced to that which is strictly necessary.”

A good example of the sort of unnecessary red tape that is burdening NECA’s members can be seen by the recently introduced requirement for businesses in the building and construction industry to report to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) annually on payments made to other contractors in the industry.

“Electrical contractors already have massive reporting requirements for taxation and electrical safety purposes without this new process,” said Tinslay.

“Essentially, what our members are now doing is carrying out the ATO’s work for them. The government should instead be focused on cutting red tape to assist business owners increase productivity and not on introducing initiatives that will force many electrical contractors to spend more time on reporting.”

The ACCI National Red Tape Survey was conducted by ACCI members - including NECA - in August and September and secured responses from 870 businesses with findings related to federal, state/territory and local regulations.

The survey follows a meeting of the COAG Business Advisory Forum earlier this year where it was agreed that government and business needed to do more to combat productivity-sapping red tape.

Among the key findings of the survey were: almost half of all businesses (44%) spend up to five hours a week complying with government regulatory requirements; over 70% say that the amount of time they are spending on red tape has increased in the last two years; 60% say red tape has a moderate to major impact on their business; and just over 54% say that complying with government regulations has prevented them making changes to grow or expand their business.

The survey shows that most regulated aspects of business are: workplace health and safety, employment conditions and the hiring of workers.

The feedback from the majority of the companies surveyed was that much of the bureaucratic burden could be lifted by better communications and consultation.

Sixty five per cent said that the burden would be reduced if communications about how to comply with regulations was improved and 61% believe more consultation with business in developing regulations would help.