The Office of the Queensland Business Commissioner is working to improve government regulation and reduce red tape for business to achieve a cost saving of $150 million per year by the end of 2012-13.

The Office has an active role to lead the state's Smart Regulation Reform Agenda, reviewing and improving existing government regulation. Included in this is the responsibility for the Queensland Government Regulatory Simplification Plan, which aims to reduce unnecessary legislation and regulation and streamline Government processes.

Below is a snapshot of initiatives being (or that have been) implemented by government to reduce red tape and regulatory burden for the Queensland business community.

We would like your feedback on the regulatory simplification initiatives of the Office of the Queensland Business Commissioner, and of the Government. Give us your thoughts on these initiatives or suggest new initiatives using the feedback form at the bottom of this page.

Additionally, you can learn more about each department's plan to simplify regulations and have your say on open consultations on the Consult Qld website.

Alarm Management
(Department of Community Safety)
In 2010, the Queensland Fire and Rescue Service implemented an alarm management solution project which replaces the previous services and aims to enhance building fire safety, reduce unwanted alarms and maintain a cost effective outcome for building owners/occupiers. Key benefits of this reform include:

• financial savings for alarm customers through bulk purchasing initiatives and implementation of one fee per annum
• simplified charging processes
• a one stop shop for alarm-related queries to save time for customers.

