The Productivity Commission's report on regulatory burdens on the primary sector - released today - identifies a number of ways to reduce unnecessary burdens on farmers and miners and other primary sector producers arising from Commonwealth regulations.

The report - Annual Review of Regulatory Burdens on Business: Primary Sector - is the first of a five year cycle of reports aimed at reducing unnecessary regulatory burdens from the stock of regulation. It follows a wide-ranging 2006 report by the Regulation Taskforce (Rethinking Regulation) and is part of an ongoing commitment by the Australian, State and Territory governments to enhancing regulatory consistency and reducing burdens on all businesses.

While this current review focuses on the burdens arising from Commonwealth regulation, in subsequent years, the effectiveness of these reviews in achieving regulatory reform would be enhanced by greater coordination among all jurisdictions.

Commissioner Mike Woods said: 'There are encouraging signs that government agencies are doing more to reduce unnecessary regulatory burdens. Yet, areas for improvement have been identified. Some, such as removing duplication in applying for drought assistance, can be implemented without delay. Others, such as wheat marketing arrangements and petroleum regulation, would require a full policy review as the regulatory burdens are complex and greater clarity is needed over underlying objectives.'

In some regulatory areas, even where the need for reform has been broadly agreed, businesses are not seeing results. Of particular concern for the sector is the slow progress in:

• implementing the National Mine Safety Framework
• recognising skills acquired through the Vocational Education and Training framework and skills acquired from across state and territory borders
• removing interjurisdictional inconsistencies in the regulation of road transport.

• Preliminaries
  Cover, Copyright, Foreword, Terms of reference, Contents and Abbreviations
• Overview - including key points
• Responses
• Chapter 1 About the review
  1.1 What the Commission has been asked to do
  1.2 Previous and current reviews and inquiries concerning regulatory reform
  1.3 COAG's National Reform Agenda
  1.4 The approach and rationale of this review
  1.5 Conduct of the study
  1.6 Structure of the report
• Chapter 2 Primary sector characteristics
  2.1 Industry characteristics
  2.2 Industry performance
• Chapter 3 Agriculture
  3.1 Introduction
  3.2 Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act
  3.3 Biosecurity and quarantine
  3.4 National Pollutant Inventory
  3.5 Climate change policies
  3.6 Regulation of livestock exports
  3.7 Reef Water Quality Protection Plan
  3.8 Security sensitive chemicals
  3.9 Transport issues in agriculture
  3.10 Wheat marketing
  3.11 Animal welfare
  3.12 Drought support
  3.13 Occupational health and safety
  3.14 Food regulation
  3.15 National Livestock Identification Scheme
  3.16 Temporary labour
  3.17 Biodiesel
  3.18 Agricultural and veterinary chemicals
  3.19 Horticulture Code of Conduct
  3.20 Farm surveys
  3.21 Genetically modified crops
  3.22 Water issues
  3.23 Incorporation of farms
  3.24 Other concerns
• Chapter 4 Mining, oil and gas
  4.1 Introduction
  4.2 Uranium-specific regulation
  4.3 Petroleum-specific regulation
  4.4 Access to land
  4.5 Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act
  4.6 National Pollutant Inventory
  4.7 Assessment of site contamination
  4.8 Climate change policies
  4.9 Labour skills and mobility
  4.10 Transport infrastructure
  4.11 Safety and health
• Chapter 5 Forestry, fishing and aquaculture
  5.1 Forestry
  5.2 Fishing
  5.3 Aquaculture
• Appendix A Consultation
• Appendix B Selected reviews
• Appendix C Common concerns and some lessons
• Appendix D Regulation review by jurisdiction
• References