PRESERVING Australia’s precious environment can be done more efficiently and effectively, according to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on the Environment, which today released the report of its inquiry into streamlining environmental regulation.

The Committee Chair, Mr Alex Hawke MP, said that it’s vitally important that we protect Australia’s unique, precious natural environment.

“That is something we all agree on. Australia has some very stringent environmental protection laws, and there is no suggestion that the preservation of the environment should be compromised in any way,” he said.

“Throughout the course of this inquiry, the committee found several instances where environmental laws were duplicative, confusing, overly onerous, or were clearly not delivering any environmental benefit. This sort of unnecessary environmental regulation, or ‘green tape’, serves only to hamper business, slow down the economy, and reduce investor confidence. And that doesn’t benefit anyone.”

Mr Hawke said the committee listened to what members of the public have told the inquiry.

“They have told us what is working, and what is not. They have told us what they would like to see changed and the committee has listened and made 13 recommendations to the government.”

The recommendations cover a range of environmental regulation, including energy-related laws, the listing of threatened species, improving the consistency of environmental laws between the different states and territories, reducing duplication, making environmental data more readily available, and making reporting requirements more user-friendly.

Other recommendations relate to the government’s ‘one stop shop’ proposal for environmental assessments and approvals, which will see state and territory governments assessing and giving final approval to development projects that fall under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

“The committee has made some very good and very practical recommendations for changes, and I believe these will complement the federal government’s deregulation agenda nicely,” Mr Hawke concluded.

The Committee’s report is available online at: www.aph.gov.au/GreenTapeReport.

Further details about the inquiry, including submissions, terms of reference, and public hearing transcripts can be obtained from the Committee’s website at www.aph.gov.au/greentape.

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VECCI Chief Executive Mark Stone said VECCI welcomes the release of the Guidelines for Market-Led Proposals that will encourage the private sector to work with the Government to deliver innovative, job-creating projects. 

"The guidelines provide a transparent and robust process where private parties can directly approach Government with new ideas on infrastructure projects and services," Mr Stone said.

"The process provides a pathway for Government to either enter into exclusive negotiations with the proponent or take the project to market through an open tender process, while protecting the intellectual property of the proponent.

"The guidelines place a significant emphasis on uniqueness and will allow the Government to harness the expertise and ideas of the private sector to deliver projects that may not otherwise be available in the marketplace.

"The ability of proponents to meet with Department of Treasury and Finance officials prior to submitting a proposal is a welcome feature of the model. It will encourage early and constructive dialogue between the private and public sectors, and help reduce the cost of developing proposals."

The Victorian Employers' Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VECCI) is the most influential business body in Victoria, informing and servicing more than 15,000 members, customers and clients around the state.

vecci.org.au

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PEAK retail industry body the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) and research partner Roy Morgan Research said their pre-Christmas retail sales forecast of $45 billion has not only been met but exceeded.

Australian shoppers spent a whopping $45.2 billion in retail stores from 15 November – 24 December 2014.

ARA Executive Director Russell Zimmerman said the positive result (confirmed by ABS data) was an extremely encouraging sign for the retail industry.

“We are pleased to see that the ARA’s predicted figure of $45 billion was exceeded, despite reports of shoppers cutting it close to December 25^th to complete their Christmas shopping.

“The ARA has proudly partnered with Roy Morgan Research to deliver extremely accurate retail spend forecasts for a number of years now.

"In 2013 the ARA forecasted $42.2 billion would go through retail tills during the pre-Christmas trading period and this figure was later confirmed at an actual pre-Christmas spend of $43 billion. It’s encouraging to see our 2014 pre-Christmas figures were almost bang-on again.

“The retail industry can now enjoy a heightened sense of confidence leading into 2015 knowing that shoppers spent a significant $45.2 billion in the lead up to Christmas last year. The festive period can be an extremely stressful time for business owners and I’m sure they will all be relieved to know that Christmas 2014 has indeed been one of the most successful to date.

“The ARA looks forward to confirming the actual post-Christmas spend (26 December 2014 – 15 January 2015) in the next month or so,” Mr Zimmerman said. 
 
Since 1903, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) has been the peak industry body representing Australia’s $265 billion retail sector, which employs over 1.2 million people. The ARA ensures retail success by informing, protecting, advocating, educating and saving money for its 5,000 independent and national retail members throughout Australia.

Visit www.retail.org.au or call 1300 368 041

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LORD MAYOR Clover Moore will host the City of Sydney’s inaugural Future Asia Business Luncheon, a forum which aims to give the Sydney business community an insight into emerging business opportunities across Asia.

The CEO of Austrade, Bruce Gosper, will give a presentation about how local businesses can benefit from Australia’s new free trade agreements with China, Japan and Korea.
 
More than 140 business and government representatives will attend the event, which is part of the City’s annual Chinese New Year Festival.
 
 
WHEN:                       12pm on Tuesday 24 February 2015
 
WHERE:                     The Vestibule, Sydney Town Hall – 483 George Street, Sydney
 
CONTACT:                Keeley Irvin – 0448 005 718 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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