OECD Reviews of Regulatory Reform: Australia 2010
Towards a Seamless National Economy
This review of regulatory reform in Australia comes at the right time to capture the
attention of the OECD community. Australia has successfully weathered the worst effects
of the current economic crisis. The resilience of the Australian economy, in the face
of the deepest and most widespread recession in over fifty years in OECD countries,
can in part be attributed to Australia’s current and past regulatory reforms.
Australia has built strong governance foundations for the development of good regulatory
management and competition policies, which are likely to be conducive to economic
growth. It aims to reinvigorate a wide agenda of national reforms and to embed past
reform achievements in new working arrangements between the Commonwealth and the States.
This reform agenda is likely to yield substantial economic benefits for years to come,
but demands joint participation and commitment from both the Commonwealth and all
States. Maintaining the momentum for reform is a critical challenge, which requires
a strategic vision as well as strenuous efforts to promote change and to establish
a culture of continuous regulatory improvement.
Australia is one of many OECD countries to request a broad review by the OECD of its
regulatory practices and reforms. This review presents a general picture , set within
a macroeconomic context, of regulatory achievements and challenges, including regulatory
quality at the Commonwealth level as well as across levels of government, competition
policy and market openness. It also provides a special focus on Commonwealth-state
relationships.
Published on February 15, 2010
In series:OECD Reviews of Regulatory Reformview more titles