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Architects Act 2002
(Department of Public Works)
Amendments to the Architects Act in 2010 simplified the registration arrangements for architects. Public protections will be maintained by ensuring architectural services are provided in a professional and competent way.
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Australian business names
(Department of Employment Economic Development and Innovation)
This reform will allow businesses operating across multiple states and territories to only have to register their business once nationally, online - saving time and money. Individuals searching the business names register will benefit from a more efficient national online system. This reform will establish a single law/single regulator framework and national online system for business names registration which replaces the existing state and territory business names registration schemes.
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Australian consumer law
(Department of Employment Economic Development and Innovation)
This new framework commenced in January 2011 to improve consumer law enforcement powers, reduce compliance costs for business and increase access by businesses to information regarding dispute resolution and consumer issues. This reform developed a single law/multiple regulator model for Australian generic consumer law, including product safety.
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Australian uniform cooperative laws agreement and proposed cooperatives national law
(Department of Employment Economic Development and Innovation)
Nationally consistent legislation under this new agreement will reduce the regulatory burden on Queensland cooperatives wishing to operate interstate. Cooperatives wishing to operate in multiple jurisdictions no longer need to comply with duplicate and inconsistent state and territory specific regulations.
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Blueprint for the Bush-OnePlan Project
(Department of Environment and Resource Management)
This initiative was implemented in 2011 to simplify regulatory processes for rural landholders by providing alternative pathways for landholders to meet their regulatory requirements. It is anticipated that the OnePlan project will reduce the regulatory burden for applicable landholders, provide savings in reduced assessment times and decrease the number of individual or separate approvals required for low risk activities.
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Building and Development Dispute Resolution Committee
(Department of Local Government and Planning)
Enhancing the role of this Committee will make appeals more accessible and affordable for applicants who would previously have had to access the Planning and Environment Court directly and for those who could not afford to institute appeals.
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Common Service Agreement
(Department of Communities)
The Department of Communities has developed a single package of service agreements which standardise terms and conditions for a range of services for non-government organisations (NGOs), tertiary institutions and service providers. NGOs funded under more than one program managed by the Department will no longer need to enter into two or more different service agreements.
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Community Safety Operations ICT Project
(Department of Community Safety)
This project will deliver more efficient and consistent service for businesses and the community by enabling businesses and the community to provide electronic copies of building fire safety plans for assessment.
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Compulsory Third Party (CTP) insurance reform
(Queensland Treasury)
In 2010, the Compulsory Third Party (CTP) insurance reform banned the payment of commissions and other associated inducements on the CTP product to intermediaries, and increased consumer awareness of their ability to exercise choice in their CTP insurer. Broadly, these reforms provided savings of $70 million per year for Queensland motor vehicle owners.
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Consumer credit and finance broking
(Department of Employment Economic Development and Innovation)
This national reform will reduce duplication, red tape and compliance costs on consumers by replacing eight sets of regulation with one national scheme for the regulation of mortgage broking, margin lending, non-deposit lending institutions and the remaining areas of consumer credit. This reform also aims to protect consumers from being offered unsuitable loans, enhance consumers' understanding of credit products and ensure that consumers receive credit services from suitably qualified persons.
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Contract Lifecycle Management System
(Queensland Health)
The Contract Lifecycle Management System project provides a comprehensive contract database across Queensland Health to reduce the cost of tender processes to both businesses and the agency. Benefits to business will be through improved contract performance requirements and management, enabling businesses to plan and better forecast their resource need.
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Co-regulation and third party auditing models
(Department of Environment and Resource Management)
Amendments to the Environment Protection Act 1994 to formalise and extend certain third party auditing and assessment functions will increase certainty and flexibility for business through faster approval times and costs savings.
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Criminal History Screening Legislation Review
(Department of Communities)
This review resulted in administrative efficiencies for applicants, reduced costs for blue card applicants and assisted ease of employee movement between child related and disability roles. Amendments to 14 Acts streamlined arrangements across criminal history screening schemes, reduced duplication and extended the active period of a blue card and a yellow card from two to three years.
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Directors' Liability
(Department of Justice and Attorney-General)
The review of Directors' Liability will develop nationally consistent principles and rationalise the imposition of liability where a director or other corporate officer is held criminally liable for corporate fault.
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Duties by self assessors
(Queensland Treasury)
Simplification of the lodgement requirements for duties by self assessors in 2009 promotes e-payment arrangements for self assessors, which enhances convenience and efficiency. Instead of lodging periodic returns of multiple transactions, self assessors are only required to lodge a separate statement for each transaction within 30 days of the transaction being entered into. This can be done at any time on-line, which enhances convenience and efficiency for self assessors.
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Electronic conveyancing
(Queensland Treasury)
This national scheme will reduce the regulatory burden on business and government by developing a single online system for completing real property transactions and lodging land title dealings. Anticipated benefits include greater transparency, security and certainty and reducing the time taken and costs associated with the buying and selling of property in Australia.
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eForms Project
(Department of Transport and Main Roads)
This initiative will enhance the ability of customers of the Department of Transport and Main Roads to complete form information electronically and submit online. This will help streamline, automate and manage business processes, resulting in increased efficiency and improved customer service.
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eHealth
(Queensland Health)
Program enhancements allow various care providers to have direct and secure access to medical information about a patient at their fingertips, aiding their ability to deliver safe and effective care.
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Electronic Access for Registry Lodgement (EARL)
(Department of Environment and Resource Management)
EARL aims to fundamentally change and improve business practices within government and industry by facilitating electronic access to survey information cycles.
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eProcurement
(Queensland Health)
Implementation of an electronic document exchange system will streamline the process for purchasing items listed in the Queensland Health Corporate Catalogue realising time and cost savings for businesses.
