COAG decision blow to the industry, says NOLA chair

Four years after agreeing to develop a national licensing system, the Council of Australian Government recently decided to abandon the reform. Most states identified a number of concerns with the model and a decision was made to investigate other approaches that would increase labour mobility and deliver net benefits for businesses and governments.

Industry associations, such as NECA and MEA, supported the COAG’s decision to scrap the scheme proposal, saying the proposed model would have increased safety concerns.

“The COAG decision to not pursue national licensing is not only disappointing but a blow to industry and the economy. A mature and developed economy like Australia can no longer afford a myriad of licensing systems across all states and territories and yet the decision was taken to pursue some form of automatic mutual recognition (AMR) ahead of national licensing,” said Elizabeth Crouch, chair, National Occupational Licensing Board in the NOLS update issued 19 February.

With this decision, the $200 million in deregulation savings that would have flowed under national licensing have been foregone, she adds.

“In less than 18 months, NOLA had made significant progress towards the establishment of a national licensing system. Detailed policy work had been completed, providing solutions to many of the complex issues surrounding occupational licensing. Sound governance structures including a range of consultative committees had been formed, allowing industry and other stakeholders to fully engage in the development of the national licensing model.

“NOLA had worked with the industry to resolve many of the concerns evident in the Decision RIS and proposed alternatives to the Standing Council on Federal Financial Relations. These alternatives reflected industry consensus on outstanding issues.

“Importantly, the National Licensing Register, which was to provide easy access for consumers and regulators to details of licensees, was at testing stage. This register would have included a state-of-the-art, Google-like search function. In a recent independent review of the work on the register, KPMG found that the project was well managed, comprehensively documented and would have comfortably met the go-live date.”