Regulation Review - IPART - NSW Government

4 Estimating the impacts of recommended reforms
Recent surveys of Australian business on regulation and its costs
Australian Industry Group National CEO Survey: Business Regulation (2011)
Around 320 CEOs were surveyed regarding their experience with business regulatory
regimes across Australia. The survey found that the average business spends close to
4% of total annual expenditures on complying with regulation. It also found that larger
(100 employees or more) businesses spend relatively more time on compliance related
activities (27.2 hours per week) compared to medium (16.8 hours) or small businesses
(7.3 hours).
NSW Business Chamber Red Tape Survey (2011)
Most of the 581 businesses surveyed were small to medium size (less than 50
employees). The survey found that around 39% of these businesses spend more than 5
hours per week on compliance activities.
Productivity Commission National Survey of Business Perceptions (local
government) (2012)
The PC engaged Sensis to conduct a survey of 1,913 small and medium sized
businesses across Australia. It found that 60% of these businesses had regulatory
dealings with local government over the last 3 years. 83% of businesses said they were
treated fairly in their regulatory dealings with local government, but 43% claim that the
time and effort required to comply with regulations is excessive. More than one-third
believe there is significant duplication with state government regulation.
Victorian Competition and Efficiency Commission (VCEC) Business Perception
Survey about Local Government Regulation (2010)
Roy Morgan Research undertook a survey of 1,917 Victorian businesses on behalf of
the VCEC. Of these businesses, just one-third had regulatory dealings with the local
government in the last 3 years. Most interaction was in planning and land use, and
building and construction regulations. 68% of Victorian businesses felt they were
treated fairly in terms of regulation, but 30% stated there was too much duplication
between state and local regulation.
Sources: Australian Industry Group, National CEO Survey: Business Regulation, 2011. NSW Business
Chamber, Red Tape Survey, September 2011. Productivity Commission, Performance Benchmarking of
Australian Business Regulation: The Role of Local Government as Regulator, July 2012, Vol 1, p 228-238.
VCEC, Local government for a better Victoria: An inquiry into streamlining local government regulation, August
2010, pp 40 – 46.
4.2.2 Considering indirect impacts of regulatory reform
The section above discussed how we would seek to estimate direct cost savings
from regulatory reform – ie, those cost savings that can be counted towards the
NSW Government’s red tape reduction target of $750 million by June 2015.
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