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Environmental assessments
(Department of Local Government and Planning)
Initiatives introduced to streamline the processing of environmental impact assessments and save proponents time and money include the preparation of generic Terms of Reference which reduce the turnaround time for projects by four weeks, review of delegations and approvals authorities for key stages of the impact assessment process, and publication of the environmental impact statement (EIS) business guide to improve certainty for businesses.
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Greentape Reduction
(Department of Environment and Resource Management)
This project will result in annual savings for business and government of $12.5 million per year. The Greentape Reduction project will streamline, integrate and coordinate regulatory requirements under the Environmental Protection Act 1994 without compromising environmental outcomes.
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Harmonised payroll tax
(Queensland Treasury)
It is estimated that this reform will deliver benefits of $1.1 million per annum to Queensland businesses. The project aims to improve consistency between jurisdictions in the administration of payroll tax, simplify requirements and reduce administrative burden and compliance costs.
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Incident Reporting Review
(Department of Justice and Attorney-General)
The purpose of this review is to streamline the administrative arrangements for health and safety incident reporting in Queensland. This initiative will result in a reduction of administrative burden to business as they will be required to report health and safety incidents only once.
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Land and Water Management Plan Review
(Department of Environment and Resource Management)
The Land and Water Management Plan Review provides a move to self- assessable guidelines for irrigated water use and a more streamlined accreditation process for irrigators, including alternative 'recognition-based' assessment and audit processes.
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Legal Profession Regulation
(Department of Justice and Attorney-General)
The objective of this reform is to develop a nationally uniform system of regulation and rules of practice that will reduce the regulatory burden and minimise compliance costs for firms and lawyers. The reform also aims to provide consumers of legal services with more transparent billing and complaints handling procedures.
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Liquor and related licensing
(Office of the Queensland Business Commissioner)
This project aims to identify opportunities to streamline the time taken for businesses to apply for, and receive, liquor and related licenses while maintaining the high standards expected by the community of such business activities.
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Local government legislation
(Department of Local Government and Planning)
To reduce the compliance burden on local governments, a whole-of-government review of over 240 pieces of legislation simplified and rationalised local government legislative requirements. This review aims to reduce the legislative burden on businesses by improving understanding of the law by making local government legislation easier to use, eliminate unnecessary and excessive regulatory requirements and streamline administrative processes.
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Mandatory Code of Practice for Outworkers
(Office of the Queensland Business Commissioner)
The Queensland Business Commissioner is interested in receiving feedback about the operation of Queensland's Mandatory Code of Practice for Outworkers in the Clothing Industry.
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Medici System
(Department of The Premier and Cabinet)
The Medici system is a new database implemented in 2010 for grant applications that will allow applicants to apply for grants for initiatives including new work, exhibitions, productions, industry development and cultural engagement directly online and receive email advice as to the progress of their application.
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Methods for paying Government fees and charges
(Office of the Queensland Business Commissioner)
This project will investigate options for flexible payment methods for fees and other charges to Government that maximise convenience and administrative efficiency for business.
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National Approach to Maritime Safety Regulations
(Department of Transport and Main Roads)
This proposal for a single national system for maritime safety regulation aims to reduce inconsistencies and administrative costs for commercial vessels operating across state and territory borders.
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National Construction Code
(Department of Local Government and Planning)
This reform will create a National Construction Code to cover building, plumbing, gas, electrical and telecommunications technical standards in all states and territories. It will improve consistency between building and plumbing standards and develop a regulatory framework better able to respond to future policy challenges.
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National Electrical Equipment Review (online payment options)
(Department of Justice and Attorney-General)
The introduction of online options for application, lodgement and payment of fees will reduce the administrative costs for business and industry.
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National Heavy Vehicle Regulator
(Department of Transport and Main Roads)
This reform established a National Heavy Vehicle Law and a National Heavy Vehicle Regulator to administer the national laws. This reform will streamline administrative processes, reduce industry regulatory burden and ensure greater regulatory outcomes for the industry.
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National Occupational Health and Safety Framework
(Department of Justice and Attorney-General)
The National Occupational Health and Safety Framework provides nationally consistent legislation which reduces compliance costs, avoids confusion for businesses and provides consistent safety standards and rights for all workers throughout Australia.
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National Occupational Licensing System
(Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation)
The National Occupational Licensing System will remove overlapping and inconsistent regulation between jurisdictions. This will improve business efficiency and competitiveness of the national economy by reducing red tape, improving labour mobility and enhancing productivity.
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National Standard Chart of Accounts
(Department of Communities)
This national system reduces the regulatory burden for Not-for-Profit organisations that work across jurisdictional borders or receive funding from government agencies in more than one jurisdiction by ensuring a consistent approach to reporting.
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National system of trade measurement
(Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation)
This reform implemented nationally-consistent and fair trade measurement practices and standards for all transactions based on measurement.
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On-line Information Strategy
(Department of Justice and Attorney-General)
This initiative to increase utilisation of internet services is expected to be fully implemented in 2014. Clients of the Department of Justice and Attorney-General will experience a more open, accessible, responsive and efficient system of dealing with the department.
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On-line Service Delivery Strategy
(Department of Environment and Resource Management)
The On-line Service Delivery Strategy is providing for greater electronic access to departmental information, forms, guidelines etc so stakeholders can do more of their business with the Department of Environment and Resource Management online.
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OneSchool program
(Department of Education and Training)
When fully implemented, the OneSchool program will deliver one consistent system for recording of student and financial information across every state school with "anywhere, anytime" access to information via a web-based application.
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Personal property securities
(Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation)
This reform, implemented in 2011, harmonised and reduced the complexity of personal property security laws and made it easier and less costly to register a property interest.
