The Deregulation Taskforce, charged with revitalising Australia’s regulatory reform and deregulation agenda, is to be moved out of Treasury and into the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C).
In a statement, PM&C said the priority area for the taskforce would be to assist the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
It said this would involve modernising business communication and improving occupational mobility.
Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service and Cabinet, Ben Morton said Commonwealth and State laws had not kept pace with the way Australians engaged with digital communications.
“They add compliance costs, for example, by mandating that businesses use certain methods of communicating or storing information — preventing them from using electronic delivery or adopting new technologies such as blockchain applications,” Mr Morton said.
He said the Electronic Transactions Act 1999 (ETA) had removed impediments to using electronic communications to satisfy legal obligations.
“Yet, in the 20 years since its introduction, digital communication has proliferated while the number of exemptions, currently 147, has hardly changed,” Mr Morton said.
“State and Territory jurisdictions have similar ETAs, also with numerous exemptions.
“The taskforce will also examine other legislation which can be made technology neutral.”
He said it would work with business and consumers to identify and address issues, and with State and Territory Governments to explore complementary reforms.
Mr Morton said the work of the Deregulation Taskforce continued the Government’s commitment to reduce red tape to make it easier for businesses to invest and create jobs.
