The Business Council of Australia has lodged a submission with the Productivity Commission Inquirty into Tasmanian Shipping and Freight.

The submission outlines how Australia’s new coastal trading licensing regime is raising the cost of doing business in Australia though unnecessary red tape and restrictions on competition.

The submission recommends that:

• in the immediate term, the Commonwealth Government should take action to reduce administrative costs associated with the new coastal shipping licensing regime
• the Commonwealth Government should begin to prepare a substantive legislative reform program to deregulate coastal shipping in 2014 and lift the global competitiveness of the sector.

The submission says that while this is an inquiry about shipping to Tasmania, concerns about the global competitiveness of coastal shipping on all national shipping routes justify a thorough economic assessment of Australia’s coastal shipping laws.

Submission to the Productivity Commission Inquiry into Tasmanian Shipping and Freight