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Policelink
(Queensland Police Service)
The Policelink project has established the first non-urgent police call centre providing the community additional choices to contact police to report non-urgent incidents, in particular minor property crime. The Policelink Contact Centre will reduce the call burden at existing police centres and allow frontline police to do their jobs more effectively.
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Policy and Procedure Register project
(Department of Education and Training)
The DET Policy and Procedure Register project will develop a single online resource that provides clarity and consistency around publishing, management and control of policy documentation.
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Property development processes and requirements
(Office of the Queensland Business Commissioner)
This project will examine property development processes and requirements to ensure that business investment is encouraged and Government processes assist in creating business confidence and certainty.
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Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT)
(Department of Justice and Attorney-General)
The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) was established to reduce the number of tribunals in Queensland. QCAT now provides any Queenslander who wishes to exercise their legal rights via a tribunal with a 'one stop shop' that is independent, efficient, expert, accessible and flexible.
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Queensland Fire and Rescue Information Access
(Department of Community Safety)
Completed in July 2010, the Information Access Project investigated and identified ways to streamline processes for relevant stakeholders including insurance companies and solicitors in accessing information from fire investigation reports. This will result in speedier resolution of insurance claims and legal proceedings and increased certainty for businesses regarding fees for information requests.
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Referral of Queensland's private sector industrial relations power to the Commonwealth
(Department of Justice and Attorney-General)
As a result of this initiative, the regulatory burden in regards to industrial relations matters has been reduced for businesses that operate in more than one state. All employers are now regulated by the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cwlth) and as a result have to comply with only one regulatory regime.
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Regulation in regional and remote areas
(Office of the Queensland Business Commissioner)
The Queensland Business Commissioner will be looking at the additional red tape that arises for businesses as a result of operating in regional and remote Queensland.
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Residential Property Conveyancing Project
(Office of the Queensland Business Commissioner)
This project aims to replace a multiplicity of forms with a new single contract for the sale of a home. This will reduce both legal costs and complexity for both homebuyers and sellers. Led by DJAG, with input from the Real Estate Institute of Queensland and the Queensland Law Society, the Queensland Business Commissioner is keen to receive the views of interested businesses.
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Review of the Disaster Management Act
(Department of Community Safety)
This review made recommendations to ensure that the Government is able to deliver better outcomes in the areas of speed, efficiency and the effectiveness of responses to communities impacted by disaster events.
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Review of smoke alarm provisions of Fire and Rescue Service Act 1990
(Department of Community Safety)
The primary purpose of the proposed amendments is to enhance the safety of Queenslanders by ensuring smoke alarm legislation is comprehensive in its application while also ensuring that compliance requirements are simple and effective.
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Rollout of the updated eTender system
(Department of Community Safety)
The eTender system saves businesses who supply goods and services to Queensland Government time and money by allowing them to view current and upcoming tenders and apply for them online.
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Safety Management Systems (SMS)
(Department of Justice and Attorney-General)
The Department of Justice and Attorney-General is considering ways to harmonise the existing Safety Management Systems (SMS) in Queensland occupational health and safety laws and introduce a SMS that meets the requirements for all Queensland safety legislation. This should result in reduced complexity, reporting and regulatory compliance burdens on employers in Queensland.
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Service Delivery and Performance Commission amendments to Property Agents and Motor Dealers Act 2000
(Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation)
This reform reduces the regulatory burden on property agents and motor dealers by eliminating unnecessary provisions in the act and updating the regulatory Codes of Conduct.
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Single National Rail Safety Regulatory and Investigation Framework
(Department of Transport and Main Roads)
All Australian jurisdictions are currently working to establish a nationalised rail safety framework by the end of 2012. This reform will reduce the regulatory burden on multi-state rail industry operators who currently have to comply with and report to multiple regulators while improving safety benefits.
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Standard Business Reporting
(Queensland Treasury)
Standard Business Reporting reduces the regulatory reporting burden for business by making forms easier to understand. Since July 2010 it has allowed businesses, accountants, bookkeepers, tax agents and payroll professionals to lodge reports to government in a quicker and simpler way.
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Standard terms for Bushfire Easements
(Department of Community Safety)
To simplify planning processes, the Department of Community Safety has developed standard terms for bushfire easements.
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Teacher registration legislation amendments
(Department of Education and Training)
A number of teacher registration legislation amendments rolled out in 2010 and 2011 have streamlined registration processes, saving time and resources for individual teachers as well as the Queensland College of Teachers.
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Tourism infrastructure planning
(Office of the Queensland Business Commissioner)
This project aims to examine red tape issues associated with planning tourism infrastructure across the State.
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Trustee Companies
(Department of Justice and Attorney-General)
This reform implemented national regulation of trustee companies, significantly reducing the compliance burden for operators of trustee companies who were previously required to report to multiple regulatory regimes.
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Vegetation management framework
(Department of Environment and Resource Management)
A review of Queensland's vegetation management framework has resulted in legislative amendments that improve vegetation management services and deliver on the Blueprint for the Bush commitments to improve the administration of the vegetation management framework. This reform delivered increased certainty as well as time and money savings to business as a result of reduced delays in development approvals and shortened processes in dealings with the Department of Environment and Resource Management.
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Water planning streamlining project
(Department of Environment and Resource Management)
The Water Planning Streamlining project under the Water Act 2000 provides for a single planning process under which both a Water Resource Plan and a Resource Operation Plan can be developed and amended.
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Weapons Licensing System
(Queensland Police Service)
This project implements a replacement Weapons Licensing System to maintain the weapons register. This will facilitate the online lodgement of applications, fee payments and information updates anytime, anywhere without being bound to the restrictions and opening hours of a police station.
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