The Productivity Commission has commenced a benchmarking study into the role of local government as a regulator, at the request of the Australian Government and with the agreement of COAG's Business Regulation and Competition Working Group.

 

The Productivity Commission will benchmark the extent to which particular approaches to the exercise of regulatory responsibilities by local government authorities affects costs incurred by business and specifically to:

  • identify the scope of local government regulatory responsibilities in each state and territory
  • clarify the extent to which the local government role includes implementing policies of national and state/territory governments
  • assess whether different responsibilities and the approach taken to their exercise has a material impact on business costs
  • identify best practices which have the capacity to reduce unnecessary regulatory costs for business.

The study will develop indicators to benchmark the performance of jurisdictions and facilitate regulatory improvements, and will draw on leading practice approaches both across Australia and overseas.

 

An issues paper will be released in early September, and initial submissions are due by the end of October.

 

The draft report will be released at the end of February 2012 for final report to the government in July.

 

More information is at www.pc.gov.au.