| :: Policy Update A key objective for Communications Alliance is to provide input into Government policy and debate and to act as an advocate for its members on industry issues. In the past few months Communications Alliance has made a number of submissions to various government agencies and one area of concentration has been to look at red tape and regulatory burden. Over the last two years the Productivity Commission (PC), the principal review and advisory body on microeconomic policy and regulation of the Australian Government, has been looking at ways to reduce regulatory burden to business in general. Communications Alliance has made submissions to all studies carried out by the PC which highlight specific areas of regulatory burden and concern for the communications industry. In October 2005, the Government formed a taskforce (www.regulationtaskforce.gov.au ) whose job was to “examine and report on areas where regulatory reform can provide significant immediate gains to business.” The report that accompanied this study recommended a review of the need for regulation of connections to specified services, in the context of wider development of the market for the service, and a review to consider opportunities for lessening compliance costs by modifying the reporting requirements under section 105 of the Telecommunications Act 1997. A review of the interaction of the Privacy Act with other Australian Government legislation including the Telecommunications Act 1997 and the Spam Act was also recommended. As a comprehensive review of telecommunications regulations scheduled for 2008 further industry specific reviews were placed on hold until that time 1. The next steps in the reduction of regulatory burden came in September 2006 when the PC began its work on Performance Benchmarking of Australian Business Regulation Other recent submissions on policy matters include:
Communications Alliance sees its role in policy matters as an area in which we can add value by presenting a united industry view. As part of our ongoing work in this area, we plan to offer members the opportunity to contribute to submissions by creating a ‘members only’ discussion forum on our website. In addition to this, completed submissions will be made available in the public area of our website. We value your participation in policy matters and welcome input from industry to ensure that we present the best case possible when making submissions. If this aspect of our work interests you but you are not a member of Communications Alliance, please contact at info@commsalliance.com.au us to learn more about getting involved. Deborah O'Connor 1 See “Rethinking Regulations: Report of the Taskforce on Reducing Regulatory Burdens on Business, January 2006: recommendations 4.45, 4.46 and 4.48. |
