The Business Council of Australia today welcomed the Opposition’s plan to reduce red tape and said a sustained focus on improving the quality of regulation is essential if Australia is to remain competitive and lift living standards.
Business Council Chief Executive Bran Black said Australia’s productivity challenge is being felt across the economy, with recent AICD research showing Australian organisations now spend $160 billion a year to comply with federal regulation, more than double the cost a decade ago.
This adds to costs for businesses and consumers alike.
“Too often, regulation that starts with a good intent ends up as unnecessary duplication, slow approvals, and compliance tasks that don’t improve outcomes for the community,” Mr Black said.
The Business Council, together with an Alliance of more than 30 industry associations, has been calling on all governments to commit to reducing regulatory costs by 25 per cent by 2030, alongside a comprehensive regulatory stocktake.
A global push for better regulation and cutting red tape is underway, with the United Kingdom targeting a 25 per cent reduction in business compliance costs by 2029 and the European Union committing to cuts of 25 per cent economy-wide and 35 per cent for small and medium-sized businesses.
“The simple fact is that what gets measured gets done. Many of Australia’s trading partners and major economies are setting measurable targets to help modernise regulatory systems built up over decades,” Mr Black said.
“If Australia wants to stay competitive, attract investment and grow real wages, we need to do the same.”
Mr Black said the Opposition’s plan contains several practical elements the BCA has argued for, including setting a red tape reduction target, greater transparency for proposed new regulation, and a stocktake of the existing regulatory burden.
“A stocktake is essential. The first comprehensive stocktake since 2014, as proposed, would help ensure today’s rules reflect today’s economy — not yesterday’s processes,” he said.
Mr Black acknowledged steps already taken by the Government, including tasking regulators to take a more proportionate, outcomes-focused approach and reduce unnecessary compliance, and said building on this work is important.
“The Business Council has consistently called for stronger regulatory discipline, better measurement of the regulatory burden and regular stocktakes to ensure today’s rules reflect today’s economy,” he said.
Mr Black said the Business Council will continue to engage constructively with all sides of politics on reforms that lift productivity, support investment and help grow real wages.
The BCA’s Better Regulation Report, released in August 2025, sets out practical, achievable reforms to cut unnecessary regulatory costs across the economy to help lift productivity. It shows that even a one per cent reduction in red tape can unlock more than an additional $1 billion a year for Australia.