Culture change for regulators (Australia)

The Australian Productivity Commission release a research report earlier this month on "Regulator Engagement with Small Business" according to which "Regulators can do more to reduce the compliance and enforcement burdens they impose on small businesses. The Commission argues that regulators should ensure they understand how regulation impacts on small business and keep the compliance capacity of small businesses at the forefront of their minds." A regulator's culture and attitude towards business should include the following improvements:

• Regulators should adopt a multi-channel approach to communicating with small businesses with a focus on the brevity, clarity and accessibility of information. 
• Compliance and enforcement strategies should be proportionate to risks posed to communities and facilitate voluntary compliance. 
• Regulators should commit publicly to target timeframes for key processes, report on their performance in meeting targets, and consider other measures to improve timeliness. 
• Regulators should have access to a sufficient range of enforcement tools and be resourced to do their job effectively, to avoid the shifting of direct and indirect costs onto businesses.