Red tape burden to be reduced: Buswell

The state government has announced a raft of measures to reduce the burden of excessive red tape on businesses and consumers and to bar the way to unnecessary government regulation in the future.

Treasurer and Commerce Minister Troy Buswell said today that WA ranked poorest in the nation for its regulation-making practices and the new Government was acting resolutely to correct the state's performance.

The new measures include the establishment of the "Red Tape Reduction Group" to consult with the community and a system for Ministers to refer specific regulation for targeted review by the Department of Treasury and Finance.

The government will also introduce a best practice system of screening new and amending regulation overseen by a regulatory gate-keeping unit within DTF.

"It's time to take action to minimise the regulatory compliance costs on business and the community to ensure our economy is running as smoothly as possible," Mr Buswell said.

"These measures will complement reforms being implemented by the State Government and nationally through the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) process to develop a seamless Australian economy."

The Red Tape Reduction Group, led by Ken Baston MLC and Liza Harvey MLA, would focus on WA's existing stock of regulation.

The group would travel throughout WA during the year, consulting with business, local government and community groups before lodging a report with the Treasurer and the Economic and Expenditure Reform Committee in about nine months.

"Ken and Liza both have strong backgrounds in business and they understand the frustrations and costs that excessive red tape can cause," Mr Buswell said.

Meanwhile, the regulatory gate-keeping unit would ensure that any impact and costs associated with regulatory proposals in the future was justified and kept to the very minimum required.

The new measures address complaints raised in a number of reports on regulation and red tape from concerned bodies, including the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of WA and the Business Council of Australia, which ranked WA's regulation making practices as the worst in Australia.