Election promises come to nothing as

mighty big promises were made by the Liberal Government to reduce red tape.

It will therefore come as quite a shock and surprise that there has been a complete failure to deliver on this promise. Or is that faux shock and fake surprise — because despite the promises and big talk, little was done to establish a program that could actually reduce red tape.

The Liberal election promise, made in black and white and repeated ad nauseam, was to reduce Tasmanian red tape by 20 per

Madeleine Ogilvie

cent — a laudable goal and something all Tasmanians want, particularly small business, professional services and tradies.

Red tape adds cost and delay to doing business. Red tape reduces profit and makes it harder to turn a dollar.

Indeed, a 20 per cent reduction in red tape would arguably put real extra dollars into pockets for spending.

So it was quite a surprise to learn how poorly implemented this policy has been, despite the establishment of a wellfunded Regulation Reduction Co-ordinator.

The Liberal policy promised that the Regulation Reduction Co-ordinator would oversee the “drafting of legislation to require an annual audit of red and green tape in Tasmania and ensure that all new legislation be accompanied by a Regulation Impact Statement to ensure that the amount of regulation is minimised”.

The promised red tape audit seems to have gone missing in action and no legislation has materialised.

The Liberals who cast themselves as the friends of business have failed to deliver any reduction.

This non-delivery has been so profound it appears no measures to track the change in red tape were implemented.

Has it gone up, or down? No one knows. What was the amount of red tape when the Liberals took government?

We have never been shown a figure.

Clearly we can’t prove red tape has increased or decreased without establishing some measures. It’s just a basic fact of productivity improvement.

Was it a strategic decision not to establish measures for red tape?

Perhaps the Liberal Government, knowing it could not meet the election promise with any measurable outcome, dodged its own bullet.

Alternatively, perhaps it was a well-meaning and genuine promise, made with good intent at the time, but which proved impossible to deliver in office.

Much was made of a fresh approach to planning law reform as the wellspring from which the 20 per cent red tape reduction would be sourced.

Unfortunately things seem to have been made worse.

I’ve turned my mind to this question, to see if I could come up with a position, supported by hard data, as to whether red tape had been reduced since the Liberals took office.