Govt taskforce 'with teeth' to review business red tape

Lianne Dalziel

The Government is ready to work with businesses to cut red tape, but changes to its policies look unlikely in a wide-ranging review of regulations.

In a move which counters one of the National Party's key criticisms of the Government, Commerce Minister Lianne Dalziel yesterday announced the formation of a taskforce to tackle compliance costs facing businesses.

She said the review would work to a tight timetable, address concerns put forward by businesses, and have the ability to quickly fix problems it found.

"This is a taskforce that has real teeth and will get things done. I will be looking for early results - I want runs on the board."

Ms Dalziel's desire for quick results probably stems from anticipated criticism of the review, which the National Party last night labelled as nothing to celebrate.

"Whoopdy-do, another review," National's economic development spokeswoman, Katherine Rich, said.

"The past six years have been littered with Labour reviews, strategy papers and 'blueprints'."

But business leaders - particularly those in the first four industries to be addressed by the review - backed the Government's move.

John Albertson, chief executive of the New Zealand Retailers' Association, said retailers operated under about 40 different acts of Parliament.

"There is obviously considerable scope to improve the understanding of what is required and how to achieve this in the most cost-effective way.

"We believe that by working with Government and appropriate Government agencies, we can make a difference."

The taskforce will be led by the Ministry of Economic Development and include officials from the Treasury, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Department of Labour, Accident Compensation Corporation and several other Government departments.

The review, trumpeted as part of the Government's "economic transformation" platform, will evaluate whether regulations across all sectors and departments work well together.

It could, for example, address the various laws that apply to businesses over holiday periods such as Easter with a view to streamlining them.

Ms Dalziel said her "door is open" to industries wanting to take part.

"Bring your concerns to the table, bring some of the solutions that you're thinking about, and let's see if we can resolve it."

The retail, hospitality, food and beverage and wine industries will be the first four specifically looked at.

Asked what the Government would do if business concerns centred primarily on the Resource Management Act or Employment Relations Act, Ms Dalziel appeared to dampen expectations of policy changes.

She said the Government was elected with its policies.

"What this is doing is it's not questioning the actual policy itself, it's looking at whether we've got the structure or the frameworks right."

Wellington Chamber of Commerce chief executive Charles Finny welcomed the review.

"There is a real issue here and I'm pleased to see the Government taking the issue seriously.

"I'm contacted very regularly with problems in this area and we'll be able to present the minister with a list pretty quickly."

Council of Trade Unions president Ross Wilson said the review was very wide-ranging.

He hoped employers and Government agencies "don't become diverted from the main challenge, which is actually that investment approach to building a higher-skill, higher-value economy which is only marginally affected by the regulatory framework".

The taskforce is scheduled to make its first report to the Cabinet by the end of October and its final report is due in July next year.


RULES AND REGS

Common complaints from business include:

* Audits and inspections from multiple government agencies instead of just one

* Councils interpreting the Resource Management Act in different ways

* Inflexible labour laws

* Poor information on rules and regulations

- Additional reporting by Ruth Berry