April
Alcoa vows to ‘listen better’ as it closes in on Alumina
Alcoa boss Bill Oplinger says permitting delays in Western Australia showed the US company needed to listen better, as he prepares to spend $4.6 billion buying more Australian assets.
- Peter Ker
March
Rinehart boss blasts Labor’s ‘nature-positive’ agenda
Gina Rinehart’s business empire has hit out over what it argues are flawed plans to rewrite national environmental laws.
- Brad Thompson
Chalmers pushes planning scheme amid torrent of new banking rules
The treasurer said the so-called regulatory grid would force regulators to consider the burden of changes on lenders, especially smaller and regional groups.
- James Eyers
- Opinion
- Business Summit
Labor is modernising the economy
The Albanese government will make our economy more productive by easing compliance costs on business where we can, we will abolish hundreds of nuisance tariffs.
- Jim Chalmers
Forrests lash Europe’s labour law climbdown
Germany and Italy kiboshed an EU law that would compel firms to weed out forced labour in their supply chains. The Forrests fear a ripple effect in Australia.
- Hans van Leeuwen
September 2023
Mental health compo drives $2.5bn hit to NSW Budget
Rising costs and liabilities in the government’s insurance schemes will lengthen the odds of a surplus in coming years.
- Samantha Hutchinson
The UK answer to the banks’ regulation strangulation problem
Peter King and Anna Bligh met Jim Chalmers to call for a high-level planning scheme to force legislators and regulators to sequence compliance demands.
- James Eyers
August 2023
Slash red tape, boost migration to beat growth slump: CEOs
Business leaders say the government has the levers to lift productivity and economic growth, which the government expects to slump to a post-World War II low.
- Michael Read
June 2023
Banks urge Canberra to copy UK playbook on easing red tape
UK regulators have to sit round a table twice a year and ensure their rule-making isn’t overloading the sector. The Albanese government has been asked to import the idea.
- Hans van Leeuwen
February 2023
- Opinion
- Immigration
Migration is Australia’s ‘special sauce’. But the system is broken
Our large, unstrategic, uncapped temporary program has become the centrepiece of our migration system – and its biggest source of problems.
- Clare O'Neil
- Opinion
- Letters to the Editor
Letters: Hostility to mining, or to coal?
All mining isn’t coal mining; fossil fuel ban; uninterrupted power supply; population as a growth strategy; wrong anti-inflation levers; red tape; digital health records; Commonwealth Bank.
October 2022
British PM sets out a classic Thatcherite playbook
The embattled Liz Truss didn’t reveal any policies, but forcefully laid out her values: cut red tape, put tax money back in people’s pockets, shrink the state.
- Hans van Leeuwen
July 2022
Budget cuts needed after $1b blowout in business registry revealed
Labor will need to make additional budget cuts after uncovering a $1 billion blowout in the Coalition’s signature program to consolidate business registries.
- Michael Read
May 2022
- Exclusive
- University
Universities drowning in a sea of red tape
Universities have faced an onslaught of new red tape and regulation which is costing over $500 million a year.
- Julie Hare
March 2022
Red tape slashed in PAYG budget overhaul
Small business will get a $1.85 billion cash flow boost in the budget with the Coalition set to overhaul pay as you go tax instalments and reveal major IT spending.
- Ronald Mizen
- Exclusive
- Cybersecurity
Directors and industry at risk from ‘knee-jerk’ tech policies
Australia’s peak technology industry body has called for a new council to co-ordinate new regulations, warning the government is tying up companies in red tape.
- Paul Smith
JobPass scheme to unlock interstate work for up to 168,000 people
The new program will see some interstate professional qualifications recognised around the country without delays or lengthy paperwork.
- Tom McIlroy
Unfinished business: Hayne’s call for simpler corporate laws
Submissions to the Australian Law Reform Commission’s interim report on corporate law reform show just how much work lies ahead for Canberra to implement Hayne.
- James Eyers
February 2022
Red tape is not the answer to every problem, says PM’s right-hand man
Ben Morton says bureaucrats need to avoid being hard-nosed administrators and consider how regulations affect business activity.
- Ronald Mizen
December 2021
Treasurers sign deal to cut business a break
Ben Morton, a close ally of Prime Minister Scott Morrison, said the deal was more progress than COAG could make in a decade
- Tom McIlroy
